Shipwreck on Karewa

Portrait of the ship Taranaki, Carte de visite copy photo of painting
Collection of Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA2-2797

The 327 tons SS Taranaki, owned by the Union Steamship Company and captained by James Malcolm, left Auckland at 4:30pm on the 28th of November 1878 with thirty-four crew and seventy-five passengers, including many women and children. Due to fog she was anchored between Great Mercury Island and Tapepe point from 11:45pm until 3:00am. Heavier fog set in after the ship was underway again and, when abreast of Slipper Island, she was moved towards the east away from land and a lookout was kept. The weather was calm in the morning, but still very foggy, and the passengers were up early, waiting for breakfast, which was late.  According to the distance run, taken from the log, at 8.05 am the vessel should have been 12 miles off Karewa Island. The second mate was on watch at 8:50am when Malcolm, who was on the bridge, saw breakers. He signaled full steam astern, then hard to starboard, just as the passengers were trooping down to breakfast. Only a few were seated when they felt the ship’s engines reverse, then almost immediately the vessel struck and bumped four times over the rocks. Sea flooded the engine room, and Malcolm ordered going slowly ahead, so as not to sink in deep water.

They found themselves in a small inlet, with rocks either side, and the bowsprit almost touching the precipice which rose around 300 feet ahead. While the sea was calm, a large swell caused the vessel to bump heavily, but as the water was shallow, the vessel was not in danger of slipping into deep water. At 10:30 am a boat with the mate and purser was dispatched to take news of the wreck to Tauranga. The ship, valued at 18,000 to 19,000 pounds, was partially insured with several companies.

SS Taranaki at Picton, c 1870s
Silver gelatin print by unknown photographer
Collection of Tauranga City Library, Pae Koroki Ref. ms-33-5-118

The first boat to take passengers ashore was lowered in five minutes, and within twenty minutes all four boats were in the water. However, it was three-quarters of an hour after they struck the rocks that the first boat with women and children left for the landing spot. Ashore with the passengers went bread, butter, jam, fruit, and lemonade, as Karewa Island had no water. Everyone was relieved no lives had been lost and there were no injuries. By afternoon the Taranaki had heeled 45 degrees to port. The crew and a passenger, Tauranga barrister Oliver Macey Quintal, saved the luggage and mail. The Bay of Plenty Times reported that he worked indefatigably like a Trojan. The second and third stewards (the Warren twins) and Samuel Westlake, who was off a training ship, were commended for swimming through a port to reach the luggage, whereas sluggish passengers had refused to carry their own portmanteaux. At low water, when it was possible to enter the saloon, the linen and silver was saved. The mate and the purser, who had rowed several miles to deliver news of the wreck, stopped at the pilot station at Mount Maunganui, where the Harbourmaster Captain Hannibal Marks assisted and delivered them to Tauranga in the pilot boat.

Ship Rowena at an unidentified wharf
Collection of Hamilton City Library, Ref. HCL_06579

It was 4:00 pm when two cutters, the Lancashire Lass and the Waretai which brought water, arrived by the wreck at Karewa Island. Captain Malcolm had ordered the boat crews to take the passengers to the cutters, but then the Staffa and the Rowena appeared, which took the rescued luggage and the passengers to Tauranga. Malcolm stayed overnight with the remaining crew and the cutters, and by 8:00 am next morning, the Taranaki had split; her fore part was hanging on rocks, the after part had sunk. He ordered one cutter to cruise and pick up floating packages.

On the 3rd December, five days after the Taranaki was wrecked, it was a Bank holiday and the Staffa took 20 passengers out to view the wreck. An easterly swell churned the insides of those on board, so basins, brandy and water were in demand. Near Karewa Island they saw floating timber, and on the north side of the island was a mass of debris. The ship's remains were on the rocks. When the after part sank in deep water, it took the engines with it. The foremast still stood, but it shook when a man ascended it. The fore hold was gutted and the keel had curled, due to the hull rolling on the rocks. Some of the men were landed to board the wreck and collect cords of rope and ship’s gear. It was thought floating debris would be cast ashore on Panepane Beach.

The Bay of Plenty Times, 3 December 1878
Courtesy of Papers Past

For the Inquiry, H.W. (Herbert William) Brabant, the Resident Magistrate, was assisted by nautical assessors Captain Clayton and Joseph Ellis. Mr. McKellar, who appeared for the Marine Department, cross-examined Malcolm. The crew and some passengers, including Quintal, gave evidence. Marks, who had worked on the coast for 38 years, gave his knowledge of wind currents and tides. The court's judgment was that the engines should have been slowed and soundings made. The chief officer Mr. Holm was reprimanded for not properly keeping his log. There was compass error and the officer's ignorance of the distance run was due to clock error or error in reading the clock. Malcolm’s ticket was not suspended, but he was ordered to pay costs of £25.10 shillings. Several men, among them Edward Mortimer Edgcumbe, chairman of the Town Board, collected donations. Fifty-seven pounds was presented with a letter of thanks to Malcolm and the crew which confirmed their confidence in Malcolm's ability was undiminished. They would be only too pleased to sail under his charge in the future.

This was not the first time the Taranaki had been wrecked. In 1868 she hit a rock in Tory Channel and was towed to Bowden’s Bay, but sank at the entrance and drifted into deeper water. Thirteen months later, thanks to a group of Wellington residents and some remarkable engineering for the time, she was raised.

References

Bay of Plenty Times, 30 November 1878: 3, 6, 7, 10 and 28 December 1878. (More than one reference in each paper)
Index to the NZ Section of the Register of All British Ships 1840-1940 (inclusive). Watt, M.N., Morris Netterville (1892) compiler. Tauranga Library. Nga Wahi Rangahou Sladden