Whakahau-Slipper Island lies two miles off the Coromandel Coast, four miles south-east of Tairua and some 100 miles from Auckland.
While carrying passengers and cargo during its regular Tauranga to Auckland run, the SS Manaia (Captain W. F. Norbury), ran aground on the southeastern point of Slipper Island on the night of Thursday 10 June 1926. Reefs in the vicinity had previously claimed The Northern Steamship Company’s auxiliary schooner Te Teko and the timber scow Surprise.
The SS Manaia aground
near Slipper Island
Built at Dumbarton, Scotland in 1898, the Manaia was a well-known New Zealand coastal steamer of 1,159 tons. Formerly owned by the Union Steam Ship Company and named Rotoiti, it was bought and renamed by the Northern Steamship Company for its Auckland to Tauranga service. The steamer’s dimensions were: length, 220 feet; breadth, 33 feet and depth, 13 feet.
Steaming northwards through rain and mist, the Manaia struck at 11.30 p.m. with an impact described as ‘terrific’. Members of the crew were thrown from their bunks, there was some ‘mild panic’ among the passengers, but there were no injuries nor deaths during the subsequent rescue operation.
Whakahau-Slipper Island
Courtesy of New Zealand Herald, 16 April 2015
Observing the wreck at daylight from the coastal settlement of Tairua, eyewitnesses described the steamer as ‘about one mile off Slipper Island, well up on the reef behind a small rocky island’, and ‘broadside on and down in the stern, in a very exposed position’.
Carrying 55 passengers who had boarded at Tauranga’s Town Wharf at 8 p.m. the Manaia’s cargo was indicative of regions exports during the 1920s: 63 cases of fruit, 21 sacks of maize, 34 bales of flax, 21 bales of tow, 34 bales of sheepskins, four cases of bacon, a quantity of general cargo and a ‘fair-sized’ consignment of mail.
At 11.40 p.m. the Auckland Radio Station received signals from the Manaia’s radio operator, that it was ashore near Slipper Island, and was being held in place by her propellers. Captain Norbury advised that he was all right until morning, before later, asking for assistance when the weather became squally, and the Manaia began to bump heavily.
At 3 a.m. the Auckland authorities radioed the SS Ngapuhi, another Northern Company ship which was passing Kawau Island, on its way from Whangarei to Auckland. The Ngapuhi changed course and after steaming 70 miles in six hours, was standing near the Manaia, which was then ‘making water fairly fast’, through a hole in the bow.
The SS Ngapuhi
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections JTD-19M-04168
A two masted timber scow and the Corey-Wright brothers launch Ellida from Tairua, were also soon on the scene, and at 9 a.m. the SS Rimu was dispatched from Auckland to provide additional assistance.
Captain Dorling kept the Ngapuhi’s lead line going, as he negotiated the foul ground and a line of sunken reefs between his ship and the stricken steamer. He noted that the Manaia was hard and fast on a reef extending out from the southeast point of Slipper Island, with the bow high on the rocks, her stern riding low in the deep water surrounding the reef.
During the rescue of the passengers, the seas were moderate and the weather clearing. A message at 10.22 from the Manaia, announced that the Ngapuhi had arrived and was taking the passengers off, and that two lifeboats had got away safely. A wireless message at noon stated that all passengers had been transferred to the Ngapuhi which reached Auckland shortly before 11p.m.
At Auckland, the male passengers praised the conduct of the women and children, as well as Captain Norbury and his officers - particularly the children, who were said to have ‘just stood by without a murmur.’
During salvage operations, which began after the Manaia had been written off by the Northern Company, all portable equipment and fixtures were removed, along with machine fittings. The only cargo not put aboard the Motu, one of the salvage vessels, was a few cases of fruit in the fore hold. When the Manaia’s stokehold and engine-room flooded, the crew of 36 left the wreck on the Motu. The SS Manaia gradually slipped off the reef and into deep water.
‘My mother, Shirley Abrahams, was
the girl with the bantam rooster.’ – Kim White, 2022
Courtesy of Maritime Radio
Among the Manaia’s passengers
were 24 members of the Stanley M’Kay Pantomime Company, which included a girl
named Shirley Abrahams and her pet rooster Becky – the gift of an admirer in
one of the towns visited by the company. According to one report:
When the Manaia struck, the first thoughts of the young actress were of her pet. Forgetting her other treasures, she flew to Becky. He had been with her for over a year … He snuggled in the crook of her arm on board while awaiting the arrival of the Ngapuhi. Becky accompanied his owner in the lifeboat and was with her all the time on the Ngapuhi. Now he is on his way to Sydney with her on the Marama.
SS Manaia listing,
before slipping into deep water
On 29 June, the Auckland Marine Court of Inquiry into the wreck found that the course set by Captain Norbury was a safe one - used without mishap by other steamer captains for many years. It found that like the steamer City of Winchester, which was crossing the Bay of Plenty at the time, the Manaia ‘had been carried inshore and off her course an abnormal distance … owing to a strong set inshore’. Norbury was held blameless, and his master’s certificate was returned.
In 1961 part of the steamer’s
propeller was recovered by divers, by which time the ship had broken up and
been under water for over 35 years. Today, the Manaia’s boiler and other
equipment left behind on the reef and seabed make Manaia Reef a
playground for snorkelers and scuba divers.
References
Bay of Plenty Times, 12 June 1926: 3, 14 June 1926: 3, 29 June 1926: 3.
Evening Post (Wellington), 11 June 1926: 8. 12 June 1926: 8, 14 June 1926: 10.
1926: SS Manaia strands on slipper Island, maritimeradio.org, https://maritimeradio.org › Distress
S.S. Manaia Ohimnemuri Regional History Journal. 40, September 2000, https://www.ohinemuri.org.nz › journals › s-s-manaia
Images
Sladden, Bernard, View of Northern Steamship Company SS Manaia on rocks, Slipper Island, wrecked on 10-Jun-1926. Ms 33/5/159. Te Ao Mārama, Tauranga City Libraries.
Slipper Island, New Zealand Herald. Privately owned island sells for more than $7m. NZME. 16 April 2015, nzherald.co.nz/business
Photographer unknown, SS Ngapuhi on Manukau Harbour. Ref. 4168. Auckland Council Libraries.
Photographer unknown. Wrecked on the New Zealand Coast, 1926: SS Manaia strands on slipper Island, maritimeradio.org, https://maritimeradio.org › Distress
Sladden, Bernard. View of SS Manaia wrecked off Slipper Island, 10 June 1926, Ms 33/5/206. Te Ao Marama, Tauranga City Libraries
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