TEV Wahine was a twin-screw, turbo-electric, roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry. Ordered in 1964, the vessel was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland for the Union Steam Ship Company's Wellington-Lyttelton Steamer Express Service in New Zealand.[4]
The Wahine began transporting passengers on day and overnight trips on New Zealand's inter-island route between the ports of Wellington and Lyttelton in 1966. The Wahine was permitted to carry a maximum of 1,100 passengers on day trips, or 927 berthed passengers on overnight trips.[4][5]
On 10 April 1968, near the end of a routine northbound overnight crossing from Lyttelton, Wahine was caught in a fierce storm stirred by tropical cyclone Giselle. She ran aground on Barrett Reef, then drifted and capsized and sank in the shallow waters near Steeple Rock at the mouth of Wellington Harbour. Of the 734 people on board, 53 people died from drowning, exposure to the elements, or from injuries sustained in the hurried evacuation and abandonment of the stricken vessel.[6]
The unfolding shipwreck drama was covered by radio and television crews, as the Wahine ran aground within a short distance of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Newspaper crews, and other journalists and photographers, provided immediate news coverage documenting the passenger rescue and loss of life.[7]
^"Possession tomorrow". Press. Papers Past. 14 June 1966.
^ abcdefghCameron, Stuart; Strathdee, Paul; Biddulph, Bruce; Campbell, Colin (2002–2013). "Wahine". Clydebuilt database. Clydesite.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 November 2004. Retrieved 2 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ abcdefghiCastell, Marcus (31 July 2007). "The Turbo Electric Vessel WAHINE, 1966–1968". The New Zealand Maritime Record. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
^ ab"Wahine facts". The Wahine and Captain Robertson. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
^"New drive-on steamer arrives". Press. 25 July 1966. p. 1 – via Papers Past.
^"Recognition for 53rd Wahine victim". Stuff. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
^"New Zealand National Film Unit presents Wahine Day (1973)". New Zealand National Film Unit. 1973.
TEVWahine was a twin-screw, turbo-electric, roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry. Ordered in 1964, the vessel was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and...
Zealand inter-island ferry that also served in World War I and World War II TEVWahine, a 1966-built New Zealand inter-island passenger ferry that foundered...
the St Vincent in 1869, the Lastingham in 1884, SS Penguin in 1909 and TEVWahine in 1968. According to Māori legend the mythical navigator Kupe follows...
contributing cause of accidents, capsizes, and casualties e.g. the loss of TEVWahine (Wellington, New Zealand, April 1968), MS Herald of Free Enterprise (Zeebrugge...
Reef, where many ships have been wrecked (notably the inter-island ferry TEVWahine in 1968). The harbour has three islands: Matiu/Somes Island, Makaro/Ward...
victims of the Brunner Mine disaster Salvage operations on the wreck of TEVWahine Cape Terawhiti, where the City of Dunedin sank The Al Noor Mosque, where...
storm moving north. Giselle led to the sinking of the interisland ferry TEVWahine, and the loss of 53 lives. Total damage caused by the storm was estimated...
caused by impact with Barrett Reef is the wreck of the inter-island ferry TEVWahine in 1968, with the loss of 53 lives. Wellington harbour provides sheltered...
which many ships have foundered, most notably the inter-island ferry TEVWahine in 1968. Europeans first settled the suburb in 1889. The name Seatoun...
sank in the Gulf of Aden with the loss of 54 lives. 54 1968 New Zealand TEVWahine – an inter island ferry that foundered in a cyclone on Barrett Reef at...
New Zealand by death toll List of natural disasters in Australia 53 on TEVWahine and 6 elsewhere in the country indirect Rice, Geoffrey. Black November :...
sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea. 1968 – The TEVWahine, a New Zealand ferry sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm...
number of ships were used, including two Maoris, two Wahines, two Rangatiras, and a Hinemoa. TEVWahine entered service in October 1966 and foundered and...
(John Elder & Co.) SS Stirling Castle (John Elder & Co.) SS Volturno TEVWahine SS Willem III (John Elder & Co.) Worcestershire Passenger steam ships...
competition by converting TEV Maori to take roll-on roll-off (RORO) road traffic and ordering a new RORO ship, TEVWahine. However, the resurgence was...
notable example of the unlinked facilities was when the inter-island ferry TEVWahine sank in Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968 – newscasts of the disaster...
currently only) Formula 1 World Champion. 1968 10 April: Inter-island ferry TEVWahine sinks in severe storm in Wellington Harbour; 51 people killed. 24 May:...
and a display commemorating Paddy the Wanderer. The Wahine Theatre is in memory of the TEVWahine disaster and includes items salvaged from the wreck...
Fifty-three people were killed when the New Zealand inter-island ro-ro ferry TEVWahine struck Barrett Reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour. The disaster came...
unlinked, and programming had to be shipped between stations. The sinking of TEVWahine in Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968 highlighted the lack (and necessity)...
Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim. April 10 – The ferry TEVWahine strikes a reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the...
was built to lift 80 tonnes. However, while dismantling the wreck of TEVWahine it is thought that she lifted 140 tonnes. In 2004, she lifted 100 tonnes...
a narrow escape when she ran aground on Barrett Reef (later to claim TEVWahine with 53 lives lost) at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in New Zealand...