FULL ASTERN! An illustrated history of New Zealand shipwrecks
Gavin McLean
Grantham House, pbk, $39.99.
By RON TYRRELL
This attractive book has a selection of shipwrecks and other marine accidents on the coasts and in the harbours of New Zealand.
Included are the worst in loss of life - Orpheus, Wairarapa and Penguin, as well as ships swept ashore in early colonial roadstead ports, disasters in the exposed west coast ports, and faulty navigation that led to shipwrecks.
Probably the worst case of negligence at sea was that of Captain Johnson of the immigrant ship Surat, wrecked on New Year's Day 1874), who refused initially to signal for assistance from a passing ship and threatened to shoot any passengers who attempted to do so, and who, with his senior officers became inebriated, before he agreed to land passengers and crew.
It is difficult to disagree with the verdict of the court that cancelled his certificate and jailed him for two months.
There are numerous fine photographs of ships cast up on desolate coasts, but as well, there were tragic harbour collisions, such as Pride of the Yarra and Favourite in Otago Harbour (1863), and Sydney Express and Maria Luisa (1996) - which left legal argument as to whether local ships in the Port of Wellington passed port to port or starboard to starboard.
Other equally tragic losses involved shifting cargoes, which resulted in the losses of Holmglen (1959) and Kaitawa (1966).
Famous wrecks covered include Wanganella (1947), on Barretts Reef for 18 days, the destruction of Rainbow Warrior (1985) by the French Secret Service, and the inexplicable loss of the liner Mikhail Lermontov (1986).
In a different category are the ships sunk as a result of German raider activity in New Zealand waters.
The most famous was Niagara (1940), sunk by a mine, which led to a notable recovery of gold bullion.
Several intercepted captains displayed great courage, while the fine liner Rangitane was sunk by several raiders (1940), with one result, unmentioned by the author, being that a group of young airmen bound for the Empire Air Training Scheme in Canada were imprisoned for the duration of the war in Germany.
As well there is much more in this selection to whet the appetite of those interested in the many facets of marine history.
Ron Tyrrell is a Dunedin historian.
