SS Penguin

SS Penguin was a New Zealand inter-island ferry steamer that sank off Cape Terawhiti after striking a rock near the entrance to Wellington Harbour in poor weather on 12 February 1909. Penguin's sinking caused the deaths of 75 people, leaving only 30 survivors. This was New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century.[2]

SS Penguin
History
New Zealand
Name: SS Penguin
Owner:
Builder: Tod and Macgregor, Glasgow
Yard number: 128
Launched: 21 January 1864
Identification: Official number: 47849
Fate: Sank on 12 February 1909 after colliding with rocks near Wellington. 75 people killed in what is classed as New Zealand's deadliest maritime disaster.
General characteristics [1]
Type: Passenger/cargo steamship
Tonnage:
Length: 220 ft 6 in (67.21 m)
Beam: 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
Depth: 14 ft 4 in (4.37 m)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • As built
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
  • From 1882
  • 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)

Ship history

Penguin was built by Tod & McGregor of Glasgow, Scotland, for G. & J. Burns of Glasgow, and launched on 21 January 1864. Registered in Glasgow on 4 April 1864, she was finally sold to the Union Steamship Company in 1879, and was extensively refitted in 1882.[1]

Sinking

Penguin departed Picton on 12 February 1909 en route to Wellington in good conditions. However, the weather conditions changed by 8  pm, with very strong winds and bad visibility. At 10 p.m, Captain Francis Naylor headed farther out to sea to wait for a break in the weather, but the ship smashed into Thoms Rock while making the turn, and water started to pour in. Women and children were loaded into the lifeboats, but the rough seas dragged the lifeboats underwater; only one woman survived, and all the children were killed. Other survivors drifted for hours on rafts before reaching safety. As the Penguin sank, seawater flooded the engine room. The cold water reached the boilers, and a massive steam explosion violently fractured the ship.[3]

Following the disaster, a half-day holiday was declared in Wellington to allow the many funerals to be held,[4] as some 40 people were laid to rest in Karori Cemetery.

A court of inquiry found that the ship struck Thoms Rock near the mouth to Karori Stream in Cook Strait. The captain maintained that it had struck the submerged hull of the Rio Loge, lost the month before.[5] On the 100th anniversary of the sinking, Wellington's mayor unveiled a plaque at Tongue Point, near the site of the wreck.[6]

References
  1. "SS Penguin". Clyde-built Ship Database. 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. The 1863 sinking of HMS Orpheus remains New Zealand's deadliest maritime disaster.
  3. "SS Penguin – New Zealand Disasters". Christchurch City Libraries. 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  4. "SS Penguin wrecked in Cook Strait". nzhistory.net.nz. 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  5. Wood, Stacey; McDonald, Greer (11 February 2009). "Search for wreck of Penguin". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  6. SS Penguin Sinking to be Remembered on South Coast, Wellington City Council, 9 February 2009.

Further reading

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