Neha Patil (Editor)

SS Penguin

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Name
  
SS Penguin

Identification
  
Official number 47849

Launched
  
21 January 1864

Builder
  
Glasgow

Yard number
  
128

Status
  
Wreck

Length
  
67 m

SS Penguin httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Owner
  
G. & J. Burns, Glasgow, Scotland (1864-1879) Union Steamship Company, Dunedin, New Zealand (1879-1909)

Fate
  
Sank on 12 February 1909 after colliding with rocks near Wellington. 75 people killed in what is classed as the deadliest maritime disaster of New Zealand.

SS Penguin was a New Zealand inter-island ferry steamer that sank off Cape Terawhiti 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.

Contents

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.

Sinking

Penguin departed Picton on 12 February 1909 en route to Wellington in good conditions. However, by 8 p.m. the weather conditions had changed, with very strong winds and bad visibility. At 10 p.m Captain Francis Naylor headed further out to sea to wait for a break in the weather. Unfortunately, as the ship turned, she smashed into Thoms Rock, and water started to pour in. Although women and children were loaded into the lifeboats first, the rough seas dragged the lifeboats underwater. Only one woman survived, but all the children onboard Penguin were killed. Other survivors drifted for hours on rafts before reaching safety. As the Penguin sank, seawater flooded the engine room. As the cold water reached the red-hot boilers a massive steam explosion violently fractured the ship.

Following the disaster, a half-day holiday was declared in Wellington to allow the many funerals to be held. About forty of the people who were killed were laid to rest in Karori Cemetery, where a self-guided walk now wanders past their grave sites.

A court of inquiry found 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.

On the 100th anniversary of the sinking, Wellington's mayor unveiled a plaque remembering the disaster at Tongue Point, near the site of the wreck.

References

SS Penguin Wikipedia