Loss of the City of Dunedin with all hands

The paddle steamer City of Dunedin left Wellington at around 5 p.m. on Saturday 20 May, bound for Nelson and then Hokitika. It was never heard from again, and no trace was ever found of Captain James Parker Boyd, his 24 crew and at least 22 passengers.

As darkness approached, Miss McMenamen (at the time reported as 'McNamara') of Terawhiti Station saw a steamer near the rocks off Cape Terawhiti, the south-western tip of the North Island. The ship appeared to be ‘going round and round and would not steer’. When she got home she asked her mother to come and see what was happening, but the woman was ‘too busy’.

This was the last reported sighting of the ship. Wreckage was found the following day on the south coast, and confirmation that the City of Dunedin had been lost came when the ship’s figurehead washed up on the beach at Palliser Bay.

It is likely the City of Dunedin went down near Karori (Tom’s) Rock, off Terawhiti.

Image: Headline from Wellington Independent, 13 June 1865 (PapersPast)