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Pages tagged with: shipwrecks

There are various memorials inside St Paul's Anglican Church in Symonds Street, Auckland.
The remains of the former New Zealand hospital ship Maheno on Fraser Island, Queensland.
Tthe Maheno fetched up high on Fraser Island, Queensland after breaking away the tow to the scrapyard
The fate of the brig Sophia Pate, wrecked on a sandbar at the entrance to the Kaipara Harbour with the loss of 21 lives, highlighted the dangers early migrants to New Zealand faced in poorly charted coastal waters.
Memorial wall dedicated to New Zealand scientists Ernest Rutherford and William Pickering
Sailing from Melbourne to London, the General Grant hit cliffs on the west coast of the main island in the subantarctic Auckland Islands. Fifteen of the 83 people on board survived the sinking, but only 10 of them were ultimately rescued 18 months later.
Timaru shipwreck memorial.
On 5 October 2011 the MSC-chartered, Liberian-flagged container ship Rena astonished local mariners by grounding on the clearly marked Astrolabe Reef in the Bay of Plenty. Some fear New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster is in the making.
Twenty-six lives were lost when the barque Maria was wrecked near Cape Terawhiti. This provided more ammunition for Wellington settlers who were trying to convince the government of the need for a lighthouse.
The liner, carrying 400 passengers, struck Barrett Reef in Wellington Harbour on 19 January. Only an unusually long spell of fine weather - dubbed 'Wanganella weather' by locals - saved it from becoming a total wreck.
Soon after leaving Nelson for Napier, the Delaware was wrecked in what is now known as Delaware Bay. Accounts of the incident often focus on the heroism of Huria Matenga, the only woman in a party of five local Māori who assisted the crew to shore. 
It was the Tasman Sea's first naval battle. The New Zealand Shipping Company freighter Turakina was intercepted and sunk by the Orion nearly 500 km off the Taranaki coast with the loss of 36 lives. Twenty survivors were taken prisoner.
Only weeks earlier the glamorous steamer had set a record time for the Tasman crossing from Sydney to Auckland. A court of enquiry blamed the captain for the disaster, which cost 121 lives.
The Picton-Wellington ferry SS Penguin struck rocks in Cook Strait and sank in heavy seas off a rugged, isolated coast. Only 30 of the 102 people on board survived.
The ferry Wahine, en route from Lyttelton with 734 passengers and crew on board, struck Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour during a ferocious storm. Fifty-two lives were lost.
The Royal Navy steam corvette HMS Orpheus was wrecked on the treacherous Manukau Harbour bar. Of the 259 men on board, 189 lost their lives in New Zealand's worst maritime disaster.
All hands were lost when the modern coastal freighter Holmglen foundered off the South Canterbury coast. The cause of the tragedy was never established