Home » History » New Zealand History » The Wreck of the Penguin

The Wreck of the Penguin

© Philippa Jane Ballantine

The New Zealand shoreline is a hungry beast. It has swallowed many ships, and many lives, and one of the worst and most haunting, is the wreck of the Penguin.

Wellington harbor has its fair share of victims, the Wahine being one of the most famous, but there have been, and probably will continue to be, many others.

It was 12 February 1909, and the passenger steamer Penguin was travelling to Wellington from Picton. The 105 people on board were given a treat when the famous dolphin Pelorus Jack, frolicked in their wake as they left the Marlborough Sounds. Though Jack followed them further than he usually did, and some on board thought this was a bad omen.

It was 8PM at night before the ship reached Cook Strait, and until then the night had been clear, but that all changed, the air becoming misty, and obscuring the Pencarrow light which kept boats from colliding with dangerous rocks on the southern coast of the Wellington shore.

Captain Naylor in command, was nervous at the change in conditions, and decided it was best to turn the ship around into deeper waters until he could see the light. He was about to give the order, when the Penguin struck the rocks on the starboard side, tearing a large hole in the amidships. It was an area known as Tom’s Rock. They were near Cape Terawhiti, where the Karori stream meets the sea. Too the frightened passengers it sounded like a gigantic piece of calico tearing.

All the options were considered, the pumps were tried, but the breach was too wide, and there could be no hope of beaching the vessel on the rocky shore. The decision was made to abandon ship, and women and children were loaded onto the first lifeboat.

Everyone was remarkably calm, made no fuss, and the stewardesses hurried efficiently to get people off the stricken vessel.

But the sea was not about to be forgiving. Heavy waves smashed the boat before it even got away. A second boat managed to get away from the Penguin, but was capsized shortly after, but the third and fourth made it. Two rafts were also carried, and these were also launched.

Within an hour of striking the rocks, the Penguin went down, bow first, leaving her passengers to the mercy of the sea. It was nearly 11PM.

The heroine of the wreck was Mrs. Hannam, a woman of amazing strength and tenaciousness, utterly at odds with how women were seen in that day. She, her husband, and her four young children were onboard, and all apart from her husband went into a lifeboat that later capsized. She had to watch three of her children being washed away from her to die in the sea, and her husband standing on the receding deck of the ship. When capsized, Mrs. Hannam had managed to keep hold of her youngest child, and together they got back into the righted lifeboat, but once again the sea rolled them over. Mrs. Hannam suddenly found herself trapped underneath the overturned boat, clutching her child, and with a frightened 17-year-old boy, clinging to her hair. The rest that had been in the lifeboat were drowned. And soon it dawned on her that her child too was dead. Mustering her resolve, she told the young boy Ellis Matthews that they would survive.

The copyright of the article The Wreck of the Penguin in New Zealand History is owned by Philippa Jane Ballantine. Permission to republish The Wreck of the Penguin in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.