THE NEW ZEALAND MARITIME RECORD

Maintained by the NZ National Maritime Museum
as a service to Shipping Enthusiasts and Maritime Historians

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Specifications

Official number: 123141
Displacement: 742 gross, 690 net tons
Length: 172 feet
Beam: 32 feet 6 inches
Draft: 16 feet 4 inches
Type: Three-masted steel barque

Log

1891     Built as the Signe by Fevigs Jernsk of Arendal, Norway for Acties Signe (C. Moller) of Christiana.

1906     May 21     Acquired by the Colonial Sailing Ship Company of Christchurch for £4,200, registered at the port of Timaru and renamed Wai-iti.

1907     January 28     After making only one voyage to Australia, she capsized at Mangawhare on the Wairoa river in Kaipara Harbour when her bilge keel became wedged against the steep river bank as the tide fell.

Here, in a chronological sequence of sixteen digitally restored photographs from glass negatives, is a record of the mishap and subsequent salvage.

1907     April 4     When she was righted the company found that the fore and main masts were broken and that the rest of the vessel was a mess. Since tenders for restoring her to full sea-going order ranged up to £3,700, the owners reluctantly decided to have her towed down to Lyttelton for conversion into a hulk. Her last cargo was secured for £430 and she left in tow of a Union Company steamer. She was then sold to the Blackball Coal Company of Christchurch for use as a coal hulk at Lyttelton.

1913     October 7     Fire aboard in Lyttelton Harbour.

1935     November 4     Scuttled in Starvation Bay on the Godley Head of Lyttelton Harbour.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Steven McLachlan (specialist in Maritime Covers) for many of the images and Marcus Castell for the research and photographic restoration.