SHIP’S TELEGRAPH

MARITIME NEWS FROM AROUND THE PORT OF LYTTELTON

Editor – Clive Keightley PO Box 123 Lyttelton 8841 New Zealand Phone (03) 3288954 Mobile 0276664343 Email [email protected]

SPECIAL EDITION Newsletter Number 3/18 14 May 2018

TEV WAHINE 10 APRIL 1968

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

On 10 April 1968 I was serving as a P&O Radio Officer on the ss Talamba, a tanker operated by Trident Tankers, which was part of the P&O Group. The ship carried crude oil between the Persian Gulf and Europe and because at the time the Suez Canal was a war zone and closed to shipping our voyages took us via the Cape. We did not have television and our only contact with the outside world, apart from ship’s business, would have been to listen on the radio to the BBC overseas service. At the time I do not remember even being aware of the Wahine tragedy which took

Page 1 of 15 place on the other side of the world. I had never been anywhere near New Zealand, a country I had learnt about during my geography studies at school, which was down under somewhere near Australia.

In early 1970 I signed off a ship in New York and flew across the world to join a ship in Wellington, New Zealand. I was in my twenties and to me New Zealand was a strange place. Pubs served beer in Jugs and if you went into a corner shop, newspaper was used, if you asked for a wrapped loaf! At least they drove on the same side of the road as the UK unlike New York.

As we sailed out of Wellington I remember seeing what must have been a floating crane lifting large pieces of steel painted green from under the water. I was on the ship’s bridge at the time and I asked one of the other officers what the crane was doing with those chunks of steel. I was told that it was the remains of a ferry which ran aground on a reef inside the harbour in 1968. Although I settled in Australia, prior to moving to New Zealand in 2011, I took a great interest in the Union Company and so over the years made an in depth study of the Wahine disaster. Fifty years after the sinking of the Wahine it is therefore appropriate that I dedicate one of my Ship’s Telegraph Newsletters to commemorate the tragedy.

TEV WAHINE – 10 APRIL 1968

Union Steamship Company House Flag Page 2 of 15

TEV WAHINE

INTRODUCTION

TEV Wahine was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland. Plans were made by the Union Company in 1961, and her keel was laid on 14 September 1964 as Hull No 830. Built of steel her hull was completed in 10 months, and she was launched on 14 July 1965. Her machinery, cargo spaces and passenger accommodation were installed in the following months and she was completed in May 1966. She left Greenock, Scotland for New Zealand on 18 June 1966 and arrived in Wellington on 24 July 1966. She sailed on her maiden voyage to Lyttelton one week later on 1 August.

Her dimensions were 488 feet (149m) long with a beam of 71 feet (22m). Wahine had a grt {gross registered tonnage) of 8,943.78 (increased to 8948 grt on 28 April 1967) and at the time was the Union Company’s largest ship and one of the world’s largest passenger ferries. The power plant was turbo-electric transmission, with four boilers supplying steam to two turbo-alternators that drove the twin main propellers giving her a top speed of 22 knots. The ship also had stern and bow thrusters for manoeuvring her sideways when berthing. She also had stabilisers that halved the amount she rolled and the frequency with which she did so.

The hull was divided by twelve watertight bulkheads into fourteen watertight compartments. The lifeboat compliment was eight large fibreglass lifeboats, two 26 foot motor lifeboats each with a capacity of 50 people, six 31 foot standard lifeboats each with a capacity of 99 people. Additionally the vessel was fitted with 36 inflatable rafts each with a capacity of 25 people.

On a normal crossing the crew compliment was 126: in the Deck Department, the Master, three Deck Officers, one Radio Officer and 19 seamen. The Engine Department had 8 Engineer Officers, 2 Electricians, 1 donkeyman and 12 general

Page 3 of 15 workers. In the hotel department there were 60 stewards, 7 stewardesses, 5 Cooks and 4 pursers . CAPTAIN GORDON ROBERTSON

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The Wahine’s Master in command of the ship on 10 April 1968 was 57 year old Captain H G Robertson, Hector Gordon Robertson was born in Wellington on 4 February 1911, the second of six children and his parent’s oldest son. The name of “Hector“ was never used. He was always called Gordon by his wife Anne and by his brothers and sisters. To his seagoing colleagues, however he was known as “HG” or “Hector Gordon”, and is still remembered today by these names. Gordon Robertson first went to sea in 1927 at the age of 16 as a ship’s boy aboard the Union Steam Ship Company’s Trans – Tasman passenger liner Moeraki. He was an ordinary seaman aboard the 4.505 ton Manuka built in 1903 and sister ship to Moeraki, when she was wrecked off Long Point on the night of 16 December 1929 while on passage from Bluff to Dunedin.

After this Gordon Robertson worked aboard tramp steamers and freighters on the trade routes between New Zealand and Great Britain, getting the sea time needed before obtaining his second mate’s certificate at Southampton in 1933. Three years later he was back in New Zealand waters, having joined the Holm Shipping Company which operated a fleet of small ships around New Zealand coastal ports. Then on 19 August 1938 Gordon Robertson was appointed Third Officer of the Union Steam Ship Company’s Waipahi, a 1,783 ton cargo steamer also working the coastal trades.

He made such a favourable impression with his new employer that on 8 January 1940, only 17 months after joining the company, he was appointed Third Officer of the Rangatira on the Wellington-Lyttelton Steamer Express Service. Two months later, on 17 March 1940, he was transferred to the company’s flagship, the 17,491 ton Aorangi on the Trans Pacific Service.

While serving aboard the Aorangi as Junior Third Officer, Gordon met Anne Marie Robertson, a Canadian passenger with the same surname. They were married in Sydney on 15 May 1940. Gordon Robertson spent the war years as second officer then chief officer aboard a variety of Union Steam Ship Company Ships. After going on to serve as Chief Officer on the Trans Tasman liner Monowai then the Wellington- Lyttelton Express Steamer Hinemoa Gordon Robertson was promoted to master on 15 May 1952. His first command was the 942 ton cargo vessel Kanna.

When Captain Meatyard, Wahine’s regular Master, retired on 30 October 1966, he handed over command to the man who, because of his exceptional record, had been promoted over other masters, older and more senior, fifty-five year old Captain HG Robertson. He was to be Wahine’s Master for the next 17 months and on the day she was lost. Appointment to the Union Company’s best ships was not a case of having the right friends in Head Office or presenting the Marine Superintendent with a bottle of Scotch at Christmas. Appointments as master were judged on the meticulous record the Company kept on how much a master had cost in lost profits through damage to ships and wharves. While some masters had cost the Company

Page 5 of 15 large sums of money Captain Robertson, during the years he had been master of 17 ships, had cost the Company nothing.

Captain Robertson was therefore a highly competent Master, a very good ship handler and had exceptional seamanship skills having worked his way up from Deck Boy. He was also a very caring person. Every morning when the Wahine was in Lyttelton, it was his habit to leave the officers’ dining saloon after breakfast and walk aft to the seamen’s mess room, and standing just inside the door he would ask the men seated at their mess tables if all was well and if any of them needed his help. It was a deeply appreciated gesture from a man they saw as one of their own.

In late February 1968 Gordon Robertson and his wife Anne purchased a new much larger home in Maungaraki on the western hills of the Hutt Valley. Settlement date, when they would relinquish their old home and take possession of the new home was Friday 5 April 1968. Captain Robertson applied for a week’s annual leave beginning the following Monday 8 April, so that he and his wife could move in and unpack, but no master having the necessary familiarity with TEV Wahine was available to relieve him and so his request for leave was declined. Had somebody else been available, and with no disrespect to that master’s professional ability, the outcome on 10 April might have been considerably worse. He slept just one night in his new house, Sunday 7 April before returning to the Wahine for her normal weekly timetable with the sailing to Lyttelton the following day Monday 8 April 1968. Tuesday was spent alongside at Lyttelton just as usual.

Wahine’s Final Voyage

At 2043 hours on 9 April 1968 Wahine departed from Lyttelton bound for Wellington. She was three-quarters of an hour late leaving having had to wait for a train bringing passengers north from Invercargill and Dunedin. Aboard Wahine were 610 passengers, 123 crew and one stowaway – a seaman who was to lose his life the next day. In the Merchant Navy a seaman who travels on a ship illegally usually to get home is called a ringbolt. It is possible that there were several ringbolts on the ship that night but officially there was only one. Also onboard 103 vehicles including 74 passengers’ cars.

At 2030 the ship’s Radio Officer received a “Storm Warning” A severe tropical depression with winds of over 60 knots was centred about 60 miles east of the northern-most tip of New Zealand approximately 695 miles from Lyttelton where the ship was still berthed. It was moving south-south east at 20 knots. For Wellington and Cook Strait, “strong Northerlies changing to southerly after midnight tonight” were forecast, with southerly winds “gradually increasing to gale or storm from tomorrow morning”. There would be rain and poor visibility. Much has been made of this storm warning and the decision by Captain Robertson to put to sea regardless of

Page 6 of 15 it. Ships on the overnight service between Lyttelton and Wellington had a long established reputation for always sailing, departures were never cancelled and for always arriving in port precisely on time. But, as Captain Robertson would later point out, storm warnings affecting Cook Strait are commonplace and there was nothing in the slightest bit unusual about this one. Although classed as a ferry, the 8,948 grt Wahine was an ocean-going vessel designed specifically to handle strong winds and rough seas in Cook Strait. Her engines developing 18,000 shp were, in 1966, the second most powerful installed in a vessel belonging to her owner.

At 2115 hours Wahine rounded Godley Head. Turning to port, Captain Robertson set her on the usual course for Wellington 175 nautical miles away to the northeast. He stayed on the bridge for a further 15 minutes, as was his habit, before going below then returning for a final check at 2230 hours. Mr Grahame Noblet, the third officer had the watch until midnight when he was relieved by the Wahine’s second officer, Mr WTR Shanks. At 0400 hours on 10 April Chief Officer RS Luly took over the watch. Fifteen minutes after coming on watch Mr Luly saw the light on Cape Campbell, the eastern-most point of the South Island, flashing through the darkness off the port beam of the ship. With the Wahine now in Cook Strait, he altered course to 358 degrees and decreased speed from 17 to 16.5 knots. This would place her in the correct position for entry into Wellington Harbour at the usual time of 0600 hours.

Also about 0500 hours the Wahine’s Radio Officer, Mr RJ Lyver, arrived on the bridge and switched on the VHF radio telephone as was his custom in heavy weather which the ship was currently experiencing. Mr Lyver called up Beacon Hill signal station at the entrance to Wellington Harbour and asked the signalmen on duty about winds and sea conditions at the entrance and inside the Harbour. Their reply told him that conditions were no different from the middle of Cook Strait where the ship was. Winds in the harbour were gusting to 60 knots and a tug would be available to assist with berthing at the inter-island wharf.

Wahine’s Bridge

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Captain Robertson came on the bridge at his usual time of 0530 hours and took over navigation of the ship from Mr Luly. The light on Baring Head was clearly seen by Captain Robertson and Mr Luly some 2.5 miles to port, as were the leading lights ahead of the ship that mark the deep water channel into Wellington Harbour. These sightings confirmed that the Wahine was where she should be and there was ample visibility. A minute or two after 0600 she left Cook Strait and began her passage through the entrance channel. The wind holding steady at 50 knots, had not changed. Nothing was different from the conditions he had experienced on previous voyages and there was no reason for Captain Robertson not to proceed.

However, high on the hill-top at the Beacon Hill signal station the wind was suddenly rapidly increasing and gusting to 75 knots, the rain had intensified and visibility dropped to no more than half a mile. Although the signal station knew that the Wahine was due in the entrance channel they failed to advise the ship of changed conditions. As she steamed towards Pencarrow Head visibility decreased to one mile and Captain Robertson responded by ringing “standby" on the engine telegraphs. Wahine was now rolling and pitching heavily in short, steep breaking seas. At around 0609 hours she began veering from her correct course and to regain full helm control “Half Ahead” was ordered on the telegraphs down from “Full Ahead”. She then came back to her proper heading.

As Pencarrow Head passed to starboard visibility reduced further to half a mile. Captain Robertson then stepped back from the bridge windows to check the radar. However, the heavy weather had caused the radar to fail and the picture on the screen was indecipherable. Onboard Wahine there was no backup radar. With the light on Pencarrow receding astern the Wahine again began sheering from her course. She then swung to port, refusing to answer her helm, her bow turning as much as 30 degrees towards Barrett Reef. It seemed as if “the ship took charge”. Captain Robertson then ordered double ring full ahead on both engines with the wheel hard a starboard, but she would not straighten up. Next he decided to go “full astern starboard engine” and “full ahead port engine” to pull the ship round. As he turned to third officer Noblet to give the engine orders, without warning, the Wahine was thrown onto her starboard side.

She had been struck across her port quarter by a huge rogue wave, its approach unseen in the darkness and rain. From the port bridge wing Captain Robertson was catapulted 75 feet across the bridge to the starboard wing, striking his head on the radar console as he flew. It is estimated that the wave was 45 feet high and the Wahine rolled at least 47 degrees from the vertical. Amazingly although she was buried in water up to her boatdeck she came back upright. As Captain Robertson picked himself up he experienced what can only be described as a nightmare, visibility was now zero, a black impenetrable wall of rain lashing the windows. The wind was now so strong that the bridge was shaking together with a shrieking noise as the wind had now jumped to over 100 knots. Upon opening the centre window

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Captain Robertson could see that his ship was broadside to the weather while at the same time rolling fearfully. Wahine now lay in a cauldron of seething, frenzied white water

For the next 26 minutes Captain Robertson fought to turn the ship back out to sea. Shouting above the bedlam of the storm Chief Officer relayed the master’s helm and engine orders to Quartermaster Macleod and Third Officer Noblet. Second Officer Shanks was on the starboard wing, able seamen lookouts were on the port wing. All were told to report any sightings that might establish where exactly they were. Is she answering? What’s her heading? Is she coming around? Time and again the Master and Chief Officer called to the Quartermaster as he held the wheel hard over. The problem was that the ship did not have a gyro compass and because of the violent movement of the ship the repeaters for the magnetic compass spun uselessly around and around as she wallowed in the storm. Captain Robertson did in fact manage to turn the ship around only to get a glimpse through the rain and spray of a flashing orange light right in front of the ship. It was the Barrett Reef light buoy moored by heavy cables to the sea floor on the reef’s southern end. Rather than risk fouling his rudders and propellers on the light buoy’s cables he ordered full astern to get her clear. Almost immediately control of the ship was lost and she once more swung broadside to the seas. She was carried sideways towards Barrett Reef. “Rocks astern” called the second officer on the starboard wing then “Rocks ahead” then from the windows Captain Robertson saw rocks ahead through the havoc of rain and darkness. The huge seas then picked up Wahine and flung her onto Pinnacle Rock on the southern end of the reef. The impact snapped off the Wahine’s starboard propeller and crushed her starboard rudder up into the ship. Immediately, her double bottoms and all compartments at the stern below her main vehicle deck were opened to the sea, filling with water as far forward as the propulsion motor room. The starboard propulsion motor died first followed quickly by the port motor. At the same time Quartermaster Macleod called out “Vessel not answering her helm” as the steering gear compartment also went under water.

Alarm bells were rung throughout the ship and the Purser was ordered to get all passengers to their muster stations wearing lifejackets. Chief Officer Luly was ordered to the Radio Room abaft the bridge ordering the Radio Officer to advise that the vessel was going ashore.

Barrett Reef is a barrier of rock pinnacles rising vertically from deep water and running south to north for some 1.125 kilometres. For the next 30 minutes the Wahine was blown northward along the reef’s eastern flank, the rocks mauling her hull like a can opener as enormous seas lifted her up then dropped her down. Captain Robertson could do nothing but order his Chief Officer to let go both anchors to try and halt the ship’s progress along the reef. At the same time he also ordered all watertight doors be closed. The Chief Officer and the Wahine’s Bosun then made the perilous journey up forward crawling on their hands as huge seas were battering

Page 9 of 15 the ship and coming inboard. Upon reaching the windless both anchors were let go and their cables ran out to their full extent. Soon after 0700 hours the Wahine reached the northern edge of Barrett Reef and was blown into deep water called Chaffer’s Passage. All this time both boiler rooms were dry and the steam turbines powering the generator sets were working as normal supplying full electricity to the ship. As she drifted northwards the rocks of Point Dorset now lay right in her path. However, Wahine did not go aground on Point Dorset but instead dragged her anchors and gradually drifted further up the harbour past Point Dorset.

Diagram showing the track of Wahine

Despite being close to shore, the weather made it impossible for rescuers to reach the ship from land.

The tug Tapuhi set off from Queen’s Wharf and reached the Wahine about 1100 hours. Fifty minutes later the tug had secured a line to Wahine. An attempt was made to tow the ship to safety but the line quickly parted. Other attempts to get a line to Wahine failed. Shortly after mid-day the Deputy Harbourmaster, Captain Galloway, managed to climb aboard the Wahine from the pilot launch, which had

Page 10 of 15 also reached the scene. He risked his life jumping from a heavily pitching launch to a ladder hanging over the starboard side of the ship.

By1315 hours the Wahine was listing heavily to starboard. The tide and storm had swung the ship around so there was a patch of water sheltered from the wind and waves on the lower starboard side of the ship. Just before 1330 hours the order was finally given to abandon ship.

Lifeboats leaving Wahine

Only the four starboard lifeboats could be launched, the ship’s crew tried to get as many people as possible into them. One lifeboat was swamped shortly after leaving the sinking ship and its occupants were tossed into the sea. Two lifeboats safely reached Seatoun and a third landed at Eastbourne.

One of Wahine’s lifeboats coming ashore

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Other passengers were forced to jump into the cold, churning sea. Some clung on to inflatable life-rafts but a number of these were punctured by the wreckage or turned upside down by the heavy seas. Many survivors were blown across the harbour towards Eastbourne and some were picked up by the Wellington – Picton Ferry Aramoana which stood by to pick up survivors.

Rescue teams found the road to Eastbourne blocked by slips. Eventually 200 survivors struggled through the surf to safety on this coast, but it was here that most of the 51 fatalities occurred.. A number of people who reached shore alive did not receive medical attention soon enough to prevent death from exposure. Others were drowned or killed when thrown against the rocks

The last to leave the ship were Captain Robertson and Captain Galloway, jumping from the stern shortly after 1430 hours, after they had checked that no one remained onboard the Ferry. Captain Robertson was slowly lapsing into unconsciousness from the icy water when a motor launch named Cuta came up to him. The Cuta was one of an armada of vessels that put to sea when the abandon ship call was heard on the radio. He was landed at nearby Seatoun wharf and taken home in a Union Steam Ship Company car. His wife Anne recalled his arriving at the door around 1730 hours bare-foot and soaking wet still in his Captains uniform.

At about 1430 just after Captain Robertson jumped off Wahine’s stern the now abandoned Wahine capsized in 11.6 metres of water just east of Steeple Rock Light. The first of the survivors, by this time having already reached the western shore of Seatoun.

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AFTERMATH BY CLIVE KEIGHTLEY

I am going to start this section by stating that it is my firm opinion that Captain Gordon Robertson was completely blameless for the Wahine Tragedy which took place on 10 April 1968.

On 2 May1968 the Minister of Marine announced that Captain Robertson had been charged under the New Zealand Shipping and Seamen Act 1952 with various acts of default and negligence and that a Court of Inquiry would investigate these and other charges. The Inquiry opened at Wellington on Tuesday 26 June 1968 before a Stipendiary Magistrate. On 1 August, after 24 days of hearing he gave his verdict, The Court does not find either the Master of the Chief Officer guilty of any such wrongful acts or defaults, causing the loss of the Wahine or the loss of 51 lives. The Court does note certain serious omissions or errors of judgement, occurring under conditions of great difficulty, but not amounting to wrongful acts or defaults as charged.

Captain Robertson was back at sea and in his cabin on the humble Kowhai, a freighter to which the Union Company demoted him after the Wahine’s loss when his copy of the Court’s written report arrived in December 1968. It was the statements made by the two retired master mariners which hurt him most. Neither of these masters, who had been appointed to assist the Judge, had ever commanded a merchant ship on the Cook Strait Trade. Both declined to sign the court’s report unless their dissenting views were published with it. In a lengthy tirade they criticised Captain Robertson on nearly every part of his evidence. Condemnation from two of his seafaring peers, sitting in judgement of him, and published for the entire world to read, was another immense blow. Their hostile statements from people he expected to support him the most, came on top of the immense crushing shock, which never left him, at the loss of life and the sinking of his beloved ship.

Captain Robertson suffered mild heart attacks in November 1971 and October 1972. In between commands he spent lengthy periods recuperating at home. He died in Lower Hutt on 4 December 1973 at the age of 62.

If any blame is to be handed out for the Wahine tragedy it is to other individuals or organisations not to Captain Robertson. When the ship was built the Union Company fitted out her bridge with only one radar set, a Kelvin Hughes type 14/12. This type of

Page 13 of 15 radar was very unreliable and extremely prone to breaking down. On a vessel designed to operate in waters which were notorious for bad weather and rough seas fitting the ship with a single radar was in itself a negligent act. All the ships I served on around the same time as the sinking of the Wahine were fitted with two radars, set “A” and set “B”. They were operated through a system of inter switching. If the scanner on set “A” failed the scanner from set “B” could be used instead and vice versa. The same could be applied to either of the radar transmitters or displays. It was unlikely that both scanners, transmitters and displays would fail at the same time so I never served on a ship even in rough seas and heavy weather, where we did not have at least one radar fully operational. It was part of my duties to maintain the radars and to achieve this I had attended a radar maintenance course and issued with the appropriate certificate prior to joining my first ship as the sole Radio Officer. The Union company placed little importance on radar and even in the early seventies had ships operating without any radar fitted. So for Captain Robertson when the conditions caused zero visibility how was he supposed to know the exact position of his ship, in very confined waters, when the radar failed?

Another problem which Captain Robertson had to contend with was the magnetic Compass. Time and again the master and chief officer called to Quartermaster Macleod asking if the ship was answering the helm and what was her heading? The magnetic compass was however swinging wildly and was useless as the vessel wallowed before the storm’s onslaught. I joined my first shp in 1966, after attending Maritime College for two years, and I never served on a vessel which did not have a gyro compass. Wahine was fitted with a Kelvin Hughes standard magnetic compass as all vessels were but she should also have been fitted with a gyro compass. A Magnetic compass on its own is what you might find on Captain Cook’s Endeavour!

It is also worth mentioning that when there was a dramatic change in the weather conditions at the Beacon Hill Signal Station, with the wind increasing to 75 knots, the rain intensifying and reduced visibility this was not relayed to the Wahine. Down below in the channel the conditions were stable and no different this morning from many other and there was no reason for Captain Robertson to turn his ship around. Why did the signalmen at Beacon Hill fail to inform the Wahine, which they knew would be entering the channel, using the VHF Radio. Had Captain Robertson been informed of the changed conditions at Beacon Hill he may not have continued his entry into Wellington Harbour. Just what he would have done we will never know.

There is no doubt that in recent years there has been a huge leap forward in technology regarding the equipment fitted on the bridge of a modern merchant vessel. However, even in 1966 when the Wahine entered service her bridge equipment was very sub standard. It is unbelievable that a ship designed to operate in the treacherous waters of Cook Strait and the Port of Wellington had no gyro compass and a single radar with no backup. These deficiencies were an important contributing factor to the sinking of the Wahine. Under the circumstance Captain

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Robertson, through his excellent seamanship skills, picked the exact location and time to give his order to “Abandon Ship”. Any sooner or any later and the loss of life could have been much greater.

Seafarers who served under Captain Robertson remember him as a complete gentleman, unfailingly polite, quietly spoken, unassuming and an exceptional seaman and leader. His ability to place a ship alongside the wharf with the minimum of helm and engine orders, regardless of wind and sea conditions, is still recalled with admiration by men who watched him do this. He was always carefully and correctly dressed and his ships were run accordingly, and he could only be described as a perfectionist in every way.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Over the years much has been written about the Wahine tragedy and is now readily available on the Internet. However, some of the information is not correct.

I would however, like to acknowledge the information about the Wahine printed in a book called New Zealand Shipwrecks compiled by Charles William Ingram & Percy Owen Wheatley.

I should also like to thank Murray Robinson for his superb articles relating to the Wahine tragedy in the Sea Breezes Magazine. Murray states that the material in his articles was drawn in large part from conversations with Captain Robertson’s wife Anne, who died in 1993, his sister Noeleen, who died in 2002, and Wahine’s helmsman Ken Macleod who died in 2009.

I said earlier in this special edition of Ship’s Telegraph that it is my firm belief that Captain Robertson was completely blameless for the Wahine tragedy and I hope that what I have written goes a long way to convince those who think otherwise to change their minds.

Clive Keightley Grad Dip in Business (Shipping), First Class PMG Cert, Radar Maintenance Certificates (UK and AUS)

It is interesting to note that on 10 April 2018, exactly 50 years after the Wahine tragedy, the Cook Strait ferries were cancelled due to strong wind and high seas.

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