On the 29th October 1894, the SS Wairarapa, a supply ship carrying general cargo, sixteen horses, some sheep, sixty five crew and one hundred and seventy passengers from Sydney to Auckland, hit the rocks at the foot of Miner's Head, Great Barrier Island. She was a fairly new vessel and had recently established a record for crossing the Tasman Sea.

It was eight minutes after midnight and the ship was well off course when she had a hole ripped through the hull and started taking on a flood of seawater. In the thick fog and adverse conditions only two lifeboats were launched and about fifty people were rescued but as the vessel took on more water she listed to one side and tipped even more people into the huge waves.

Even those wearing life preservers had difficulty in the water. In addition to the waves there was cargo, horses, sheep and debris hampered those trying to survive.

People still on board clung to the rigging or upper works of the Wairarapa until they were swept off by the rising sea and violently shifting of the vessel.

There were a handful of stronger swimmers who managed to reach the high cliffs and clamber over the rocks to comparative safety. After several failed attempts, a crew member (some say a steward) managed to rig a line between the ship and the shore. About fifty people managed to cross over to safety by hanging on to this lifeline.

The survivors had to wait for over a day before they were found and guided to civilisation by local Maori.

The wreck has been judged the third worst in New Zealand history. One hundred and twenty one people lost their lives. The master of the ship was blamed at the subsequent enquiry for not taking into account the currents and weather conditions at the time.

Note: Annie McQuaid was awarded a posthumous medal for bravery. An assistant stewardess, she tried to save a child by giving it her only life jacket. Neither of the two survived.

- Research Jane Davidson

- Evening Star articles 12.8.1967

- 'NZ Shipwrecks' by C.W.N. Ingram

- '8 Minutes Past Midnight: The Wreck of the Wairarapa' - S.Locker-Lampson & Francis 1981)