1951 Troop ship Wahine wrecked en route to Korean War

After 38 years on the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry run, and service in two world wars, in 1951 the TSS Wahine was chartered by the New Zealand government to transport Kayforce troops to the Korean War. After leaving Darwin, the Wahine ran aground on Masela Island in the Arafura Sea, east of Timor. Everyone on board was safely evacuated but the ship became a total loss.

Built in Scotland in 1913, the 4436-ton Wahine joined the Maori (1907) on the Union Steam Ship Company’s important inter-island service. The ship was capable of carrying 486 saloon and 366 second-class passengers. In 1915 it was requisitioned by the British government for use as a despatch ship at Gallipoli and later as a minelayer. The Wahine impressed British observers with its manoeuvrability and laid over 11,000 mines in the North Sea during the war. During the Second World War the Wahine again served as a troopship, mainly in the South Pacific.

Seventeen years after the demise of the first Wahine, a much worse fate was to befall its namesake, the Union Steam Ship Company’s new TEV Wahine, which was tragically wrecked with the loss of more than 50 lives at the entrance to Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968.

Image: The first Wahine in 1951