Ranui
A holiday
excursion to Mayor Island in the Bay of Plenty ended tragically on the evening
of 28 December 1950 when 23 persons were drowned after the 45 ft passenger
launch Ranuicapsized and was smashed to pieces on
North Rock, Mt. Maunganui, Tauranga. There was only one survivor, a 19-year-old
youth. It was all over in a matter of moments and nothing could be done to help
anyone on board. A Marine Court could find no fault with master or owners, and
found that the disaster was caused by a single exceptionally high wave in a
violent sea flinging the small craft on to the rocks.
Website:
Allan
Greig's memories are still sharp of Mt Maunganui's worst sea disaster - the
loss of 22 lives in the Ranui shipwreck 50 years ago today.
He
helped to recover bodies from the base of the Mount after the new 45ft kauri
launch foundered in high seas at the entrance to Tauranga Harbour.
On
her maiden voyage, she was returning from a day-trip to Mayor Island, 21
nautical miles north, when she was hurled against rocks and dashed to pieces.
Some
days after the disaster, Mr Greig was on patrol at Mt Maunganui beach, still
looking for missing passengers, when the body of his good friend Snowy Carlsen
washed up at his feet.
"The
waves rolled it [the body] over and I looked down into my old cobber's face. It
was a shocking thing," 79-year-old Mr Greig said yesterday.
"What
a strange coincidence it came up where it did, with all those miles of beach at
Mt Maunganui and Matakana."
Mr
Greig had not long moved from Auckland, where he had worked with Mr Carlsen at
a Penrose cardboard box company.
Mr
Greig had no idea Mr Carlsen was in the area on holiday, let alone aboard the
ill-fated Ranui.
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There
was one survivor, 19-year-old Phillip "Bluey" Smith, whose father was
one of three crewmen.
Now
nearly 70 years old and in poor health, Mr Smith, who later became a commercial
fisherman, lives in Australia.
He
was in the wheelhouse when the 6-ton Ranui was lifted by the stern and turned
end-over-end by a freak wave about 5 pm. Mr Greig, who rushed to the scene
after hearing a radio report, said Mr Smith was incredibly lucky to be tossed
up onto a small area of sand among the rocks.
He
was able to struggle to higher ground as the maelstrom scattered people and
wreckage.
The
sea was rough when the Ranui left Tauranga to take a party of campers to Mayor
Island three days after Christmas, 1950. Conditions worsened as the charter
boat made its way home through the storm-driven swell late in the afternoon.
The rest is history.
Onlookers
raced to the Mt Maunganui surf club to sound the alarm. One of those who
responded was the club president of the day, Graham Clarke.
"Conditions
were atrocious and there was a great deal of confusion," Mr Clarke said.
"There
was little we could do to actually save anyone ... The waves were so horrendous
that several of our guys were washed out and could easily have drowned
themselves if they hadn't been thrown back onto the rocks."
The
dead - some drowned and others killed when the breakers slammed them into rocks
- were mostly holidaymakers from around the North Island.
The
surf club became a temporary morgue. As bodies were recovered, they were laid
to rest there and the young surf lifesavers had the harrowing job of taking
relatives in to identify their loved ones.
The
corroded remains of the vessel's engine are still wedged between rocks on the
seaward edge of the Mt Maunganui base track, above North West Rock. Nearby is a
brass plaque dedicated to those who died.
A
public memorial service will be held there at 4 pm today.Website:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=166586
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