1942 December 19 The only untoward incident in her war career occurred inside Wellington Harbour, when Wahine rammed and sank the mine sweeping trawler South Sea, fortunately without any loss of life. The collision involving the Wahine was one of the strangest because it took place in broad daylight on Wellington harbour during wartime. The Wahine was no stranger to Wellington Harbour, having been the mainstay of the Wellington-Lyttelton run since 1913. Her master, Captain Alexander Howie, knew the port equally well. The South Sea (312 tons) commanded by Temporary Lieutenant Peter Bradley, was the former steam trawler Ferriby, built in England in 1912. Requisitioned by the Navy as an anti-submarine mine sweeping trawler, she was on patrol duty inside the harbour at the time of her loss. The weather was fine with good visibility as the Wahine pulled away from Fryatt Quay at 08:24 hours on Saturday the 19th of December 1942 and put on a good turn of speed. Six minutes later, just abreast of Point Jerningham, Howie became worried that the minesweeper, heading in from her picket line off Somes Island, looked as though she might be on a collision course. Bradley had seen the ferry but overestimated his own speed and thought that he had time to clear her safely. At 08:31 Howie altered course to Starboard and sounded the whistle. Another minute later, with the South Sea now moving at about 6 knots and sheering slightly to Port, he put Wahine's engines full astern. This had cut the speed to about 8 knots by the time that she sliced into the small minesweeper two minutes later; the impact was still considerable, however, throwing two men off the stern of the South Sea and into the water and knocking unconscious the warship's helmsman. The ferry had struck the minesweeper just aft of the bridge, opening a big hole in her Starboard side. Rescue craft appeared on the scene within minutes. The scow The Portland plucked the two ratings from the water and the remainder were able to step across to other craft without too much difficulty. The tug Toia and the minesweeper HMNZS Rata, their pumps working furiously, tried to keep the South Sea afloat long enough to tow her to shallow water but to no avail; HMNZS South Sea sank off Point Halswell at 09:20 in about 24 metres of water. The Wahine, after careful examination, continued her voyage. Too important to take off the vital ferry run, she had to put up with her damaged bow until mid-January 1943 when she could be patched up at Lyttelton. Although they considered salvaging the old minesweeper, the Navy settled for the easier and cheaper alternative of stripping the wreck of its vital fittings. Between January and March 1943, they removed her guns, depth charges, radio gear and other valuable items of equipment. They then lowered an old depth charge and blasted away the higher parts of the South Sea's superstructure to minimise the danger to shipping. She still rests there today, safely out of the way of the keels of modern shipping, but surprisingly intact. Because of wartime need for security and the fact that a court of inquiry had no jurisdiction over a naval vessel, there was no formal marine court of inquiry. The Navy did hold its own inquiry in December 1942. It found that Bradley had erred in not taking any bearings of the Wahine and that he had not acted in accordance with articles 22 and 23 of the Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. Howie might have avoided the collision by turning to Port rather than Starboard (i.e. by turning towards the minesweeper), but this would have been against the regulations and all the instincts of seamanship, since the Union Company master did not know that the warship captain had not realised that a collision was impending. The Union Company later presented the Navy with a bill for almost £5000. The wreck was relocated in 1974 by Ian Francis and artefacts from this vessel can be found at "Kelly Tarlton's Museum of Shipwrecks" in Paihia. An account of a dive on the South Sea can be found at this link, which opens in a new window. 1945 October 15 The inter-island ferry was chartered to repatriate RNZAF personnel from the Pacific Islands, making three return trips. On the second of these trips, leaving Bougainville on 15 October 1945, a captured Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero-Sen 22 Japanese fighter aircraft, was carried as deck cargo under the supervision of Warrant Officer C Calcinai. The aircraft was still painted in its white surrender markings, but the propeller and tailplane were removed for the trip.

• published: 28 Jul 2013
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