Story: Shipwrecks

Helping Elingamite survivors

Helping Elingamite survivors

This is the cover of a programme from a charity event held to raise funds for survivors of the wreck of the Elingamite. On the foggy morning of 9 November 1902 the Elingamite, en route from Sydney to Auckland, struck West Island in the Three Kings group. Six lifeboats and two rafts were launched. One boat made it to Houhora on New Zealand’s east coast. Those on board one of the rafts and four of the other boats made it to the Three Kings, where they were picked up after two days of cold and hunger. The last boat was never seen again. The second raft had 16 on board, a keg of water and two apples. Half-submerged, it drifted for four days. When picked up by the Penguin, there were eight survivors, their skin burnt and blistered and their eyes bloodshot. In all, 17 crew and 28 passengers died in the disaster. Ten days after the wreck Williamson’s Musical Comedy Company organised a ladies’ cricket match and garden party to raise funds for survivors.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: Eph-A-SHIP-1902-01-cover

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Gerard Hutching, 'Shipwrecks - Improved safety', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/ephemera/7295/helping-elingamite-survivors (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Gerard Hutching, published 12 Jun 2006