Story: Shipwrecks

Survivors of the Niagara

Survivors of the Niagara

Pictured are two of the lifeboats of the Niagara just before the passengers were successfully picked up. On 19 June 1940 the 13,000-ton liner Niagara was sailing from Auckland to Vancouver when it hit a German-laid mine off Bream Head. All 136 passengers and 203 crew made it to the lifeboats. But the 590 bars of gold and half the New Zealand Army’s small-arms ammunition sank with the ship.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-051971;F

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 - 20th-century shipwrecks', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/7297/survivors-of-the-niagara (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Gerard Hutching, published 12 Jun 2006