Steam-powered ships were still a novelty in New Zealand in 1858, when the steamer White Swan was chartered by the government to carry mail between the main cities. Other steamers carried mail to Australia and England. The White Swan came to a sad end in 1862 when, in a race to beat another ship from Napier to Wellington, she was wrecked on the rocks south of Castlepoint, on the Wairarapa coast. Many official papers on board were lost at sea.
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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
1/2-050359; F
Artwork by H. C. Berry
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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