The wild waters and intense weather of Cook Strait led Māori to perform special rituals when crossing the strait. The inter-island ferry Penguin was wrecked south of Wellington in 1909, causing 75 deaths, and 51 people died when the Wahine foundered at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in 1968.
Listen to a Roadside Story about Cook Strait shipwrecks. Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides to places around New Zealand.
Archival audio sourced from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives. Sound files may not be reused without permission from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives (Reference number sa-t-0605-su03-pm).
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YouTube: Manatu Taonga's channel
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