Wahine disaster, wellington, new zealand, april, 1968; were tombstones in cargo hold?

Question

maori tapu -- was wahine sunk by fate

Answer 1

That is an incredulous claim. The disaster happened because  the vessel was unable to sail through what was one of the heaviest storms experienced in this country in living memory.

Answer 2

No there were not tombstones in that ship.Maori seldom have tombstones anywhere except in their family cemeteries.

Answer 3

I have never heard that claim before and im a ferry and shipping disaster buff myself

Answer 4

The wrecking of the Wahine is by far the best-known maritime disaster in New Zealand's history

Wahine was an inter-island ferry, not a cargo ship.

Wahine was sunk by two violent storms that merged over Wellington, creating a single extratropical cyclone storm that was the worst recorded in New Zealand's history.  The winds in Wellington were the strongest ever recorded. At one point they reached a speed of 275 km/h.  The ship was then abandoned, rolls over and sunk.

Although the main cause of the accident was the atrocious weather conditions, the subsequent inquest also acknowledged that errors of judgement had been made both on board the ferry and on shore.  Fate, I think not.

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