The Gairloch: Ship's Loss a Family's Gain

A rusty old shipwreck sits on a Taranaki beach and it's been there for more than 100 years. It's the wreck of the Gairloch and now the crabs and kina probably think its engine bits are rocks.

This week's story tells you why it ran aground and why it has sat there ever since.

Rewind 

The Gairloch ran up on the beach in 1903. Were these things really happening way back then? You decide.

True or false?

1. The Whanganui River steamer service from Wanganui to Pipiriki, is extended all the way to Taumarunui.

2. Many people claim that Richard Pearse from Temuka has beaten the Wright Brothers in the race for the world's first powered flight.

3. The Bird Nuisance Act is passed to encourage people to destroy birds that are interfering with crops.

4. Most Taranaki farmers now milk their cows with the newly invented milking machines.

5. Planning begins for the setting up of training colleges. They will provide two-year training courses for primary teachers.

Is that likely?

The SS Wairarapa was wrecked with the loss of 121 lives. This shipwreck is one of New Zealand's biggest disasters.

The Wairarapa was a steamer like the Gairloch and like the Gairloch she shared some dangerous incidents at sea before she was wrecked. The Wairarapa ran into another ship and so did the Gairloch. The Wairarapa caught fire at sea and the Gairloch ran aground five times before she was finally wrecked.

The one thing the two ships didn't share was the loss of life. Try this quick quiz with a classmate and then check out the website below to find the answers.

Likely or unlikely? You decide.

1. The Captain of the Wairarapa sailed his ship at a fast pace even through thick fog.
2. The passengers and even the crew were worried about the speed of the Wairarapa.
3. In those days horses were often carried as cargo and they lived in crates on the deck.
4. The Wairarapa crashed on to rocks just after midnight but most passengers just stayed in their cabins below deck.
5. Horses, sheep and other cargo on deck were swept into the sea. So were any people that got in their way.
6. All lifeboats were launched safely.
7. Some people were saved by the lifeboats.
8. Some people managed swim to shore.
9. Once the lifeboats had gone there was no way to get off the ship without swimming.
10. A court of inquiry blamed this disaster on the captain.

Look here to check your answers.

Picture that shipwreck

More than 40 ships were wrecked in Taranaki waters during the 1800s so imagine how many were wrecked worldwide.

Heading to sea in that century and the ones that came before, could be dangerous for your health.

The poem below builds amazing word pictures that describe the scene as the ships went down. Read the poem and then choose the three lines that you think build the best word pictures. Jot down these three lines and then round this "new" poem off by adding a line of your own.

      Shipwreck

Night and a starless sky,
Ship on wild billows tossed,
With tattered sails and opening seams,
And deck bestrewn with falling beams,
Swift plunging to her doom.

Red lightnings round her flash,
Loud thunders crash and roar,
And the noble vessel mounts the crest
Of the reeking waves, then sinks to rest
Mid carnival of woe.

The Petrel soars aloft,
Wailing her hymn of death,
And the dirge like sounds pierce the blackened sky,
While the crew send forth one anguished cry,
Sinking to lowest depth.

Some ships go out to sea
That never more return,
Souls that from heaven in infancy come,
Tarnished and ruined by sin may become,
Like the Dove to the Ark they never return,
But sink as ship to doom.

                            By Mary Weston Fordham

Word watch

All the words and phrases below appear in this week's story. Choose the best meaning and then check your answers later as you read the story.

1. relic (a) an older person or (b) something that has survived from the past.
2. diminished (a) become smaller or (b) faded.
3. imperceptibly (a) very slowly (b)without being noticed.
4. contemporary account (a) something written from about the same time period or (b) something written in modern times about an event in the past.
5. salvaged (a) saved from destruction or (b) broken into pieces.
6. assessed (a ) looked closely at for hidden treasure or (b) worked out the value of to see if it was worth saving.
7. legitimate (a) clever or (b) lawful.
8. legacy (a) owned legally or (b)something handed down from the past.
9. pilgrimage (a) a journey to a special place or (b) an outing.
10. error of judgment (a) an accident or (b) a mistake.

A once proud ship 

Look closely at the painting of the Gairloch. How was it powered? How were ships from earlier generations powered? How would the ships be powered from the generations after the Gairloch?

Work this out with a classmate and then take a look at the great timeline of ships here. 

What if the Gairloch wasn't wrecked? Would it have ever been converted to oil like the ship on the timeline?

Collision course!

Read the first part this week's story down to the part that describes the near collision between the Gairloch and her sister ship the Ngapuhi.

There was no voice radio communication between ships in 1903 and signaling through morse code was in its early days. Ships relied on light and flag signals and fog horns to make sure they did not run into each other.

Imagine the conversation between the first mate and the captain on board the Ngapuhi when they saw the Gairloch heading towards them. Perhaps it went something like this.

First mate:  Horrible day captain

Captain: Aye it is that first mate. Just keep a lookout for the Gairloch. She's in these waters I believe.

First mate: Is that the Gairloch that was stranded on the Waitara bar in '87.

Captain: (sighing) Aye first mate. That be her. That be her.

First mate: And is that the very same ship that's been grounded in the very same river four times since then.

Captain: Aye first mate, you be right there. She's a sister ship to the Ngapuhi you know. Mind you she's been in a lot more scrapes than the Ngapuhi . She hit a ship in the Manukau you know first mate.

First mate: Well I never.

Captain: Aye she did that and she lost a propeller and struck rocks after her rudder chains jammed.

First mate: That wasn't the Gairloch that beached in the Wanganui River was it Captain?

Captain: Aye that was the Gairloch first mate. That it was.

First mate: (Looking though telescope) Ship approaching captain...starboard, about 500 yards I'd say.

Captain: Let's have a look there first mate. By Jove you're right...Wait a minute...I believe it's the Gairloch.

First mate: Should we hold our course Captain or should we head due west?

Captain: We'll signal. She must have seen us. Sound the horn first mate and flash the light.

First mate: Aye aye captain... Captain she seems to have a fairly full head of steam. She's travelling at fair rate of knots.

Captain: Aye, that she is first mate and she doesn't appear to have changed course.

Now that you know what happened, write the ending to this conversation. Pair up with a classmate and practice reading your two versions.

Distress signals overhead

Read on now through to where the harbourmaster assessed the wreck. What if rockets like these were seen these days?  Pair up with a classmate again and list some 2004 technology that would probably be used in the night rescue these days.

Fine host 

The story tells us that the lifeboat crews were met by the proprietor of the Breakwater Hotel who "administered to their needs". Draw some speech bubbles to match characters in the cartoon. The speech bubbles should show how pleased the crew were when they noticed it was the publican who was there to greet them.

My personal effects

Captain Austen and his officers returned to the wreck to salvage the crew's personal effects.

These days a crew member might carry such things as a digital camera, a mobile phone and even a laptop computer among his personal effects.

What do you think the sailor of 1903 would have? Make a list and compare it with lists your classmates have made.

Read on!

The next part of the story tells of what happened to the Gairloch after the officers salvaged the valuables. It also tells the tale of the local people who went down to the wreck to see what they could find.

Read down to the paragraph that begins "Built in Glasgow..."

Does cargo change?

Try this with a classmate. Read about the Gairloch's cargo again and think about the cargo that goes in and out of Port Taranaki today.

Would it be similar or vastly different? Think about the forms of transport that are around today compared to 100 years ago. Would a cargo like the Gairloch's even travel by ship today?

Check out the Port Taranaki website below once you have come a decision. It tells you about the cargo that will come in and go out of Taranaki over the next few weeks. Look here and see how right you were.

What could that be used for?

Fred must have been an innovative man. He took a brass ring and set it in stone for a doorstop and it has stayed as a doorstop for 100 years. Most of the ship's machinery was salvaged and like the doorstep, probably found a new use.

Try this in a group of three. Let's say you went into partnership with Mr Bayly, the man who bought the wreck. This is what you have salvaged from the Gairloch.

• Two 85 horsepower engines in going order.
• Two boilers
• Two propellers
• A full galley. (That's the kitchen part of the ship so along with a bench and sink you probably have things like knives and forks and plates.)
• Bunks and other cabin gear. ( Mirrors, wooden chests hand basins for washing.) 
• Salon equipment. (This may have included things like lounge chairs and a bar.)
• Portholes
• A funnel 
• Decking timber

Now decide what sort of business you could set up using these goods and work out how you would use them all to make a tidy profit. Jot down your ideas as a business plan and then share your ideas in class.

It's a family tradition!

Fred Cowling's daughter now has some of the souvenirs her Dad salvaged from the Gairloch and the story tells us a family picnic is held by the wreck every year.

Perhaps a family member took a copy of The Taranaki Daily News to read at the beach. Check out each of the sites below to see what was happening in the world on these picnic years. Write the headlines the Cowling family might have read for each of years below.

1915

1919
1940

Guilty as charged?

Finish the story now and find out what happened to Captain Austen. Decide if the judgment and punishment was a fair one.

Fast forward to 2004

In 1903 the crew of the Gairloch lowered the lifeboats and rowed around to the port. You probably can't do that now.

A special Government law sees new security measures in place to combat international terrorism. Parts of the port where people used to fish from are off limits. Even the popular Mikotahi rocks are out of bounds. This was a really popular fishing spot.

All export ports in New Zealand have to follow the new International Ship and Port Security Code. It's being done to protect New Zealand's international reputation so that trade will continue and ship's crews will feel safe coming here.

This is part of the coastline that a lot of Taranaki people used to enjoy, but the new laws have changed all that.

One stay, three stay

Do this in a group of four.

Decide whether you agree or disagree with the statement below. Think of a good reason for your answer. When all the groups have made up their minds, do this.

Get three of your group to visit three other groups so you can share all your ideas.

Here's the statement:

The new laws are silly. If terrorists really wanted to do some damage a fence isn't going to stop them. They will go where they want to go.