Danny Maquire's sea chest shaped coffin he plans to use when the time comes. Photos / Rebecca Mauger
Danny Maquire's sea chest shaped coffin he plans to use when the time comes. Photos / Rebecca Mauger
Danny Maquire's final voyage will be in a coffin which perfectly reflects his love of travel.
The Katikati Coffin Club member has made a coffin resembling an old sea chest — historically used by ship travellers — and this will be the vessel for his final passage.
Ships have beenpart of Danny's psyche since he was a lad.
Danny Maquire's coffin made at Katikati Coffin Club.
He came over from England via ship with his family at the age of 10. The five-week journey was on the TSS Captain Cook (the captain was actually called James Cook). It was a trip he's never forgotten, he says.
He's been on a few ships since such as four days' travel from Auckland to Sydney aboard the MS Wanganella in 1961.
The chest-shaped coffin is covered in memorabilia-type travel stickers including his family's Irish family crest. The coffin is made from plywood with fabric, leather and has boat rope for handles.
The coffin is, like all coffin club coffins, made to correct specifications.
Danny plans on being cremated and he's also making an ashes box of the same theme.
Katikati Coffin Club meets in a large shed along Wharawhara Rd, where woodwork fans indulge in their craft, others come for the social aspect and sometimes the question of death is discussed.
But there's nothing macabre about the club, Danny says. They're very light-hearted and practical about death... they often leave death jokes on the club notice board and have aptly named the club barbecue The Crematorium.
Katikati Coffin Club.
Katikati Coffin Club
The club is where members:
● Meet socially
● Discuss the question of death
● Plan their last farewell using a final wishes kit
● Help other members make and decorate coffins
● Make their own traditional or modern coffin
● Make and decorate coffins for special needs, such as still-born babies
