"This is good news," Mr Turnbull said of the Napier City Council's quest to take on a sculptural artist to create a commemorative work for Perfume Point domain near the entrance to Ahuriri harbour.
In Mr Turnbull's article Michelle Major (nee Aplin), the granddaughter of one of those lost, Robert Kilmore Aplin, had also lamented the lack of a memorial on the coast near the scene where the tragedy unfolded.
Mr Aplin was 58 and left seven children behind.
"It would be great if there were a memorial to what happened placed there at Perfume Point to tell people what had happened that night, and those who lost their lives there," Mrs Major told Mr Turnbull last year.
When told this week there were now plans in place to erect a memorial she was thrilled.
"I did not know my grandad who lost his life but I can imagine how significant it would be to my dad and his siblings - all the Napier families who were affected by this tragedy will be so pleased it will be rightly remembered."
In the wake of Mr Fowler's feature the Napier City Council agreed the story of the tragedy, of the lives lost at a time the populace were still getting over the 1931 earthquake, had not been widely told or commemorated.
Now, in consultation with Mr Fowler and members of the Old Customhouse Trust, the council is seeking proposals for a sculptural artwork that symbolises the tragedy.
"It will be something that memorialises the event - the whole story," council director of community services Antoinette Campbell said.
"The men who were lost, the families they left behind and the heroes who had gone to their aid."
The council is calling for artists' proposals, for design, time frame for completion and pricing with a cut-off date of July 3.
The proposals will go to an advisory panel, which Mr Fowler will be involved with and which will also host people from community arts, fine arts, heritage, Maori and those with urban design experience.
The selected artist would work with directors, community services and city services in the preparation of the area and installation of the artwork.
Ms Campbell said no budget had been declared at this stage but funding would be provided by council along with community and corporate sponsors when the commission cost was known.
No completion time frame had been put in place, although Mr Fowler said it would be good news if it was before the next anniversary of the tragedy, on December 23.
"It is definitely something that needs to be recognised and it was sad nothing had been done - good on the council for taking this up."
Mrs Major was also hoping it could be in place before the next anniversary.
"It would be fantastic if, when it is unveiled, it brings families of those who lost their lives together for a moment of reflection and remembrance."
There were 28 watersiders on the Doris which had taken them out into the roadstead to work on two cargo ships too large to enter the Ahuriri docks.
Fifteen of them were wearing heavy trousers and thick coats because they had been working in the freezers of the Port Brisbane. The other 13 were lightly dressed.
As the Doris made its way back into the harbour it was struck by the departing Richardson Shipping Company's lighter Te Atu which was heading to Wairoa.
As Mr Fowler had written - "From some eyewitness accounts from the Doris, a glancing blow from the Tu Atu tipped the unbalanced launch over when men 'sprang to the port side' trying to avoid a collision on the starboard side after a cry of 'look out, here's the Tu Atu'.
"Being heavily dressed, 10 men would drown, and there would have been more fatalities, but behind the Doris was the tugboat Coralie which began to pull men to safety, as was a lifeboat launched from the Tu Atu.
"One watersider, James Joseph, swam about 135 metres to the eastern pier to raise the alarm, and the launch Naomi was sent to look for survivors within 10 minutes of his alert to the tragedy."
It later transpired the helmsman of the Doris had cut across the path of the Te Atu.
He was fined and his certificate to operate a vessel cancelled.
The men who died were buried in a mass grave at the Park Island Cemetery, where a memorial gravestone was laid.
Those who lost their lives
"No pains, no griefs, no anxious fear, can reach our loved ones sleeping here"
Walter Andrews
Robert Kintore Aplin
Alexander Moncrieff Boyd
Eddie Cooper
Harold Johnson
Thomas Ridley Kitt
Norman Walles Low
Jethro Henry Medcalf
John Hopper Wilson
James Woods
