John Wilson (left), Lynne Cromarty and Garry Hawkins hold a Wairoa lifebuoy presented to Coastguard Wanganui. Photo / Laurel Stowell
John Wilson (left), Lynne Cromarty and Garry Hawkins hold a Wairoa lifebuoy presented to Coastguard Wanganui. Photo / Laurel Stowell
A relic from a tragic Whanganui shipwreck has "come home" to the Coastguard Wanganui building in Wharf St - not far from where the accident happened.
The buoy is from the trawler Wairoa, which sank on July 5, 1978, as it crossed the Whanganui River bar. Items salvaged from theWairoa were kept at the Waipipi Iron Sands office - including the buoy, which was later given to Waverley historian Laraine Sole.
Sole said she felt the buoy should be kept.
"I think we have to keep these things fresh in our minds," she said.
"As long as we keep talking about people, it keeps them alive."
The buoy was accepted by Coastguard Wanganui president Garry Hawkins on October 18.
It will be kept in the Coastguard building, which also holds the Wairoa compass, a plaque about the sinking and photographs of the rescue attempt. The buoy will be treasured, Hawkins said, and a reminder that the river bar must always be treated with respect.
In the 1970s the Wairoa was used by the Waipipi Iron Sands operation to take a floating hose from Whanganui to transport ships waiting off the Waverley coastline. It also transported items back and forth.
The day she sank she was carrying the hose and a section of heavy chain back to Whanganui for repair. On board were Captain Michael Ruffhead, engineer Ray Chenery and crewman Mervyn Ericsson.
The weather was atrocious, with water in turmoil where the swollen river met the sea. Just before 3pm Ruffhead told the pilot things were okay - but a minute later the boat was upside down and sinking fast.
The terrible weather made rescue difficult and people quickly heard about the sinking. They lined the wharf and moles to watch, but could do nothing.
The ashes of Mike Ruffhead and Ray Chenery were scattered at sea, according to their wishes. Photo / File
Castlecliff resident Lynne Douglas was there.
"It was horrible," Douglas said.
"We were just looking at the bar and knowing there was a boat down there. We couldn't see anything. But we knew."
The three aboard were in the wheelhouse when the Wairoa went down but Ericsson was later spotted holding on to a buoy attached to the pipeline.
An aircraft dropped a lifeboat for him. He let go of the buoy to grab it, missed and was overcome by a wave. His body was later retrieved with a scoop net from a helicopter, but he had been in the water too long. His daughter Lynne Cromarty said he died of hypothermia.
The bodies of the other two men were not found for days. Divers salvaged parts from the ship, which drifted south beyond the moles. It's still out there and is marked on charts.
John Wilson was the lead diver for Waipipi in 1978, and was called in for the salvage and body search.
"I knew the three of them very well. They taught me a lot," he said.
The bar is a scary place, and he has thought of that day often during other times at sea.
"You never actually forget about it."
After huge funerals, the ashes of Ruffhead and Chenery were scattered at sea near the accident spot, according to their wishes. Forty-nine trees were planted in Ruffhead's memory at Marybank.
