Sinking of the SS Ventnor

The SS Ventnor leaving Westport in 1901

The SS Ventnor was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1901 for Gow, Harrison and Co as a British cargo steamship. Her length was 344.7 ft and her depth was 25.7 ft with tonnages of 3,961 GRT, 2,581 NRT and 6,400 DWT. In 1902 it sank off the coast of New Zealand with a loss of 13 crew members.

The cargo of the ship is even more interesting and tragic as it was carrying the remains of 499 Chinese gold miners who had died in New Zealand and were in the process of being taken back to China. 9 elderly Chinese people were "coffin attendants" who were caring for the remains. The ship was also holding 5,347 tonnes of coal and sacks of fungus, tow and flax.

The first survivors to land at Omapere.

The charity named Cheong Sing Tong had chartered the ship to return the remains back to China as the men who had been mostly gold miners were from the Guangdong province but the sinking marked the end of ships returning exhumed remains. 

Mr Bryer's house in Omapere where the survivors were accommodated.

Group portrait showing the surviving officers.

The Ship left Wellington for Hong Kong on 26 October 1902 and about 12.30am the following morning it became stuck on a reef off the South Coast of Cape Egmont. It freed itself under it's own power but water was leaking into the number one hold. Because Wellington didn't have a suitable dockyard to repair the ship, the master decided to carry on to Auckland but water continued coming in faster than the pumps could push it out. 

SS Ventnor memorial, Ōpononi

Everyone was instructed to abandon the ship as it started sinking about 9 nautical miles off the Hokianga coast. 2 lifeboat, 1 commanded by the first officer reached Omapere beach and a 3rd landed later but sadly a 4th capsized drowning 24 people including Captain ferry and the elderly Chinese attendants. An enquiry into the disaster on November 1902 found that the sinking happened because of either negligence or incompetence. They couldn't prove drunkenness, the blame lay with the Captain.

Over the next months the remains of the Chinese gold miners started washing ashore and the iwi Te Roroa and Te Rarawa buried them near their own Urupa. This memorial commemorates the event and remembers the people who died including the cultural connections between New Zealand and China.

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