On the evening of 23 May all 29 crew on board the MV Kaitawa died when the ship was lost in heavy seas as it approached Cape Rēinga from the Tasman Sea. This was one of New Zealand’s worst shipwrecks of the 20th century. On a routine run with a cargo of coal from Westport to the Portland cement works near Whangārei, the Kaitawa sent a Mayday call at around 9 p.m. All contact was then lost and wreckage began floating ashore next day. Investigators concluded that the Kaitawa had probably been swamped by one or more huge waves. As the ship took on water it began to list and drifted onto the Pandora Bank. Continually hit by heavy seas, it capsized before drifting towards Cape Maria van Diemen and sinking to the ocean floor. Only the body of motorman John Wright was ever recovered.
Credit for Information goes to NZHistory.govt
