'ABANDON SHIP'

In the wake of Wahine disaster

Sarah Major was a six-month-old bundle when her mother threw her off the sinking Wahine into the hands of complete strangers.

Exactly 50 years later, she and parents Sharon and Murray Major are hoping to get in touch with the unknown men, or their descendants.

‘‘I don’t know what age those men were,’’ Sharon said. ‘‘I’m hoping that, if they’re not still around, they might have told family or friends they remember catching a baby.’’

The family were three of the 734 passengers and crew travelling on the Wahine from Lyttelton to Wellington.

Murray had got a new job in Wellington, and they had all their possessions packed into their Morris 1000 on the car deck.

Sharon, who was then just 21, remembers ‘‘all hell’’ breaking loose when the ferry hit the rocks of Barrett Reef, at the mouth of Wellington Harbour.

The ship started listing, and people were sliding on the decks and banging into walls.

Sharon, with one arm wrapped around her baby, inched around the rail. ‘‘There was a little lifeboat [down] there,’’ she said. ‘‘[A man], I don’t know whether he was standing or upright, he said ‘Jump’. I can’t jump with the baby. She’d fly out of my arms. If I landed in the water, she’d fly out of my arms.

‘‘So I looked at the guy and yelled, ‘Here, catch’. And I threw Sarah. He moved backwards a bit, but he caught her.’’

She then jumped on to the roof of the lifeboat, and took Sarah back.

Meanwhile, Murray, a competitive swimmer, dropped into the water and held a rope around the side of the liferaft.

The Wahine slipped under, taking the family’s car and much of their possessions with it.

A tugboat appeared, and someone tossed a rope down to the liferaft. But again, Sharon couldn’t climb up while still holding Sarah.

‘‘There was a sailor up at the top of the rope, and again I yelled out, ‘Here, catch’. And I really hurled, because that was up and rocking. The baby bundle disappeared and so did the sailor.’’

She climbed up on to the tug, and was reunited with Sarah.

‘‘It wasn’t until much later that I allowed myself to wonder what would’ve happened if either of these people I threw her to hadn’t caught her. We owe them a big thank you.’’

PHOTO: ROSA WOODS/STUFF Murray and Sharon Major, left, survived the Wahine Disaster in Wellington Harbour with their daughter, Sarah, who was just six-months-old at the time. The ship sunk at the mouth of Wellington Harbour, just around the point behind them.

Murray and Sharon Major with baby Sarah on the Wahine before it sank. The photo features on an NZ Post stamp marking 50 years since the sinking.