Off to war on the unlucky Wahine
Standing on board a troop ship that had a huge tear in its bow, Invercargill man Ivan Dawson wasn’t scared. The then 22-year-old was on his way to fight in the Korean War in August 1951 when the ship hit a reef in the Arafura Sea, north of Darwin. At 87, he remains unfazed. It was a ship with a famous name, but it’s not the one you would normally associate with the name Wahine.
About 17 years before the Lyttelton to Wellington ferry overturned in Cook Strait, killing 51 people, a troop ship by the same name befell a similar fate.
Dawson was one of 800 troops who travelled from Wellington to Darwin on the Wahine in July, 1951.
The ship was already nearing the end of its tumultuous life when it took its final voyage on its way to South Korea.
The plan was to drop the K Force troops off to fight in the Korean War and the Wahine’s 38-year career would come to an end.
She was destined for scrap metal when she came to a stop near Masela Island.
The Wahine had already served in both world wars and been involved in several collisions with wharfs and other boats.
It had been a relatively uneventful trip towards Australia. The Wahine stopped to refuel in Darwin before moving north into the Arafura sea. just young and silly.’’
Even before all the troops had left the ship, natives from neighbouring islands were already climbing aboard to see what they could get their hands on.
Eventually the troops were picked up by the oil tanker Stanvac Karachi.
Dawson was one of the last off about 7pm, more than 12 hours after the collision.
Clambering to the sinking end of the ship, he climbed onto the overturned lifeboat and pulled himself up a ladder onto the oil tanker and to safety.
The men would have been grateful for their greatcoats and blankets as they had to spend about three nights sleeping rough on the deck of their rescue vessel.
‘‘They wouldn’t let us down below. Their crew were down below but we were kept on deck,’’ Dawson says. ‘‘Steel is cold.’’ He never reclaimed any of his personal effects from the doomed Wahine, only his coat and blanket.
He believes the weaponry was removed from the boats to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.
After that, natives from the neighbouring islands were free to raid it