EERIE MUSIC NZ has a legacy of deadly disasters ` The whole party seemed to fall at once. Praying to God, because I wanted to survive. Scary. Bloody scary. disasters that shaped this country. Where I'm standing is where my grandfather got involved in the battle with the Turks. Two yachts were lost forever. The worst motoring accident in NZ history. Seven well-known NZers retrace our darkest days, bringing history alive... Help! ...through the eyes of descendants. It stayed with me ` probably always will. It was something that we will never, ever forget ` all of us. URGENT MUSIC On the 28th of December 1950, the passenger launch Ranui left Tauranga Harbour just after 7am. With over 20 people on board, its destination was Mayor Island, 35km off the coast. Coming through the channel here that morning, the conditions were miserable ` rain, wind and poor visibility. And as the Ranui hit the open ocean, the swell started to build. WAVES CRASH, WIND WHISTLES The passage was rough, and the return journey was even worse. Battling breaking waves, the Ranui approached the treacherous harbour entrance. DRAMATIC MUSIC SIREN WAILS But just before 6pm, a siren rang through Mt Maunganui. The Ranui had capsized near the base of the Mount. Volunteers raced to help the men and women now at the mercy of the vicious sea. But faced with jagged rocks and pounding swells, it was feared many lives would be lost. I've been boating all my life. I've crossed harbour entrances like this one up and down the length of the country. I know how dangerous they can be, and I know how quickly conditions can change. 22 people lost their lives when the Ranui went down, leaving families heartbroken and a community shattered. So how did a routine daylight crossing across a relatively short stretch of water turn into one of NZ's worst modern-day maritime disasters? Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 UPBEAT, BLUESY GUITAR MUSIC In 1950, Mt Maunganui was already a vibrant holiday town. The sleepy winter community was overrun in summer as people flocked to the beach and local camping grounds. Many holidaymakers went out to Mayor Island to fish or to camp, and a trip was planned for December the 28th on the newly launched Ranui. Just three weeks in the water, she was set to depart from Tauranga at 7am. LIGHT ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC Waiting there that morning were a party of camping mates. It's certainly a very different day today from the one that we went out on the Ranui. Was it? It was a wet, windy, nasty morning. Not the` Not an auspicious start to your` to your camping holiday on Mayor Island. No, it wasn't. No. Alan and his brother Jim had carefully planned the trip, and along with Lyn and the rest of their camping party, they weren't to be put off by the weather. Today the Ranui's sister ship, the Ratahi, is retracing the start of their fateful journey. Does it look familiar? Very much so. Yes, she's very much the same. Yeah. Yeah. Really brings back memories of that trip out there. Yes. TENSE PIANO MUSIC The Ranui crossed the harbour to pick up the rest of the passengers at the Mount. The day didn't look any good for fishing, but a number of game people got on, including a group of young women. With a commitment to drop Alan and the other campers off, the Ranui hit the open sea. There was very very little visibility. It was windy. It was a broken sea. It was a very unpleasant trip out. There's no doubt about that. For someone that wasn't used to the sea, it would've been fairly` fairly trying ` very taxing, I think. There were four girls that were really not very happy at all, and, uh, they'd been all sick, and they were sitting in the stern on the deck, trying to keep themselves happy there, but, um, it` you know, it was pretty tough for them. We didn't see anything of the island at all until we were really close. And Geoff Harnett, the skipper, did a magnificent job of navigating us out there. He took us into South East Bay, and conditions there were not too bad. He was able to put the boat's nose on to the beach, push it on and embark all our gear. FOREBODING MUSIC As they watched the Ranui depart, little did the campers know that in just a few hours, tragedy would strike. On the return journey, many passengers sheltered inside to escape the worsening weather. Rolling waves were now breaking across the harbour entrance. Just before 5.30pm, skipper Geoffrey Harnett called marine radio in Tauranga. He was going to attempt the treacherous crossing. COMPELLING PIANO MUSIC On the mainland, many holidaymakers had gone to Mt Maunganui's blowhole to watch it perform in the bad weather. But at the same time, coming in from Mayor Island was the Ranui, through big seas, and there was a group standing here watching out towards North Rock, where that yacht is now, and the sea was huge and confused, and as the Ranui went through there, it looked like it was in trouble. OMINOUS MUSIC Walking round the Mount at that very moment were 15-year-old Ray Bushell and his brother Bob. It was very squally ` rain and very big waves ` probably 6m. We got to around about here and glanced out there and` and saw this boat. How far off? Well, not very far. This is North Rock here, so this is` this is quite close, isn't it? That's very close. Just 100m offshore, the Ranui was battling huge swells. There was a rogue wave ` well, I call it a rogue wave ` that came in at a different angle, and that lifted the` the back of the boat. We saw it roll, and the rocks were just there. The boys ran to the ocean beach to raise the alarm along with other witnesses. SIREN WAILS The Ranui's crew and passengers were now in the ferocious sea, being forced on to the rocky shore. Rescuers rushed to help, but as Ray and Bob ran back around the Mount, they were stopped in their tracks. Bob happened to glance out. 'Look! Look!' he says. There was this girl sitting on a rock, waving her hand just like that. She wasn't far offshore. He glanced again, and she was gone. As Ray and his brother continued to where the boat had rolled, a grim scene awaited them. We came around to about here, and, um, there were bodies up on the bank. They were putting them on to stretchers, and without hesitation, we just picked up one of them and took it off. And, uh, came back on around again to see what else we could do. Ray and his brother carried two bodies back around the track as dozens of others risked their lives to get to the men and women in the water. CLOCK TICKS LOW MUSIC Back in town, news of the tragedy was starting to spread. Cora Carter was 13 years old when her father, Harry, and brother Phillip Smith joined the Ranui as crew on that fateful voyage. It was a` a dull day. I decided to go down to the, uh, pool, and, uh,... (EXHALES HEAVILY) it was getting towards 5-ish or whatever, and I thought, 'Oh, Dad should be coming back in round about now,' and I hopped on my bike, and I banged into a friend of mine, and she just said, 'Oh, Cora,' she said, 'there's been a terrible, terrible accident.' She said, 'One of the` One of the boats has capsized, and all lost ` all drowned.' I just took off on me bike and rode all the way home. Calling out to Mum as I was going through the door. Mum! Mum! Is Dad home? I saw her sitting at the sewing machine, real white-faced, and then I saw these people sitting on the couch, and I realised that they must have come to tell her. 'Course, I bawled my eyes out, of course, screaming round the place, but, um... So at that point you thought you'd lost both your dad and your brother. Yes. Yes. I think we were both in shock. I would have been in shock. As the ocean continued to rage, families waited, desperate for news. Rescuers worked tirelessly, with many getting gashed and wounded on the brutal rocks. And in the vicious conditions, could there be any survivors? DRAMATIC STRING MUSIC On December the 28th 1950, the Ranui capsized at the base of Mt Maunganui, throwing over 20 people into a ferocious sea. Rescuers swarmed to help, but one group would prove vital in the conditions ` the young men of the Mt Maunganui Surf Lifesaving Club. I'd just knocked off work and was out on the footpath. SIREN WAILS The surf club siren was rung, and we heard it up the town and came t-tilting down as fast as we could. 24-year-old butcher Jim Wells and the other lifeguards were all volunteers, and, gathering a crew, they raced to the scene. There was a big swell breaking on the rocks. I didn't actually see the` the wreck, cos it was, sort of, probably upside down. Bodies were coming up with the swells on to the rock. The first one we went down to get ` we only just got ahold of him, looked up and, yeah, there was a wall of water coming... (BLOWS RASPBERRY) over the top of us, and it` and it just landed on top, and it just flattened you on the rock. You couldn't do a thing ` couldn't move. It was scary ` bloody scary. Despite losing one man to the sea, Jim and his crew soon pulled in another victim. Took him up on to the track, and we started to CPR on him. One, two, three, four... And there was a doctor. He, uh, came along and said, 'It's useless.' He said, 'They are drowned ` been drowned ` all drowned.' And there was no sign of anybody... alive. And there was no show of swimming out and rescuing anybody. No, it was pretty gory. By midnight, over a dozen bodies had been recovered and taken to the surf club and St John's huts, which were now a temporary morgue. The boat itself was reduced to matchwood. SOLEMN MUSIC On board the Ranui were Cora's father, Harry, and brother Phillip Smith. That night, she and her mother gathered at a friend's house, numb with shock, fearing there were no survivors. I think we were just sort of, uh, sheltered by everybody, uh, that evening, you know, and everybody trying to keep our spirits up and hope, and, uh,... (SIGHS) it was towards midnight, I think, and we were ushered to the door, and... we could see Phil. MOVING MUSIC And you could see sort of glistening water, sort of, from his curly hair just, sort of, shining in the... And` And` Yeah, and it was... (SNIFFLES) We gave him the biggest hug, but Mum` You know, Mum was absolutely overjoyed. (CRIES) It was mostly mother and son just... Yeah, at least she got one. At least one's here. Phillip had been in the wheelhouse when the Ranui was capsized by the huge wave and fought his way free. (SPEAKS INAUDIBLY) Incredibly, he was then picked up in the swell and dropped on to a tiny patch of sand. His life had been saved. But in the chaos, Phillip lost sight of his father. Still hoping for Dad, but` as well, because it was a vague time. It` I mean, there was a lot of conflicting stories about who` who was, uh` You know, who was pulled out of the water and who` who wasn't. But the next day, the news came that they'd been dreading. Cora's father's body had been found. His death had a devastating impact on the family. One kid at school, he said, 'Oh, I'll never forget that, uh, when that accident happened ` 'the Ranui.' He said, 'One day you were this vivacious teenager. 'The next day the sun had gone right out of you. 'You'd come to school and you were a totally different girl.' SOMBRE PIANO MUSIC Cora's mother became very ill, so Cora was sent to live in Auckland, and the family was torn apart. For Cora's 19-year-old brother Phillip, who survived the tragedy, that day would have a profound effect. He became a man o` you know, like,... overnight. Quite morose, solemn, bit of a drinker. I think he felt very guilty, you know, that` that he was saved and his father wasn't. He felt he wasn't worthy. Phillip would struggle to settle for the rest of his life, but he never lost his love of the ocean till he died, aged 80. That's a` That's a good photo of Phillip there. Yeah. We had that sitting in front of the coffin when he died, cos it was just exactly Phillip ` contemplating life, little bit of a whimsical look on his face. 'What am I doing here?' Just typically him. EVOCATIVE PIANO MUSIC I'd heard about survivor's guilt before, but I hadn't ever seen it before. It seems so unfair to have survived something like that ` a tragedy like that ` and then to feel so sad about it for the rest of your life, for it to change your mood or your mindset. Seems such a` a slap in the face. In the days after the Ranui capsized, the full horror of the tragedy unfolded. One man's body was wedged in the rocks for days, and his devastated father sat with him until his son was freed. More badly injured bodies began to wash up along the ocean beach. People used to keep up a vigil down there. If they saw anything, they'd ring the siren and we'd come down again. Jim was on patrol a few days after the wreck when something was spotted in the water. Two of us shot in the water, and, sure enough, coming along the bottom, a body. So we grabbed it and pulled it in. But unfortunately it was the h-husband of one of the women that was watching,... (CRIES) ...you know, and that was a devastating, uh, event. After the Ranui went down that day, w-what effect did that have on you and on the other members of the surf lifesaving club? A devastating effect, really, because we hadn't had anything like that ever before. That was really a real disaster, and to lose that many people, you know, it was a terrible time. SOMBRE MUSIC As New Year's Eve approached, a grim pall fell over Mt Maunganui and Tauranga. With many from the Ranui still missing, families waited anxiously, hoping their loved ones would soon be returned. REFLECTIVE PIANO MUSIC On board the Ranui on December the 28th were over 20 men and women. Many of them missing were holidaymakers, including 24-year-old Guenther Unger. His nephew Ben has come to Mt Maunganui, where his uncle was camping 65 years ago. Guenther, from what I know, was always active. Everybody else wanted to stay in the campsite and lie down, but, uh, Guenther wanted to get out there and enjoy it. Guenther was determined to celebrate life. He and his immediate family fled Nazi Germany in 1938. The rest of the family were killed in the Holocaust, but the Ungers had fought to build a new life for themselves in Hamilton. He was very literary. Um, he loved classical music. He was a good-looking young man enjoying the fruits of life and did the normal things that Kiwis do ` met a girl, fell in love, got engaged, uh, and came to Tauranga with my parents for, um, the summer holidays in 1950. Mum and Dad were sleeping in this van, uh, and the rest were in the tent off to the side, so a classic Kiwi,... (LAUGHS) um, holiday. LIGHT PIANO MUSIC The morning of December the 28th dawned, and with no one else keen for a boat trip, Guenther left for the Ranui on his own. My mother and` and father stayed at the` at the campsite. The storm came in later that day, and no one told them what was happening, um, so they went down to the` to the wharfside to wait. But later that evening, word spread through the town that the Ranui had been wrecked. Guenther was a very good swimmer, apparently, and my father always hoped that he would somehow miraculously survive when they found out about the accident, but, um, the next day, my father was contacted to identify the body. He couldn't identify the body, because it was so damaged, but he could recognise what Guenther had been wearing. Yeah, it must have been difficult` difficult to` to have to identify your only brother. My understanding is telling my grandparents was one of the hardest things. Uh, Guenther was, obviously, the oldest, and they had huge expectations for him, so losing him unnecessarily after working so hard to` to make a life for your family must have just been devastating. Every year, they lit a candle at the anniversary of, uh, Guenther's death, which they burnt until the anniversary of his birth, which was, uh, about a week later. I remember it as a child. It was an awkward time of year as they quietly and silently remembered` remembered him, um, and the lost opportunity. So sitting here now in Mt Maunganui, where, you know, your uncle spent his last days, how do you feel now about being here at this time? I think the main thing I feel about it all is` is, um, just sad. To die somewhat meaninglessly after such a m` such a lucky survival from the horrors of World War II, it's just sad, and I think it's important to retell these stories so that people like Guenther aren't forgotten. And in our own ways, just make sure that we live fruitful lives on their behalf as well as our own. COMPELLING MUSIC Four days after the Ranui was wrecked, there were still three people missing, including 19-year-old Margaret Goodyear. Peter Goodyear was 22 when his younger sister left their home in Gisborne to go on holiday to Mt Maunganui. Were you and Margaret close? Yeah, very close. Yeah. Good pals. She was my only sister. Only two of us children in the family. Margaret was a very bubbly girl, and she got on so well with her mother ` and her father too, of course. He called her Topsie. But, um, these two would giggle and giggle. Margaret was a typist at the chief postmaster's office in Gisborne. Uh, and she was also a dancer ` quite a` a very good dancer ` since the age of about 5. Did you go to all her shows? Saw a lot of them, yes. Know a lot of the music that played for their dances ` gets in your head. Mm. Can't forget it. MELODIC GUITAR MUSIC Margaret and two of her best friends, Margaret Hands and Patsy Burke, had big plans for that summer. I was there, Christmas 1950. These girls were getting ready to go on a holiday up at Mt Maunganui. They were all excitement ` had the accommodation booked, and the three girls were in the lounge, painting their fingernails and toenails bright colours and, uh, laughing, and probably that was the last time I saw them. Must have been very soon afterwards, I was at the big army hall in Gisborne, and we were organising a dance. The man who looked after the army hall came up to me, and he said, 'I've just had a phone call. 'It seems you'd better go home quick. Your f` Your folks need you. Your mother and father need you.' And I got home and found, uh, disarray there. My poor mother was beside herself, and Dad was looking after her, and no one seemed to know what had happened except there was talk of a boat and the girls being in the water. SOMBRE, HAUNTING MUSIC With Peter's father looking after his devastated mother, Peter was sent to Tauranga. Patsy had already been identified, but it was up to Peter to identify Margaret Hands and his sister when she was found almost a week later. Was it hard identifying the girls? It was, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Very. I remember the` the nail polish on their toes and their fingers they'd put on` put on there on Boxing Day or Christmas Day. No, it wasn't easy at all. 'Course, when that was completed, we had three funerals in Gisborne to go to ` me and Mum and Dad. I've never seen anything so... sad and... as my poor mother. She was in a terrible state, really, because her and Margaret, her daughter ` her lovely daughter ` were such great friends, with all the dancing and all the fun, and there it was. The loss was devastating for the whole family, but Margaret would never be forgotten. I certainly did miss my sister, but... I don't know. You just carried on and... lived on without her. And you knew very well you couldn't do anything about it. Just got memories ` that's all. STIRRING MUSIC It's extraordinary to witness the stoicism of the people who lived through difficult circumstances and how they deal with tragedy. And to be allowed into their lives to watch it, and yet somehow that... that level of emotion is still present, and they accept it and just live with it, and when they share it with you, it's a privilege and very humbling. The wreck of the Ranui would have a profound impact on all involved, but for the families of those still missing, their loved ones wouldn't rest until they were brought home. PENSIVE MUSIC As the new year dawned in 1951, there were still passengers missing from the Ranui. Ray Mead was desperate to find his friend Jack Williams and every morning would scour the coast on Matakana Island on the other side of the harbour entrance. We would row over from Pilot Bay each day and land here and walk the beach. Of course, we were over there looking for Jack to try and bring him home to his family. Ray was on holiday in Mt Maunganui with his wife and daughter. He'd caught a ride down on the back of a truck, which is where he'd met Jack. We became quite good friends in two hours on that truck, yeah. And that's when he invited me to join him on this fishing trip. But in a twist of fate, Ray never made it on to the Ranui. It was a very stormy day, and, uh, as I understand it, his wife was, uh, very unhappy about him going. They'd only been married six weeks. By the time they finished their debate about it, he ran out of time to pick me up, fortunately, and so he made a` a late run and dashed down and got on the boat. SOMBRE MUSIC When the news hit that the Ranui had been wrecked, Ray was determined to find Jack. Having been asked by the Williams family to identify him, Ray and a friend started searching. We used to hire a dinghy every day. We figured that the tide run would, uh, take 'em down to Matakana. We rowed across, pulled the boat above high water mark. We went quite a way along the beach, and then we could see some object on the beach. We got closer, and then we could see that it was a person. SOMBRE MUSIC Ray and his friend had just found Peter Goodyear's sister, Margaret. Margaret Goodyear. Yeah. She looks a very nice person. Memories are obviously still pretty fresh, Ray. Mm. SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES Making sure Margaret was safely returned to her family, Ray kept searching for Jack. There was no sign of his friend, but two days later he came across another body ` missing father of four Jock Norman. He was a very big man ` a very strong man, so people like him, if they couldn't survive, well, it just wasn't survivable. I love the sea, but it can be a very bad enemy. With Jock Norman found, that left just one man missing ` Ray's friend Jack Williams. Some days later, my friend was found floating in the water out the back of Rabbit Island. POIGNANT MUSIC So I did the identification of him, and, um... SOMBRE MUSIC his... in-laws, uh, honoured me by making me a pall-bearer. SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC 22 lives were lost when the Ranui went down. Four families lost more than one member ` brothers lost together and sons with their fathers. Many were angry. Why had the Ranui gone out in such bad weather? Why had it come in if it was so rough? With so many dead, the community demanded answers, and a court of inquiry was held two months later. BOLD MUSIC John McGill skippered the Ranui's sister ship, the Ratahi, for many years and has made the same voyage to Mayor Island hundreds of times. He knows this type of boat intimately, and I'm keen to hear his take on what might have happened that day. I've got no doubt about the` the seaworthiness of the boat itself. It would've been a` a very, very, very good, well-built boat a-and well designed and fit for the purpose that it was built, yes. You probably couldn't have got much better. Much of the inquiry focused on the decisions made by skipper Geoffrey Harnett. As a father of six children, he wasn't taking anything lightly, with as much to lose as anyone. So, Geoffrey was coming along here beside the Mount, right in close on this 1950s chart, which is really shallow. Why would he do that? That would've been the calmest water that he could see from out at sea. Since the` the mid-'50s, the entrance had changed, because of the dredging. The` The wide expanse of water across there was only 20ft. It made it so that the` the waves used to break in the form of breakers. They'd break because the water was shallow, and it's` it's boosted by the tide running out. According to the inquiry, Harnett came in on the incoming tide, which should have made it safer, and conditions at the entrance had improved, but John believes other factors were at play. He must have come right in on the bottom of the tide. The` The flow of the water still goes out for probably another hour. There may have been an undercurrent of tides still running out? Yes. Yes, undercurrent` a-an undertow ` just like you get an undertow on the ocean beach. And that would have caused wind against tide and made that big wave stand up? Yes. That's right. Yes. So on that day, the wave that came in and struck the beam ends ` there wasn't anything that Geoffrey Harnett could have done? No, I don't think so. Uh, he was` It was just unfortunately that that wave peaked up and prob` possibly broke at that particular time, and the boat would just pick up on it, and it would've fallen off the top of` th-the crest of the wave and fallen over the front of it and then rolled over. Everyone questioned in the inquiry who knew him stated Geoffrey was a capable, professional skipper. And almost all the local seamen questioned said they too would have come in in those conditions. It would've been a very big call to have turned round and gone back to Mayor Island or even gone to Motiti. Th-The easiest way out was to come in the` in the harbour. He` he made the best call, and` and he was qualified to make that call. The court of inquiry found that the launch was seaworthy, the skipper competent and all decisions justified. The cause was found to be a large wave that picked up the boat by its stern quarter and rolled it. It was simply an accident. When I started this journey, I had qualms about Geoffrey's decision to come in. I thought he probably should have waited, stood off, but after reading the report and listening to you, it's pretty clear that he actually made the right decision. Yes, I would say so. It was just, uh, ill-fated. But they tried to think of all the precautions they can take afterwards, and it's too late after the` after it's gone. So i-it's just one of those things. Uh, there's nobody to blame. CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC The response to the inquiry was mixed. Many still felt angry that their loved ones had met such a brutal end. The skipper Geoffrey Harnett's family could find some solace that no official blame would be laid at their door. But for his widow and six children left behind, the disaster would set off a terrible chain of events. LOW MUSIC When the Ranui went down, dozens of children were left without fathers. The skipper, Geoffrey Harnett, was cleared of any blame, but the repercussions of the tragedy would be catastrophic for his six children. Harnett's daughter Ngiare was just 9 when he took the wheel that day. Oh, well, this is my mum and dad. Look at his beautiful hair. He was quite handsome. And this is my brothers and sisters. He was always my hero,... (CHUCKLES) but it's only what you build up in your mind. I mean, he was tall, and he was handsome and... (LAUGHS SOFTLY) not there very often to growl at us. (LAUGHS) With their dad often away at sea, Ngiare and her siblings spent a lot of time with their grandparents. Grandad Jerry Williams was the owner of the Ranui and ran Harbour Transport. We spent most of our childhood out on the boats or down at the wharf, cos my grandmother worked in the office, so we used to always go down to the wharf to see them. They were really really good to us. They were the stable part of our lives. In the Christmas of 1950, Ngiare and her five siblings had been sent to stay with different parts of the family for the holidays. I was staying with my Uncle Ken. They got a phone call early in the morning ` very hush-hush-hush. The adults then mysteriously disappeared, and two days later, Ngiare was pulled aside. My uncle said to me, 'Come and help me pick some peas.' So I went out there, and, um, he said, 'I've got some bad news to tell you. Your dad drowned.' GRAVE MUSIC Life just changed. Life changed after that. The loss of their father would exact a terrible toll on the young children. I'm not quite sure how long after that, but we all got packed up, and we went away. I'm sure an orphanage was never mentioned. We went on the train to Wellington, and then we were put in a home at Masterton ` Whatman Home ` four of us. And I don't remember my mother staying while we settled in or anything like that. So was anything explained to you? No. You were just supposed to figure it out? > Mm. I suppose. The younger ones were in a different dormitory. Stop it! I was always responsible for Barrie, cos he was only 2. And when he wet the bed, I was always told, you know, as if it was my fault. I mean, you can't blame him wetting his bed when he's in a dormitory with people he doesn't know. SOMBRE MUSIC With four siblings at the orphanage, their oldest sister, Myrna, stayed with their grandparents. Their remaining sister, Glenys, was taken by Welfare and adopted out permanently. Ngiare and her younger siblings had no idea what lay in store for them. We were there probably six months to a year. Mum went to Wellington. When we were at the home, she was working in Wellington. She used to come and visit occasionally. And she came this time, and she'd bought me a Walkie Talkie doll. And she said, 'I thought I should come and tell you I've just got married.' And that's when we were allowed to go home. So your relationship with your mum must have taken a bit of a tumble. Well, I mean, as little kids, what do you think? I was lucky I had a Walkie Talkie doll, but from then on I thought that was a... (LAUGHS) bribe,... Yeah. ...really. Yeah. Why would she marry so quickly, do you think? Just needed`? She was a woman who needed companionship, or`? I would say so. She just didn't cope afterwards. Grief? Mm. It was too big a deal to take all us kids home and be responsible. EMOTIONAL MUSIC It was hard going back to school, because... I wasn't like everyone else. Well, we were strangers, weren't we, really? We were different. But I've never made friends easy. I still feel it hard to mix with people. Unhappy at home and school, Ngiare would take refuge at her grandparents', but the accident had taken a huge toll. It was terrible for them. Well, I know that Grandad got sugar diabetes after that and was on insulin every day from the shock of it. They were beside themselves, really. Even though the magisterial inquiry cleared your dad from any wrongdoing, your grandfather still felt responsible about what happened. Of course he did. Mm. Mm. Mm. And that must have been tough as hell. Yeah. Yeah. I think it changed everybody's life. MELANCHOLY, REFLECTIVE MUSIC Despite her sister Glenys being adopted out of the family at 8, Ngiare has remained close to her throughout their lives. I'm meeting them at the memorial to the Ranui ` the site of the tragedy that caused such a terrible split in their family. Glenys has spent her life questioning why she was given away, and the memories are still raw. My grandmother, I was staying with her, and she gave me a bath, and she said to me, uh, 'Now, remember that whatever happens to you from now, your mother is doing her best for you.' The next day, 8-year-old Glenys was sent to school in her best clothes. I can see myself at the school, and I was actually playing outside when they came and got me. Mm. And I didn't know the people. It wasn't Mum; it wasn't... That'd be terrible. I didn't know them. Kidnapped. Mm. And I was gone. Welfare officers took Glenys from school that day. She was adopted by another family and didn't set foot in her family home for another decade. I don't know why I was given away. I just thought I was the only one who'd been... And I'd been so bad that I'd been taken away and` given away ` given away. Mm. And it was very hard to live with. Both Ngiare and Glenys have suffered much heartache in their lives, but their relationship is a constant solace. All I seem to have had all of my life is loss ` just loss. I lose everything. But, um, yeah. I made it. Ngiare's always been there for you, eh? Always. Always. Mm. So what does it feel like for you now, sitting here, looking out and thinking about how that day affected your life? It looks so tranquil. How on earth could it have been that rough that it would turn a boat over? For a long time you only thought of yourself, but when you see how many different families and how many kids were in those families, it's shocking. WISTFUL, POIGNANT MUSIC When the Ranui went down in 1950, it left over a dozen families devastated. And in speaking with those who lost loved ones, it's clear how deep the pain still is and the lifelong impact that terrible day had on them all. I mean, it's easy to say in hindsight that Geoffrey Harnett made a bad decision, because, you know, the Ranui went down with the loss of 22 lives. But if I was the skipper that day, sobering as it may be, I suspect that I would've made the same decision and come in. And you have to remember that even thought you're well equipped, skilled, capable, and the boat's well-found, the sea can still throw up freak conditions that surprise and ultimately defeat you. I think what's important is that we pay respect to the men and women who lost their lives on the Ranui on one of the most tragic days in NZ's maritime history. Captions by Imogen Staines Edited by Pippa Jefferies. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015