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Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 November 1939, Page 9

Forty-five lives were lost when. 37 years ago, the Huddart, Parker steamer Elingamite grounded on West Island, in the Three Kings group. She was en route from Sydney to Auckland, commanded by Captain E. B. Atwood and carrying 136 passengers and a crew of 59. Early on Sunday. November 9, 1902, she was crawling through a dense fog at a bare five knots. At 11 a.m., broken water was sighted ahead and before she could lose way and go astern, in spite of her low speed, the 2585-ton ship struck. In the haste to got away, one lifeboat was capsized and only five boats and two rafts cleared the wreck. Captain Atwood and the chief steward remained with the ship until she sank, little more than a quarter of an hour after striking. The captain was later picked up. News of the disaster first reached the outside world when a boat with 42 survivors reached Houhora. A second boat, with more than 30 more survivors, was never seen again. Mr F. W. Doidge. M.P. for Tauranga, was one of the passengers saved from the wreck.