Story of Ranui disaster set for TV

Descent from Disaster host Peter Elliot asks local skipper John Magill about his memory of one of Tauranga's darkest days. Photo / John Borren

A Tauranga skipper of nearly 40 years will shed light on the capsizing of the Ranui in a documentary later this year, more than 64 years after the disaster.

It was labelled one of Tauranga's darkest days when the 13m kauri-built fishing charter rolled in the entrance to Tauranga Harbour on December 28, 1950, killing 22 of the 23 people on board.

This year, the tragedy will be covered in a one-hour episode of a six-part Descent from Disaster series, honouring the 22 lives lost and their stories.

The TVNZ crew has been at Tauranga Bridge Marina with series host Peter Elliot interviewing local skipper John Magill on board the Ratahi, a boat similar to the Ranui.

Mr Magill said he had been a skipper in Tauranga for most of his working life, from 1964 to about 2000.

On the day the Ranui rolled, he was aged 9, staying with his grandparents in their Mount Maunganui home.

He recalled hearing the sirens and his dad rushing around Mauao to see if he could help. The kids were told to stay at home and were not allowed near Mauao, he remembered.

He looked back on the accident and described the nature of the area and how such a disaster could happen.

"It's just one of those things, there's no one to blame," he said.

The turning northwesterly to northeasterly winds would create a "short sharp sea" and the skipper was caught by a breaking wave.

In his 40 years on the water he had never confronted a situation like it, he said.

"It's something that you never forget ... Fortunately it's never happened again."

The Ranui was a well-designed and built boat and its "sister" boats were still in service today, he said.

The harbour entrance had changed a lot since the Ranui disaster, with dredging increasing the depth and Mr Magill believed it was now much safer.

Descent from Disaster series director Rita Attwood said the crew had interviewed families of victims, witnesses to the disaster, people involved in the recovery of bodies and Mr Magill as a local expert.

"We do like to look at tragedies that aren't as well known outside of the communities. Twenty-two lives is a lot to lose in one tragedy and we want to honour those lives.

"All of the families were tremendously impacted by it and I think the emotion is still very raw for them ... These were people's fathers, brothers, daughters. Some families lost more than one family member."

She thought it was important for the younger members of the community to learn about the Ranui tragedy because of its huge effect on Tauranga at the time.

The Ranui episode would be six-months in the making when it aired this year, she said.