The first great waka with names like Aotea, Kurahaupō and Tainui were followed by waka with the names Heemskerck and Endeavour painted on their transoms.
Acheron, Dunedin, Achilles, Ceramco, Steinlager 2, The Spirit of Adventure and KZ7 were other ships’ names that strengthened our maritime reputation as seafarers of the highest order.
Our shores hold memories of some of the greatest humans to ever step foot off land into a boat, Kupe, Turi, Whatonga, Tasman, Cook, Blake, Te Kaka Keegan, Ferguson, Kendall, Coutts and Carrington.
Despite our history and reliance on the moana, I would say it’s not a good time to be a Kiwi-operated ship.
The Aratere grounded on a sandbank in the Sounds and the Bluebridge lost power in the Cook Strait, the same ship that has caused damage hitting the wharves in Wellington and Picton in the last year.
Of course these are minor seafaring issues compared to the disaster that is His Majesty’s New Zealand Ship Manawanui that has caused what I would call a financial crisis for our military, an environmental disaster for our neighbours and the embarrassment to old sailors, me included.
You see, for a stint in the 1990s, I was a sailor in the Royal New Zealand Navy. I served on the Leander Class Frigates HMNZS Canterbury and Wellington, our ships were old at the time, but what they lacked in technology I think we made up for with ongoing maintenance and seamanship.
As the most junior seaman on the ship, it was my job whenever we pulled alongside in a foreign port, to go over the side in the bosun’s chair and chip away the rust and paint over the stains around the anchor, because the frigate had to be ship-shape before I was allowed to go ashore.
Many of my shipmates shouted mockingly at me as they walked past on their way to wet their whistle at the local sailors’ bar while I was hanging over the bows, splattered with two shades of grey (undercoat and overcoat).
I hated doing this but I, like every sailor on her, took pride in the fact that our ship was well maintained and well crewed.
A warship by necessity has back-up plans for any system failure, in fact we had back-up plans to our back-up plans and we regularly had drills to practise these.
What would happen if our bridge was destroyed? What about losing steering? What would we do if we were torpedoed? What say we ran out of tomato sauce in the junior rates mess on fish and chip Thursday?
I don’t know why the Manawanui sank on a reef in Samoa. I’m sure we will find out after the court of inquiry.
But I assume there were multiple system failures for this catastrophic sinking to occur, systems that perhaps include the youngest seaman on board going over the side to paint over the rust stains.
