The Blenheim launch disaster

​It was supposed to be a nice day out. A trip on a launch to the Wairau Bar, a gravel bar where the Wairau river meets the sea in Cloudy Bay.
It would have been an exciting excursion for those on board the 3 tonne launch Maritana.
They went out after lunch and were due back near 5pm - when many would be making their way to church on a Monday evening on October 8, 1906.
It had been a good day and the launch was crowded with people.
Just as the Maritana approached the landing point, it hit a submerged stump about 100 metres out, throwing about 20 people backwards off the boat and heeled over.
There was a frantic rush to get people out of the deep water, many in the water were children.
One passenger managed to rescue several, only to get cramp and have to be rescued himself.
Hundreds of people gathered on the shore, distressed but unable to do much to help as they watched.
In all, 10 people drowned.
There was no passenger register and confusion about who had been on board and if anyone was still missing.
Nine bodies were recovered within a few hours and police continued to drag the water for bodies by torchlight until midnight.
By the next day, all but the body of one boy had been recovered.
He was Westby Patchett, son of George Patchett, the owner of the launch. His body was later found.
George Patchett had been born on June 6, 1863, in Muston, Melton Borough, in Leicestershire, England to John and Elizabeth Patchett.
He had married Sarah Susan Dry in 1885. Westley, 9, was one of the youngest of their many children.
George died on October 25, 1938 and is buried in Omaka Cemetery in Blenheim. Westby is also buried there as are a number of the people who drowned that day.
Picture of the Wairau Bar from Te Papa’s collection.