The wreck of the Progress

The Progress was a steamer bound for Wellington from Lyttelton when it wrecked on the rocks on Owhiro Bay in 1931.
The night before, while crossing Cook Strait, the ship lost its tailshaft, which caused the propeller to fall off.
Once off the Pencarrow lighthouse, the ship called for help asking for a tug. No tug was sent through a series of miscommunications. The ship kept drifting and off Lyall Bay the anchors were used to try and stop it.
About 10pm the lighthouse advised the tug was on its way but it had not arrived by 11pm.
With the sea getting rougher, the ship signalled again and was now told the tug would arrive around midnight.
The Toia arrived and managed to get a line to the Progress but the rope parted. In the rough seas, the tug stood off until about 5.30am when it headed back in and a new tug took its place.
For a while the anchors held. But eventually they failed and an attempt was made to bring the Progress into a sheltered bay.
Instead she ran onto rocks about lunchtime. A sudden swell lifted the ship and brought her down sharply on the rocks, breaking her apart.
From the shore men could be seen clinging to the ship and debris. Many of the crew began to swim to shore and many made it but were brought in bruised and bloodied from the rough seas and the rocks.
Constable Fred Baker in charge of the Island Bay police commandeered a boat and headed into the rough water, trying to get to the men still holding on to the sinking ship. He had to be dragged ashore himself when the boat was upset. Another police officer also tried but was unable to get to them.
Four men died, unable to make it to shore in the rough weather.
Frederick Arthur Horace Baker was born on November 24, 1884, in Kaiapoi, to James and Martha Baker.
He became a police officer and served in Wellington mainly in Island Bay for 14 years, leaving in 1936 to go to Levin.
During the rescue of the men of the Progress he had managed to help ship fireman John Metcalfe who later died.
During his attempts Baker himself received broken ribs and cuts and bruises to his back.
He received the Kings Medal and the Royal Humane Society Medal for his attempts to rescue the men off the Progress.
Baker died on March 22, 1962 in New Plymouth and is buried in Karori Cemetery.​