Built from kauri in 1925 and credited with saving 55 lives during one of New Zealand's darkest maritime days, the former Wellington pilot launch Arahina now faces an uncertain future. As of September 2025, the vessel has been formally declared abandoned, moored at Queens Wharf in a state of visible deterioration, with a public notice warning she may be disposed of unless an owner comes forward.
Wellington Harbourmaster Grant Nalder issued that notice on 10 September 2025, stating that Arahina "is sadly looking abandoned and needs to go somewhere, somehow." The owner has until 13 October 2025 to respond, after which the 20-metre timber vessel could be disposed of.
The current situation follows several years of legal and ownership troubles. In May 2024, the High Court ordered Arahina to be sold to recover unpaid berth fees that had been accumulating since mid-2022. Her owner had apparently relocated to Sydney and did not contest the proceedings, leaving Wellington Waterfront Ltd to pursue the outstanding costs through the courts. Heritage blog Waitemata Woodys reported in August 2024 that Wellington Waterfront was actively seeking a new owner for Arahina, with a preference for someone who would keep her in Wellington. Despite those efforts, no sale went ahead.
Arahina was built in 1925 by Chas Bailey Jnr of Bailey & Lowe, Auckland, for the Wellington Harbour Board. Constructed from native kauri, she measured 66 feet (approximately 20 metres) and displaced 38 gross tons. Her original engine was a Fairbanks-Morse diesel, trialled at around 100 HP and capable of pushing her to 10 knots, though later accounts suggest she may have carried a 150 HP Fairbanks-Morse before being re-engined at a later date. The Harbour Board maintained her to yacht-like standards, and those who worked aboard remembered her as a capable sea boat. At some point her bulwarks were replaced with railings, a practical adjustment given the demanding conditions of Cook Strait.
On 10 April 1968, Cyclone Giselle drove the inter-island ferry TEV Wahine onto Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, setting off a rescue effort that would test every vessel and crew member involved. When the order to abandon ship was given, Arahina was among those that headed into the chaos. With Captain Doug Newey at the helm and police officers including Launch Master John Bowman aboard, she pushed through heavy seas to reach survivors in the water.
According to the NZ Police "Beyond Praise" commemoration series, Arahina and her crew rescued 55 people, ferrying them to Seatoun. Bowman later described the physical toll of the work: "It took two people to pull someone out. They were heavy – waterlogged and wearing big lifejackets." Captain Newey manoeuvred Arahina into shallow water, scraping her hull on the seabed to hold her steady while survivors were brought aboard. Neither Newey nor Arahina received any official recognition at the Court of Inquiry, a fact that has continued to trouble those who were involved.
The vessel's working life continued for decades after the Wahine disaster. A major rebuild was carried out in 1954 to 1955, which included the fitting of a new wheelhouse. In 1979, Arahina was hauled out at Jorgensen's yard in Picton for a full refit, and on her return to Wellington she was fitted with a 193 HP Kelvin diesel engine. In late 1987, she passed into private ownership and was moved to Picton. What happened next is less clear, as records from this period are sketchy.
By the 2010s, Arahina had returned to Wellington. On 10 August 2016, fire crews were called to Queens Wharf after batteries in her engine room began smoking. The batteries were removed and the vessel itself was undamaged. She has remained at Queens Wharf since then. Heritage enthusiasts occasionally described restoration work being undertaken, but by mid-2022 her berth fees had lapsed, setting in motion the legal proceedings and public notices that have brought her to her current predicament.
Arahina is not simply an ageing workboat. She is a kauri-built Bailey launch with a direct and documented role in rescuing 55 people from one of New Zealand's greatest maritime disasters. That history does nothing to reduce the cost of keeping her afloat, and her circumstances reflect a wider reality facing heritage vessels around the country: the maintenance burden is relentless, funding rarely matches sentiment, and the gap between historical significance and practical survival can prove impossible to bridge. Whether a custodian steps forward before October's deadline, or whether Arahina is eventually lost, is now a question with very little time left to answer.
