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An interview with survivor A.R.Thompson (purser of the "Penguin"), about his memories of the shipwreck on Feb 12, 1909. The interview was recorded shortly after the 50th anniversary of the disaster.
About 75 passengers and crew were lost and 26 survived, after the ship the SS Penguin, sailing from Picton, struck rocks in Cook Strait off the south Wellington coast.
Mr Thompson survived by making it onto a raft, despite not being a good swimmer. He eventually landed off Terawhiti and found the McMemamin's farmhouse with other survivors, and then walked around the beach to Miramar.