Square-rigger that was NZ's first WW1 maritime casualty

And it was all because the lamp was turned off in a lighthouse

Not to be confused with the Titanic ... but with a similarly sad fate.

The Dominion Post published this great story this morning -- a story that brought back memories, as I once had the pleasure of meeting Captain Holm's granddaughter, and listening to the wonderful stories of her childhood that she shared with me.  This story, however, was new, and this is how the newspaper relates it:

Anne Erwin grew up hearing the adventurous tales of her seagoing father and grandfather. One of the most memorable was the story of the day the Titania sank, unexpectedly becoming New Zealand's first World War I maritime casualty. As told to Ruby Macandrew.

The day the Titania left Fiji bound for New Caledonia in July 1914 there was no thought that World War I was imminent, but less than a month later the crew would find themselves in peril, watching as their beloved ship sank.

The 1107-tonne ship, a four-masted barquentine, was owned and captained by Captain Ferdinand Holm, who, in 40 years of sailing, had never had a serious accident.  All that changed on August 23.

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Mariner Holm, the son of Captain Ferdinand Holm, served as third mate on the ill-fated ship Titania.

At the time, the ship, like many vessels of its kind, were not equipped with radios and Surprise Island had no regular mail, radio or cable connection with any other country.

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Mariner and ship owner Pehr Ferdinand Holm (1844-1917), commanded the grand ship on its final journey.

As Titania approached the dangerous reef off Amadee Island  Holm asked the third mate, his 20-year-old son Mariner Holm, to go aloft and search for a light.

One was sighted and assumed to be from the lighthouse. But, unbeknownst to the crew, French authorities had already extinguished the lighthouse at New Caledonia.

The light they saw turned out to be a masthead light from HMAS Australia.

STUFF

Anne Erwin, in 2004, with the bell her father saved from the Titania when it sank. The bell is now used at the Wellington Central Fire Station. (file photo)

Unsure about the light, Captain Holm gave orders "to stand out till daylight", but it was too late as a swell violently caught the Titania, sending it on to the reef just after midnight.

The force was so great that no-one could stand and everyone on board was forced to take refuge in the bow.

The bottom of the ship was ripped out. The crew sent rockets up all night but to no avail. By daylight it was clear only two lifeboats could be launched – the others were damaged beyond repair.

The crew left in the larger boat,  leaving Captain Holm, his son and friend Harry Howden to check the damage, before the ship went down by the bow and broke in pieces.

Ferdinand Holm and Mariner Holm arrived in Noumea harbour in a small boat towed by a steamer.

"The battering the Titania took that night was the worst I saw in all my years of sailing," the younger Holm wrote.

"The fact that no lives were lost was nothing short of a miracle."

Mariner Holm and Howden later returned to the ship to save its cat, three pigs and the ship's bell.

The bell was brought back to Wellington, where it remains in use at the Wellington Central City Fire Station.

The Titania was not the only ship wrecked on the reef that night. By daylight the crew saw, not just the lighthouse nearby, but three other wrecks piled up alongside.

An inquiry was held and Captain Holm, along with the masters of the other ships, was exonerated.

"The real cause of the wreck was the mistake in regard to the light. The officers could not know that the Amedee light was out."

The French were ordered to pay compensation but as Germany refused to pay their indemnity to France, they, in turn, refused to pay up.

The Titania's sister ship made £70,000 carrying freights during the year of the sinking. Holm received no compensation.

The 70-year-old Holm suffered a stroke while in New Caledonia and died two-and-a-half years later.