1959 Holmglen shipwreck

All hands were lost when the modern coastal freighter Holmglen foundered off the South Canterbury coast. The cause of the tragedy was never established.

The 485-ton Holm Company motor vessel was bound from Dunedin to Wanganui, via Oamaru and Wellington, when it sank some 40 kms east of Timaru. A Mayday signal and a rushed radio message − which reported that the ship was heeling heavily to port − were received on shore, but searchers found no sign of the vessel except for a large oil slick and floating debris. Further searching led to the recovery of three bodies and an upturned lifeboat.

A Court of Inquiry was unable to establish the cause of the tragedy. The Holmglen was only three years old and was not overloaded. The weather at the time was poor but should not have troubled a vessel of that size. It is possible that the sudden heel may have been caused by the vessel shipping water through its openings, deck cargo shifting, instability, or by the weight of water on the poop deck from a following sea.

An examination of the wreck by divers and a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) in 1999 failed to shed any further light on the cause of the ship's loss.