page_title: SS Maheno
section_title: Running aground on Fraser Island
hierarchical_section_title: SS Maheno / Service history / Running aground on Fraser Island
caption_attribution_description: English: The S.S. Maheno on Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia. Deutsch: Das Schiffswrack S.S. Maheno auf Fraser Island, Queensland, Australien.
context_page_description: SS Maheno was an ocean liner belonging to the Union Company of New Zealand that operated in the Tasman Sea, crossing between New Zealand and Australia, from 1905 until 1935.
  It was also used as a ship by the New Zealand Naval Forces during World War I; as His Majesty's New Zealand Hospital Ship No. 1. It was washed ashore on Fraser Island by a cyclone in 1935 where the disintegrating wreck remains as a popular tourist attraction.
context_section_description: At the end of its commercial life, on 3 July 1935 Maheno left Sydney under tow by the 1,758 ton ship Oonah, a former Tasmanian Steamers Pty. Ltd. Bass Strait ferry, built in 1888, which along with the Maheno had been sold to the shipbreaker's yard Miyachi K.K.K. in Osaka, Japan. The ships were linked by a 900-foot (270 m) 6.75-inch (17.1 cm) wire rope.
  On the afternoon of 7 July, about 50 miles from the coast, the towline parted in a cyclone. Attempts to re-attach the towline failed in the heavy seas, and the Maheno, with a skeleton crew of eight men aboard, drifted off and disappeared. The Oonah, with its steering gear temporarily disabled, broadcast a radio message requesting assistance for Maheno, whose propellers had been removed. Maheno was subsequently found on 10 July by an aircraft piloted by Keith Virtue, beached off the coast of Fraser Island. The crew had set up camp onshore, waiting for the Oonah to arrive, which it did on 12 July. The wreck was also the location of the marriage of Dudley Weatherley and Beatrice McLean (instead of at Townsville), at the invitation of Captain Takaka, to notes from the ship's Bechstein piano.
  The ship was subsequently stripped of its fittings, but attempts to refloat her failed. The wreck was subsequently offered for sale, but no buyers could be found for it.
caption: The hulk of Maheno in 2007
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Fraser Island, Shipwreck of Maheno (ship, 1905)", "Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX *ist D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:07:07 05:06:48", "Image Artist": "Heinrich Pniok", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Copyright: Heinrich Pniok", "Image ExifOffset": "487", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "983", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3587", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "19/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:07:07 05:06:48", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:07:07 05:06:48", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1120723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1299171/200000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "40", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2917", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1660", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "60", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}