Animations & Simulations/ T.E.V. Wahine

The T.E.V. Wahine was a passenger/vehicle ferry, which regularly traveled the popular route between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. On April 10, 1968 the Wahine was unexpectedly the victim of a rapidly developing tropical cyclone. The suddenly erratic cyclone changed course, developed 100-mph winds and overtook the Wahine as she approached her destination, Wellington Harbor. The ship's radar failed as she entered the narrow, rocky channel and visibility deteriorated quickly to zero. The Captain and crew could not determine which way the vessel was oriented and inadvertently backed over a reef severely damaging the ship's bottom.

The Discovery Channel asked JMS to explain why the ship, which appeared very stable after suffering minimal damage, lost her stability so suddenly. After a thorough examination of the events leading up to the eventual capsize, JMS developed technically accurate 3D computer simulations to illustrate how significant flaws in the ship's design compounded the scope of the minor damage she suffered.

The Wahine was designed with an enormous two-tiered vehicle deck capable of holding over 200 cars. This single compartment spanned nearly the entire length of the ship and clear across her beam from the port to the starboard side. JMS discovered that when the reef damaged the ship's hull the stability of the vessel was maintained until the vehicle deck began to take on water. Once this happened a principal known as "free-surface effect" began to slowly drain the ship of its stability as water sloshed from one side of the ship to the other. As the ship continued to rock back and forth, the momentum of the flooded water slowly increased her starboard list. As she suddenly approached the point of no return, the Captain gave the command to abandon ship and all on board rushed to the lower, starboard side lifeboats. This sudden shift in weight, although slight, caused the ship to lose its little remaining stability and capsized very quickly.

Contact Us