Survivors of the Niagara

Survivors of the Niagara

Pictured are two of the lifeboats of the Niagara just before the passengers were successfully picked up. On 19 June 1940 the 13,000-ton liner Niagara was sailing from Auckland to Vancouver when it hit a German-laid mine off Bream Head. All 136 passengers and 203 crew made it to the lifeboats. But the 590 bars of gold and half the New Zealand Army’s small-arms ammunition sank with the ship.