Barque 'Clyde' Wrecks at Akaroa Harbour Entrance

Eighteen lives were lost when the barque *Clyde* wrecked at the Snufflenose, in Horseshoe Bay, near the entrance to Akaroa Harbour, in November 1884. Five of those victims, the Culmer family, are buried together here in Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery.

Captain Edward Culmer was the master of the ship, which was bringing a shipment of sugar from Dunedin to Lyttelton. It had originally come from Mauritius. His wife Margaret and their three children were also on board: Mary Margaret, who was six and a half; Edward Thomas, who was four; and Edith May, who was two. There were also a number of crew members.

Captain Culmer was an experienced captain, having sailed the east coast of the South Island for several years. But on this particular early morning, the sea was heavy, and the *Clyde* ran aground. A lifeboat was launched, with hopes of saving Margaret and the children, but it was soon swamped.

There was only one survivor from the disaster, a boy named George Gibson. He walked several miles across the peninsula to Duvauchelle to send telegrams alerting the authorities. Those telegrams were reported in local newspapers, but it was too late. When ships arrived on the scene, all that was visible was the top of a mast.

It's unclear if more than three bodies were recovered: Captain Culmer, the ship’s boy Herbert Bohle, and an unidentified body with red whiskers. The Culmer family is memorialized here in Lyttelton, where the captain’s mother lived. Bohle was buried in Akaroa. Inquests and customs inquiries were held, with young George Gibson repeating his story multiple times.