During November and early December 1918 when the influenza epidemic was raging in Wellington the harbour was crowded with ships which were unable to muster enough crew to set off to their next port of call. Shipping routes were one of the disease vectors carrying the infection throughout the country, and ships arrived in port with crew members already ailing. Work on the wharves was also badly affected, with the usual stevedoring, tug boat, and coaling operations limited by the rapid spread of the disease.  Although the Harbour Board responded fairly efficiently and set up an inhalation chamber early on, this was not enough to contain the spread. Many seamen and wharf workers died and were amongst those buried in Karori Cemetery. Some of them, by the nature of their work, were a very long way from home and their plots have probably never been visited by family members and descendants. The SS Takapuna, docked at Glasgow Wharf, was set up as a temporary hospital to cope with the numbers of mariners who became ill.

The stories of some of the mariners who died are listed below.
Captain John DREWETTE
Captain Malo GOURIO
Captain Arthur HOWELL