New Zealand's defence minister has publicly criticised online trolling of the female captain of a naval vessel that sunk last weekend, saying while the cause of the incident was unknown it had nothing to do with the captain's gender.
The HMNZS Manawanui, the NZ Navy's specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, sank in Samoan waters on Sunday morning after it lost power and hit a reef during surveying work in rough seas.
It was New Zealand's first naval loss since World War II.
All 75 crew made it to shore safely after an evacuation order was issued by Captain Yvonne Gray.
Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University in the US, told the ABC that "there were really not many options left when the ship's captain decided to go ahead and prioritise the crew over the ship and get them off".
"The ship had already taken a perilous heel, it had already begun flooding."
Judith Collins, who is New Zealand's first female defence minister, said she was appalled to see a "deeply concerning misogynistic narrative" online from "armchair admirals, people who will never have to make decisions which mean life or death for their subordinates".
After days of comments on social media directed at Commander Gray's gender, Ms Collins urged the public to "be better".
"Seriously, it's 2024," Ms Collins told reporters on Thursday. "What the hell's going on here?"
Women members of the military had also faced verbal abuse in the street in New Zealand since the ship — one of nine in the country's navy — was lost on Sunday, Ms Collins said.
About 20 per cent of New Zealand's uniformed defence force personnel are women.
"The one thing that we already know did not cause it is the gender of the ship's captain, a woman with 30 years' naval experience who on the night made the call to get her people to safety," Ms Collins said.
One of the people posting online was a truck driver from Melbourne, she added.
"I think that he should keep his comments to people who drive trucks rather than people who drive ships.
"These are the sorts of people I'm calling out and I'm happy to keep calling them out for as long as it takes to stop this behaviour."
Ms Collins said she stood alongside Commander Gray and Major General Rose King, the country's first woman army chief, who assumed her role in June.
"We are all appointed on merit, not gender," said Ms Collins.
Court of inquiry ordered amid ongoing fears over oil spill
All people on board evacuated to safety with only minor injuries after the vessel ran aground on the reef it was surveying about 2 kilometres off the coast of Upolu, Samoa's most populous island.
The Manawanui was located under 30 metres of sea and inspected by divers for environmentally damaging leaks both by Samoan and NZ Defence Force divers.
Samoa officials fear contamination by fuels and oils from the Manawanui, but Ms Collins said fuel storage tanks remained intact.
"There are reports of some small leaks but these are very small amounts and they're from the pipes that take the fuel around the ship," she said.
"Current indications are that little to none of this initial fuel has come onto any beaches or onto the reef."
Most of the ship's fuel appeared to have burned out in the fire, according to a statement from Samoa's Marine Pollution Advisory Committee.
A statement from Samoa's government confirmed that no trace of contamination had washed onshore.
"The oil sheens observed on the surface of the ocean has been observed to naturally evaporate and dissipate quickly due to the strong winds in the area," they said.
Wellington has ordered a military court of inquiry into the episode to be led by Commodore Melissa Ross, with three senior military members joining her, including a secondment from the Australian Navy, Commodore Dean Battilana.
New Zealand's Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding said he would make as much of the report public as possible, only withholding information on privacy and national security grounds.
"The inquiry is carried out in confidence, with statutory protections for witnesses to enable them to give frank and full evidence," he said.
Passengers, including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel, left the vessel on lifeboats in "challenging conditions" and darkness, Rear Admiral Golding told reporters after the sinking.
Those on board have since returned to New Zealand by plane.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway.
The military said the ship, purchased for $NZ100 million ($90 million), was not covered by replacement insurance.
The state of New Zealand's aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defence agency, which in a March report described the navy as "extremely fragile", with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them.
Of the navy's eight remaining ships, five are currently operational.
Rear Admiral Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent a maintenance period before the deployment.
No apology from New Zealand
Some in Samoa have called for an apology from New Zealand, which Ms Collins declined to offer.
"We're obviously deeply traumatised. Frankly, our navy has gone through a very tough time," she said.
"We are dealing with the immediate issues and anything like that, government to government, would be dealt with by the prime minister, if at all."
Samoa has suffered various indignities at NZ's hands, which included time under administration in Wellington from 1914 to 1962.
New Zealand has been the source of major Samoan measles and flu outbreaks, including one which killed one-fifth of the population, and the deadly 1929 Black Saturday shooting when New Zealand police killed 11 locals.
Mistreatment of Samoans has prompted two formal apologies, delivered by Helen Clark in 2002, and Jacinda Ardern in 2021.
Wires/ABC
