FAVOURITE, paddle steamer:
Went ashore on Ahipara Beach on 1 April 1870. The casualty occurred during a moderate south-west gale and the steamer became a total wreck. No blame was attached to Captain Robert Dyason, who owned the vessel with Chas. Fairweather.
The Favourite, No. 43,322, 94.67 tons gross and 59.23 tons net, built at Williamstown, Victoria, in 1863 by William and George White. Reg. Sydney. Her engine was 45hp. Length 121.7ft., beam 16.3ft., depth 6.8ft. On 6 July 1863, the Favourite was involved in a disastrous collision with the steamer Pride of the Yarra, on Otago Harbour, 12 lives being lost on the latter vessel.

Text from New Zealand Shipwrecks, 8th edition (Hodder Moa, 2007). Used with permission of the publisher and authors.