TEV Wahine was a twin-screw, turbo-electric, roll-on/roll-off ferry. Ordered in 1964, the vessel was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland for the Union Steam Ship Company's Wellington-Lyttelton Steamer Express Service in New Zealand.

The Wahine began transporting passengers for day and overnight trips between New Zealand's inter-island route between the ports of Wellington and Lyttelton in 1966. The Wahine was permitted to carry a maximum of 1,100 passengers (or 924 berthed passengers in 380 cabins spread over seven decks).

On 10 April 1968, near the end of a routine northbound overnight crossing from Lyttelton, she was caught in a fierce storm stirred by Tropical Cyclone Giselle. She foundered after running aground on Barrett Reef, capsized and sank in the shallow waters near Steeple Rock at the mouth of Wellington Harbour. Of the 734 people on board, 53 people died from drowning, exposure to the elements, or from injuries sustained in the hurried evacuation and abandonment of the stricken vessel.

The unfolding shipwreck drama was covered by radio and television crews, as the Wahine ran aground within a short distance of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Newspaper crews, and other journalists and photographers, provided immediate news coverage documenting the passenger rescue and loss of life.