- The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:53, 28 June 2019 (UTC)
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SS Ventnor edit
... that the SS Ventnor's cargo of 499 bodies was initially thought lost when the ship sunk?Source: "the remains of around 500 mostly goldminers who had died in New Zealand and were being returned to their families in China. To the great despair of the families, all was believed lost in the wreck."[1]499 from [2] and others on page.- ALT1:
... that a cargo of 499 bodies of Chinese gold miners were initially thought lost when the SS Ventnor sunk, until some were found to have been buried by the local Māori?Source: "the remains of around 500 mostly goldminers who had died in New Zealand and were being returned to their families in China. To the great despair of the families, all was believed lost in the wreck." and "In the case of Te Roroa the remains were buried next to their own ancestral burial grounds"[3]499 from [4] and others on page.
- ALT2:
...that the bodies of 499 gold miners bound for China were initially thought lost when the SS Ventnor sunk?Source: "the remains of around 500 mostly goldminers who had died in New Zealand and were being returned to their families in China. To the great despair of the families, all was believed lost in the wreck."[5]499 from [6] and others on page.
- Reviewed: Xiao Yang (judge)
Moved to mainspace by Dushan Jugum (talk). Self-nominated at 07:56, 4 May 2019 (UTC).
| General: Article is new enough and long enough |
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| Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems |
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Hook eligibility:
- Cited:
- Interesting:
- Other problems:
| QPQ: Done. |
Overall: 
All points check out, ready to go. Moonraker (talk) 08:38, 6 May 2019 (UTC)
Returned from prep. The original hook was changed in prep to: ... that 499 bodies being transported by the SS Ventnor were thought to be lost when the ship sunk? However, this fact is not stated in the article or in the sources. They weren't thought to be lost, they were lost. I tried rewriting the hook, but found that it's not so interesting to say that bodies were lost because a ship sank. Could you provide a hookier hook? Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 20:11, 21 May 2019 (UTC)
- Hi, Yoninah. They were thought lost and then washed up on shore over the next few months. From page: “Over the next few months after the sinking the remains of the Chinese gold miners began to be washed ashore. The local Māori tribe (Te Roroa) buried their remains near their own burial grounds”[ https://www.northlandnz.com/assets/Uploads/NJ-Wandering-With-Ancestors.pdf]. Unless you mean the difference between “lost for good” and “lost temporarily”? A possible new hook would be: "That all 499 bodies being transported on the SS Ventnor were initially thought lost?" i.e. remove mention of the sinking.(Dushan Jugum (talk) 23:53, 21 May 2019 (UTC)).
- I frankly don't see any hook interest in bodies thought to be lost that eventually were lost. Could you choose a more interesting fact with better wording? Words like "gold miners" catch the eye. Explaining why the bodies were being transported would also be hooky. Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 15:16, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
- Hi Yoninah, I have tried some new hooks. If they don't work for you I would sugest either leaving it for somone else or removing the page from the list (trust your judgment either way). I like the idea of there being a high standard for hooks, but I do believe this story is as interesting as most DYK. (Dushan Jugum (talk) 04:18, 30 May 2019 (UTC)).
- @Dushan Jugum: the word "cargo" has already been nixed when this appeared in prep. And why do you keep insisting that the bodies were "thought to be lost" when they were in fact lost? Let's try something else:
- ALT3:
... that in 1902, the SS Ventnor was chartered to return the remains of 499 bodies exhumed from cemeteries in New Zealand to their homes in southern China? - ALT4:
... that the SS Ventnor, which sank in 1902, represented the last attempt to exhume and ship bodies en masse from New Zealand to China?Yoninah (talk) 20:12, 30 May 2019 (UTC)
- We are still talking past each other Yoninah, however, ALT4 works for me if it works for you. ALT 3 does not mention the sinking which is an important point. (Dushan Jugum (talk) 22:36, 30 May 2019 (UTC)).
OK, thanks. Calling for a reviewer for ALT4. @Dushan Jugum: you could also consider ALT2 without the thinking that they were lost:- ALT2a: ... that the bodies of 499 gold miners bound for China were lost
whenafter the SS Ventnor sank? Yoninah (talk) 13:27, 31 May 2019 (UTC)
ALT2a is pretty good and in my view is the best so far. I have taken the liberty of changing "sunk" to "sank", and another minor quibble is that the people were presumably alive when the ship sank, their *bodies* were lost *after* it sank, so I would suggest using the word "after" here. ALT4 is also supported by a source, but it is not terribly hooky, and I did find myself wondering whether it might be the first, last, and only such attempt! Moonraker (talk) 23:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
