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Under Captain Charles James Holmwood, on 25 June, 1878, the Hyderabad was bound from Lyttelton to Adelaide but encountered squalls in Cook Strait, the wind later turning into a gale. The captain tried to reach the shelter of Kapiti but the ship gradually drifted ashore after attempts to anchor her failed. Two attempts to refloat the Hyderabad were made and each was very nearly successful, a change of wind or a broken hawser at the last moment frustrating the efforts. The final blow was when a fire completely gutted the ship. Five men were living aboard where they had a steam engine for cutting up driftwood. The Hyderabad was a full rigged ship of 1350 tons gross weight and was built in 1866. There were 33 persons on board when she went ashore and all got off safely, including the Captain's family, wife Annie Maclean Holmwood.
The shipwreck lies on the Waitarere beach, now in the sand dunes.