Lounge on the Captain Cook immigrant ship

Lounge on the Captain Cook immigrant ship

The corridor lounge on the port side of the Captain Cook. 

The Captain Cook brought assisted immigrants to New Zealand via the Panama Canal from 1952 to 1960.  See Wikipedia entry and community contributions below for more information.

Community contributions

166 comments have been posted about Lounge on the Captain Cook immigrant ship

What do you know?

Pauline Sullivan

Posted: 08 Jul 2021

My mother father and two sisters sailed on the captain Cook June 17th, 1958. I was seasick from the day we sailed until we dock in Wellington 24th July. I hated every minute of the journey.

Gabby

Posted: 20 Apr 2021

My mother came out to NZ on the Captain Cook leaving Glasgow in December 1952, having travelled from Orkney Islands. She was 22 years old and left behind all her family. I recall her talking about being very sea sick on the voyage and also stopping at Panama where one of the female passengers disembarked and never returned to the ship.

Danny Devaney

Posted: 11 Mar 2021

My grandfather was on the Captain Cook 27/7 1955 - 5/10/1955 and I seen in a earlier post by Doug McGregor that he had his 6th birthday board 7/8/1955 and that's the day I was born in Glasgow and he mentioned he was heading to the state's that trip and I was wondering if the Captain Cook would ever of went to Buenos Aries .

Mike Cogswell

Posted: 11 Feb 2021

I came to NZ on the Captain Cook during February March of 1952. I think it was her maiden voyage after a refit. I was 5. We ran short of water and docked in Panama and Curacao and disembarked in both ports. I have photos of at least one of those stops. I can remember another boy in our cabin, I think his name was Brian. We did see his family in Wellington once or twice after we arrived. Also I remember one of the cabin members was doing an oil painting. The male and female passenger were separated. I can remember a fearsome storm and most of the passengers being sick. My father and I were of the few that were able to eat.

Danny

Posted: 18 Jan 2021

Hi there my Grandfather was a seaman on the Captain Cook between 8th Dec 1952 till 25th Feb 1953 and 4th July 1955 till 5th October 1955. Also 17th Oct 1955 till 16th Jan 1956 if anyone travelled on these dates I would love to know where it went to. Glasgow was his starting and finishing port it's the in between I don't know thank you

Lyn nee Creighton

Posted: 26 Oct 2020

Correction to my earlier post - my parents and brother left Southampton in June 1953 on the Captain Cook - arriving in Wellington six weeks later in July 1953.

Lyn nee Creighton

Posted: 26 Oct 2020

My Mum and Dad, Maisie and Les Creighton, along with my 5 year old brother Donald came out on the Captain Cook from Southampton arriving in Wellington in June 1953. They travelled onto Masterton where they stayed with an old distant aunt who acted as a sponsor and they setlled into life in NZ. Soon after leaving England a female passenger on board the ship was diagnosed with polio and as a result the entire ship was placed into quarantine - for 6 long weeks no one was allowed off at any of the ports along the way until they arrived in Wellington. I remember my Dad saying the officials in Wellington had finished for the day be the time they disembarked from the ship and so he put their 10 pound fee back in his wallet and they let themselves into the country and headed off to start their new life. Both my parents have now passed away but it would be great to learn more about life on board on that long journey to NZ. I still have the wooden trunk they brought with them along with some of their original documents and a menu from the ship. My Mum said all the women and children were accommodated at one end of the ship and the men at the other. My other brother and I were born in NZ but always felt British on the inside! The older I get the more I realise what a mammoth journey it was for them to have made back in 1953, leaving all their family behind and I wish I'd asked them more about it. They made a good life for themselves and our family in NZ but growing up without knowing grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins was really hard and I always felt sad about that but did subsequently have the opportunity to meet them all on several trips to the UK and it felt like I had a natural connection with them and with the UK which is where all our roots are.

Jane

Posted: 14 Oct 2020

I was 9 years old, my sister was 3 when we left Glasgow on Board the Captain Cook with my Mum and Dad. Albert and Cathy Hamilton.
We left behind a large family of Aunts Uncles and cousins and most of all Grandparents.
Little did we know what it all meant.
October 1956 a Photographer from a Local Newspaper took our Photo. There was a whole line of us in that Photo. hanging over the side, looking down at families shouting up at us.
There had been a Dock Strike which meant we had to wait till the strike ended, I think it was a week. That photo also appeared in a book, from the Archives of the Herald and Evening times The book is called TIMES PAST 2. I found a copy at a second hand shop when I was in Glasgow

On the 21st of November we crossed the Equator, we all were given a Certificate from Neptune.
I did have the Menu from the last day, it was signed by people that we got to know, I have put it in a safe place, that I cant remember where. Maybe turn up later.

We also had a Fancy dress competition, and I remember the winner was a pretty girl with long Hair, she had a mermaid costume.

Another memory of Having to stay down below. Because We were tavelling through a huge storm. We felt so seasick. When we were eventually allowed outside My sister and I went up on deck., the Seas were still coming up high, the ship would sink down and it felt like the waves were going to come over us. My sister had a book in her hand, it was a Sooty and Sweep book, cant remember how it happened, but it somehow ended up in the water, it floated away with the waves. One of the deckhands took our hands and escorted us back down stairs. I dont think we should have gone without our parents.
Then when we arrived in Wellington, a long trainride to Wellington.
If I find the Menu with the Names on it I will put it on here.

Sam Whittaker

Posted: 10 Oct 2020

I went to NZ. aboard the captain cook in 1953, with my mother and younger brother.I was 5 and he was 3. I remember going through the Panama Canal and not be able to go ashore in Curaçao because illness onboard or ashore.quessing from other comments must have been on the voyage that arrived in Wellington in June 53. We then caught a train to Aucland. My dad(Arthur WHITTAKER) had joined the NZ.AF and had gone ahead..we lived on the airbase at Hobsonville for six years.I have two brothers that were born in NZ. One (Nigel) still lives there near Blenhiem.

Paul Kerr

Posted: 25 Sep 2020

A message for Andy McGinty and Martin Logan. Martin, our father was on the ship with you and Andy, our mother was traveling with you and your family. You can both contact us at - [email protected] - and we will help you as much as we can with research information.

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