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TSS Captain Cook arriving in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, circa 1954.

The Captain Cook, along with the Captain Hobson, brought assisted immigrants to New Zealand via the Panama Canal from 1952. The Cook had 1070 berths and was furnished in a solid but attractive style. Its first trip to New Zealand was not uneventful: workmen were still carrying out conversion work, a failure in the engine room necessitated a layover in Aruba in the Caribbean, and the ship ran out of fresh water a few days out of Wellington. In 1960 the Captain Cook was withdrawn from service and broken up.

  

New Zealand Immigration

Keith Lightfoot travelled half way around the world to New Zealand aboard the TSS Captain Cook, as part of an immigration assistance program offered by the New Zealand Government.

Between 1947 and 1975, a total of 77,000 women, children and men arrived from Great Britain under the assisted immigration scheme. 

Initially settling in Picton, then onto Christchurch, the family moved frequently throughout the country as part of his father’s Air Force career, eventually buying a home and enjoying a wonderful life in Invercargill

Historical Information re NZ Immigration:
Long journey for sevenpence
Assisted immigration, 1947-75 Media Gallery
Mailing lists for immigrant passengers

Special Thanks to: New Zealand History Online: www.nzhistory.net.nz