Skip to main content

Story: The voyage out

Shipboard life on the Ruahine

Image
Shipboard life on the Ruahine

The route from Europe to New Zealand passed through the tropics, and complaints of the suffocating heat and oppressive sun were common in shipboard diaries. With the advent of steam and then motor vessels, the passage through the tropics was made much more bearable with swimming pools on deck. This poster for the MV Ruahine, built in 1951, shows a pool among the range of facilities designed for the comfort of passengers.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-D-SHIP-1950s-01-1

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

John Wilson, The voyage out – 20th-century steamers, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/2647/shipboard-life-on-the-ruahine (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by John Wilson, published 4 March 2009.