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Story: Transport – overview

Immigrant sailing ship

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Immigrant sailing ship

From the 1840s to the 1880s most immigrants to New Zealand from Britain came by sailing ships on the Great Circle Route, which passed around the Cape of Good Hope and then down into the Southern Ocean to catch the strongest winds, usually without making landfall on the way. On the way back to Europe the route went around Cape Horn. This immigrant ship, the Lady Jocelyn, made several voyages between Britain and New Zealand.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/1-002195-G

by David Alexander De Maus

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.

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How to cite this page

James Watson, Transport – overview – Before motor transport, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/24978/immigrant-sailing-ship (accessed 21 June 2026).

Story by James Watson, published 10 June 2013.