Story: Shipping

Survivors of the Rangitane

Survivors of the Rangitane

Within the space of 48 hours in November 1940, German raiders sank the steamer Holmwood off the Chatham Islands, and the New Zealand Shipping Company’s liner Rangitane north-east of East Cape. The Rangitane was carrying about 200 crew and 111 passengers. Fifteen people died in the attack. The ship’s passengers and crew were captured by the Germans. Some of the men were taken to prisoner-of-war camps in Germany, and the rest were dropped at Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago, in present-day Papua New Guinea, and eventually rescued. Here survivors marooned on Emirau await their rescue. The photographer was the ship’s chief engineer, A. T. Cox.

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Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Reference: S. P. Llewellyn. Troopships. Wellington: War History Branch, Dept of Internal Affairs, 1949, p. 23

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How to cite this page:

Gavin McLean, 'Shipping - From coal to oil', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/5768/survivors-of-the-rangitane (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Gavin McLean, published 12 Jun 2006, updated 1 Jan 2016