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Kōrero: Seafarers

Complaints about the food

Audio file

The quality of food provided for the crew often depended as much on the cleanliness of the vessel as the skill of the cook. Listen to Wally Caldwell describe the inadequate diet he endured on pre-war coal-burning vessels.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Dunmore Press

Reference: Walter Caldwell, Kiwi in a crow's nest. Palmerston North: Dunmore, 1978, p. 90

by Peter Watson

Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero (Spectrum 293 - cockroaches and coalburners/Reference number CDR948)

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Neill Atkinson, Seafarers – Life at sea, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/speech/9519/complaints-about-the-food (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Neill Atkinson, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.