RMS Ruahine Voyage No 42 – November 1966-March 1967

by Willie Watson

I had always wanted to go to sea so on completion of my apprenticeship in September 1966 at Glasgow on the river Clyde I joined the New Zealand Shipping Company as a Junior Engineer My connections with New Zealand had started in 1965 while working at the yard of the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan, the last ship that I worked aboard in that yard was the Wahine a Turbo Electric vessel built for The Union Steamship Company of New Zealand to run on the Express Steamer Service between Wellington & Lyttelton. The Wahine was a lovely ship and little did I realise when watching her slip into the river on the day of her launching that a year later I would see her once again this time in New Zealand waters.