Orkney Image Library

This is such a coincidence!
I've just finished an article for Sib Folk News about my great-uncle Rev.John G. Inkster. He and his wife had been in N. Zealand since the start of WW1, and were on their way back to Canada. Their ship was torpedoed on the first night and they were rescued and taken back to N. Zealand to await another ship. That ship turned out to be the Aorangi!
Would that have been the same ship or another of the same name, in 1940?

I see it must have been another ship. I didn't notice that this one broke up.

This Aorangi was built in Glasgow in 1883, and registered in Dunedin New Zealand. She would have been over 30 years old when she was sunk as a blockship. No doubt the New Zealand shipping line would reuse the name when they replaced the ship. Ron

Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain at 3764 metres, is called AORAKI or AORANGI, by Maori. 'ao' meaning land. 'rangi' meaning sky.

I was sure it would be a Maori word but had no idea what it meant. This is a great place to learn new things!
I see that I said WW 1 in my original message; of course I meant WW 2. What a pity you don't get a fact-checker!

Sailed on the second Aorangi from the Clyde 15th April 1942. Off South Africa on 15th May the ships ahead and astern struck mines laid by the "Doggerbank". Not the Aorangi, lucky us!

My mother brought my brother and I to the Mainland from Honolulu in 1935 on what she always told us was the Aorangi which evidently docked in Victoria, BC. She told us that this ship was carrying only about 9 passengers...mostly cargo, and that that was to be its last voyage. Can you help us with any more information?
Thank you so much!

I agree, it would be good to find out a bit more information. The facts that I have were taken from an account written by my great-uncle's widow some time after his death. He died in Dec. 1946. In her account the Aorangi did berth at Victoria BC. but this was in 1940.