Christmas 1961
   Auckland, New Zealand

(All photographs Courtesy Stan Dingwall)
 

The last Christmas in Auckland was, of course, the Rangitiki's last Christmas anywhere.

The three photograph's on this page were made by Stan Dingwall, a waiter at the time who, fortunately, had the sense of occasion to capture these unique images.

Other than a well-known photograph of the Rangitiki in dry dock taken I believe by another correspondent, Len Chapman, I have not before seen a photograph of this grand ship taken from directly ahead.

Note the festive Christmas tree at thetop of the foremast in this and the image below.

The ship to the left is RMS Rangitoto, which ship Mick Overall was to later join for six trips after the Rangitiki met her sad end in Santander Spain.

So, too, is the Rangitoto no more.