Notable ship visits to Wellington

Matawhaorua was the canoe of the legendary Polynesian explorer Kupe who is said to have visited Wellington hundreds of years ago.

The date is commemorated as Wellington Anniversary Day, and the ship is memorialised in a sculpture at the Petone Settlers Museum.

Other ships in the New Zealand Company's fleet that arrived in 1840 were Oriental, Adelaide, Duke of Roxburgh, and Bengal Merchant, plus a freight vessel, Glenbervie.

In July and August 1925, 57 ships of the United States navy visited ports in Australia and New Zealand.

[2] Hundreds of Wellingtonians went out to the harbour entrance on ferries and small boats to watch the fleet arriving, preceded by six seaplanes.

[9] On 31 December 1937 Centaurus's departure from Auckland was broadcast live on radio in Wellington, and by 9:00am city rooftops and the waterfront were jammed with people and cars waiting for her arrival.

A train tooted its horn and then ships all over the harbour sounded their sirens as the flying boat was sighted over Khandallah.

The boat taxied to its moorings at Aotea Quay and the crew were led off to a reception at the Harbour Board offices.

[10][11] Centaurus flew to Evans Bay later that day and was moored there for the rest of her stay in Wellington, apart from short flights over the city.

Pamir arrived in Wellington on 29 July 1941 with a cargo of guano from the Seychelles and a crew of 14 Finns, one Swede, seven New Zealanders and one Englishman.

[16] The ship made ten commercial voyages under the New Zealand flag and wasn't returned to its owners until 1948.

[27] More than 10,000 people visited the terminal on 21 June 1971 to watch 80 containers being loaded and unloaded, and at the end of the day the public was able to board the vessel to look around.

She arrived at Wellington on 27 August 1976 to a protest by a flotilla of about 20 small boats, and anti-nuclear protestors picketed at the wharf where the ship was berthed.

Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, foreign squid jigging vessels visited New Zealand on their way to fishing grounds further south.

[36] MS Queen Elizabeth visited Wellington on its maiden voyage in 2011, and many Wellingtonians turned out to watch the ship arrive and depart.