Captain Cook Commemoration - Oct 9th,1969

200th anniversary of the discovery of New Zealand by Captain James Cook

The goodwill port call in Gisborne, New Zealand, lasted for 3 days.

The USS Hoel DDG-13 was the single U.S. representative in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the discovery of New Zealand by Captain James Cook. Warships representing England, Canada, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand were in attendance and celebrated jointly.

The ship's entered Poverty Bay - Gisborne,NZ on 8 Oct 1969. (The same day 200 years earlier that Cook entered the Bay)

The parade took place the following day, 9 Oct 1969.

All of us that were there had a great time at the local pubs, drinking with sailors from all the other Navies.

<Click here to open the 25 Sep 1969 POD, which describes the schedule of events for the NZ visits>>

<Click here for commemoration video> (3min55sec)

(Navies marching starts at 1:42 The end of our ship's column starts at 1:59. I'm the one with the sun glasses (figures, HA))

Newspaper article, late 1969

The following is the official medallion that was given to the sailors that participated.

(Courtesy of John Helsley, 69-73 BM3)

The following is a NZ dollar coin that was produced that year.

(Courtesy of Joseph Jetton, 67-70 ETN3)

Discovery of New Zealand...

On 6th October 1769, the coastline of New Zealand was sighted from the masthead of The Endeavour.

On 8th October the Endeavour sailed into a bay, and laid anchor at the entrance of a small river in Tuuranga-nui (today's Poverty Bay, near modern Gisborne).

However, things did not go well from the beginning. <Click here for the full story>

However, let it be noted that New Zealand was first discovered by Abel Tasman of Holland when he sited New Zealand on December 13th 1642. At sunset on the December 18th, the Dutch anchored off the coast of Taitapu Bay (now Golden Bay). But because of hostilities with the Māori during this visit, Tasman eventually sailed away, not ever having had the chance to set foot onshore in New Zealand.

Interactive New Zealand History Map