Story: Shipbuilding

Bill Hamilton

Bill Hamilton

New Zealand’s most remarkable contribution to pleasure boating was the jet boat. Water jets were not entirely new, but in the 1950s Bill Hamilton, the son of a Canterbury farmer, made a number of improvements to the technology, expelling the jet stream above the waterline, and eliminating conventional underwater appendages such as propellers and rudders. His boats combined high performance and safety in very shallow water.

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Hamilton Jet

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How to cite this page:

Gavin McLean, 'Shipbuilding - Modern shipbuilding', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/5510/bill-hamilton (accessed 16 April 2024)

Story by Gavin McLean, published 12 Jun 2006, updated 1 Jul 2015