Jack Cook is staying with his Aunt Ada in her boarding house in Wanganui (NZ). It’s a lot different to his home in Picton where he could go to school in bare feet and wear what he liked. He’s had to get used to socks and lace-up shoes and even a tie. There’s lots more chores to do as well.

His Aunt is stern and his cousin Wally isn’t the chatty type, but life’s okay while his Mum is staying with family in the country after losing her husband to influenza. Mum keeps in touch through letters and Jack keeps busy with his books, school and boarding house jobs.

One day during his English class, Jack learns the next assignment is to write about a hero or heroine. Jack wants to write about someone different to his classmates. Beating one student in particular is his plan, but who can he write about? It’s his cousin Wally who gives him a name. Someone he’d never dream of. His own Aunt Ada.

Jack has seen his Aunt’s reaction during stormy nights when she looks at a photo of an upturned boat on a beach. He bides his time before asking her about it. Slowly, over several nights she lets go her secrets, including telling Wally he wasn’t always an only child.

Jack sees the hurt and pain in both his cousin and Aunt as he listens every night over cups of cocoa. In his mind he is taken back to a bitterly cold, stormy, night of 12 February 1909, when a ship called the SS Penguin sunk near the entrance to Wellington Harbour. He works hard on his essay about this tragedy, and tells the story of the only woman who not only survived, but was a heroine.

Just as Aunt Ada had secrets, so does her son Wally. Jack knows his cousin’s plans and worries about what his aunt will do when discovers them.

Quick Review

SS Penguin SOS is a historical novel set around the time of the 1920’s/30’s in New Zealand. This was a time where there was no fridge in the kitchen, the toilet was often in the back yard, lamingtons were served at special events, home made karts (trolleys) were built in any spare time, and handkerchiefs were tied over resulting skinned knees.

While Jack Cook is staying with his aunt, he discovers she’ll be perfect for his school essay on heroes and heroines. He just has to convince her to tell her story. His aunt was the only woman survivor of a shipwreck that took 75 lives during one terrible, cold, stormy crossing of Cook Strait. A handful of photos and maps sprinkled through the text support this fictional story based on true events.

The author was the great niece of heroine Ada Hannan, and Jack was her father. (Unfortunately Adrienne Frater passed away just before this wonderful slice of NZ history was published.)

Author – Adrienne Frater

Age – 8+

Learn more about the SS Penguin here

See Teacher’s Notes here

(NZ, New Zealand History, Secret, Grief, Ship wreck, Tragedy, Essay, Unknown maritime disaster, Historical, Sinking, SS Penguin SOS)