Choie Sew Hoy and the Sinking of the S.S. Ventnor

About this episode

This episode explores the life of Choie Sew Hoy and the events surrounding the S.S. Ventnor during the Otago Gold Rush in 19th-century New Zealand.

I had the idea for this episode sometime during mid-summer 2025. Then I became distracted by the big project I'm working on now, then the holidays, sick cats, and the random hassles of life. This one's only 34 minutes long. My deepest apologies for all the mispronunciations of Maori names. This is the story of Choie Sew Hoy 徐肇开 and the times he lived in during the 19th-century Chinese immigrant scene in New Zealand. There was a lot more going on in the history of Chinese New Zealanders. This story is mostly limited to the events surrounding the Otago Gold Rush of the early 1860s. Here are a few YouTube videos about this topic: Journey To Lan Yuan Ep 7 Choie Sew Hoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMYHSRTVo4M Journey To Lan Yuan Ep 8 The S.S. Ventnor. https://youtu.be/Q2EXkSdIGAM?si=cEN3uft5CpyU9Rzd The Mystery of the S.S. Ventnor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg8DB42BkAk Choie Sew Hoy's descendants meet in Dunedin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhDM4pwxHdM Please consider supporting my efforts: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChinaHistoryPodcast/ CHP Premium: https://teacupmedia.supercast.com/ Other ways to support: https://teacup.media/support

People in this episode

Host: Laszlo Montgomery

Topics covered

• Chinese immigration
• New Zealand history
• Otago Gold Rush
• Choie Sew Hoy
• 19th-century
• Maritime history

Keywords

• Choie Sew Hoy
• S.S. Ventnor
• Otago Gold Rush
• Chinese immigrants
• New Zealand history
• 19th-century

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: S.S. Ventnor

Places: New Zealand, Dunedin

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