Refrigerated cargo ship (SS Dunedin)
Buque frigorífico (SS Dunedin)
- Date
- 1882 · confidence medium
- Place
- Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand
- Credited to
- William Soltau Davidson and the New Zealand and Australian Land Company
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The Dunedin carried frozen lamb from New Zealand to London in 1882 after a 98-day voyage, using an air-compression refrigeration chamber. It opened the British market to overseas meat.
Charles Tellier's Paraguay carried frozen meat from Buenos Aires to Le Havre in 1877 and the Strathleven carried it from Australia in 1879-1880; the Dunedin is usually cited as the first profitable commercial shipment.
What it led to
- meat exports from New Zealand, Argentina and Australia
- the maritime cold chain
- refrigerated plants and modern reefer ships