THE LINE THAT DARED
A HISTORY OF THE UNION STEAM SHIP COMPANY - A CENTENARY

AUTHOR - Gordon McLauchlan

PUBLICATION - Four Star Books 1987

CONDITION - Very good condition, inside is clean and bright, binding tight, a little foxing on top of page block. Dustwrapper with slight bumping on corners and top and bottom of spine.

PRICE - $38

DESCRIPTION - This history of the Union Steam Ship Company (USSCo) was published to record the centennial of the line, which was founded in 1875. The Union Company, as it was popularly known, grew to be a major shipping enterprise, with its ships trading mainly on the NZ and Australian coasts, trans-Tasman, with trans-Pacific liner services, trading to Asian and Indian ports, establishing a NZ internal airline just prior to WWI and known as Union Airways. The company operated ferry services between the North and South Islands and its house flag was well known in the islands of the South Pacific. It was the largest shipping company in the southern hemisphere and by the time of its centennial had owned and operated more that 300 ships. It served the Allied cause well through both World Wars, losing ships in both. At the time of its centennial the company was beginning to expereince the effects of the technological revolution in the shipping industry, with many of its post-WWII replacement ships becoming out-dated, there were major changes in ownership and trading patterns and gradually fleet numbers declined until by late in the century the great days of the USSCo were already past and by the Milllenium the fleet list which had totalled about 350 ships was closed. The Union Company which had been so vital the NZ economy, been the largest private employer and whose ships often became houshold names went the way of so many famous and long-lived shipping lines.

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