The Line That Dared - A History of the Union Steam Ship Company - Publisher: Four Star Books - Publication Date: 1987 - Binding: Hardcover - Book Condition: Ex-library book, laminated cover, marks on 2 pages from removing library labels The Line That Dared - The Line That Dared is the story of the first century of one of the most successful international commercial organisations ever begun by New Zealanders. It is also an important social history. - When this country was settled by Europeans, the newcomers occupied small pockets of land around the coastline, isolated from each other by steep, untracked hills and the sea. Linking these settlements, carrying people and cargo, was the first function of the shipping lines of the last century. - But the country itself is one of the most remote in the world and the Union Steam Ship Company, quite early in its life, stretched out to link up with the other nations of the region. In time it became the biggest maritime operation in the southern hemisphere, known throughout the world for its willingness to innovate, to push right to the forefront of marine technology. - The great Union Company passenger liners that moved people around the Pacific before the aviation age were themselves celebrities, as well known to New Zealanders and Australians as statesmen and entertainers. - This is the story of a great shipping line and its ships, and the daring businessmen and seamen who steered it through its first hundred years, to 1975. Author: Gordon McLauchlan (Ed) ISBN 10: 0959785302