Steam on the Waitemata - Book Type: Small hardcover - Published: 1972 - Published By: AH & AW Reed - Pages: 64 - Size (mm): 225 w x 245 h x 12 d - No dust jacket, marks on cover, inside all fine Foreword - When reading the manuscript of Mr Steward's book, I was reminded of a line from Rudyard Kipling's famous poem McAndrew's Hymn: "Mister McAndrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?" - Steam on the Waitemata answers this with a decisive no! Thanks to Mr Stewart, you needn't have been brought up on coupler-flangers—or for that matter even know what they are to enjoy the romance that steam gave to our harbour. Steam on the Waitemata isn't simply a book of technicalities, although there are enough of those to satisfy the purist, it's the vivid record of a great era. Steam added muscle to a city at work and pleasure to its play, and this book recalls the fine vessels, many of which were designed and constructed in Auckland before the turn of the century, and the lives of those closely associated with them. - In short, Mr Stewart has succeeded in creating a time machine. Whether describing the epic "steamboat Bill” race between the Victoria and Eagle, or illustrating the rakish lines of a paddle-wheeler, steam on the Waitemata lives again. - After reading this book I suspect that even the most ecology-conscious of us will feel that Auckland will have lost a vital part of its character when the last plume of coal smoke finally vanishes from the Waitemata. - A. WALL. Marine Engineer - Ship Surveyor Author: STEWART, W W ISBN: 058900719