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Union Line menu for officers
A 1915 menu on a pre-war Union Company card. This was almost certainly for officers.
German auxiliary cruiser SMS Wolf
The auxiliary cruiser which seized and sank two ships off the Kermadec Islands and sank two more by mines laid off the coast
The troopship Aparima
The Union Company’s Calcutta ‘slow boat’, the Aparima packed with with troops heading for the First World War
The Otaki in 1912
The New Zealand Shipping Company's Otaki in Wellington Harbour, 1912
Sinking of the SS Otaki
K.T. Russell’s painting of the Otaki battling the German raider, Moewe.
Launch of the Niagara
Launching the Union Company Royal Mail liner Niagara at the John Brown Shipyard, Clydebank, in 1912
Politics, patriotism and protest - Merchant marine
Although New Zealand seafarers served in many hostile theatres, some questioned the politics of the war
Home waters - Merchant marine
The First World War had a dramatic impact on shipping arrivals to New Zealand
Agony on the Aparima - Merchant marine
One of the worst losses of New Zealand lives at sea occurred aboard the Union Company’s Aparima in 1917
Wahine's wanderings - Merchant marine
Most requisitioned ships continued to carry people or cargo. One Union Company ship, however, entered the Royal Navy and bore the prefix HMS. The Wahine was no ordinary ship
Hospital ships - Merchant marine
In May 1915, as the casualty lists mounted at Gallipoli, the government chartered a hospital ship, the Union Company’s 5282-ton trans-Tasman liner Maheno
The Otaki's epic battle - Merchant marine
Many Home boats were lost, especially in 1917/18 when Germany stepped up its submarine warfare against Allied commerce. But one action stood out, an epic battle between the New Zealand Shipping Co freighter Otaki and the German auxiliary cruiser Moewe (‘Seagull’).
The merchant marine goes to war
The outbreak of war in 1914 posed special problems for New Zealand due to its dependence on sea trade.
The merchant marine in the First World War
On 3 September New Zealand honoured Merchant Navy Day. Here we explore the little-known but vital role played by the merchant marine during the First World War. As in the Second World War, in 1914-18 these civilian seafarers often found themselves in the front lines of the war at sea.
Monowai – the ship that rescued Anne Frank's father
New Zealand has a small connection to the poignant story of Anne Frank, via her father, Otto, and the merchant ship TSS Monowai
Reminiscences of a wanderer
R.C. Bruce's 1914 memoir, Reminiscences of a wanderer, is a ripping yarn of a nomadic labouring life at sea and on land.
NZ ship torpedoed in Tasman
The Union Steam Ship Company freighter Limerick was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the New South Wales coast. Two of its crew were lost.
Capture - Prisoners of War
Most of New Zealand's Second World War POWs were captured in the European theatre in the early stages of the war. Only about 100 New Zealand servicemen fell into Japanese hands, mainly airmen or seamen attached to the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.
No grave but the sea - the Merchant Navy
For the Merchant Navy the cost of victory was high: between 1939 and 1945 almost 5000 Allied and neutral merchant vessels (over 21 million tons' worth) were sunk, and around 60,000 seafarers were killed – more than half of them while sailing under the red duster (red ensign) of the British Empire and Dominions.
The Battle of the Atlantic - the Merchant Navy
Although it was waged half a world away, few military campaigns were as vital to New Zealand's interests as the Battle of the Atlantic. A German victory, which would have severed this country's links with Britain, was one of the gravest threats New Zealand has ever faced.

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