This book is the story, from 1875 until the present day, of one of the greatest ever shipping companies. The Union Steamship Company of New Zealand must surely hold the accolade of owning the largest number of truly beautiful passenger ships; both large and small. As usual volume 32 of Merchant Fleets includes a basic chronological company history followed by a fleet of 315 vessels with their technical and career histories. There are also 218 scale profiles covering all but 29 of the earlier of smaller ships.