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Naming of Union Company Ships

21K views 39 replies 31 participants last post by  Jonesie 
#1 ·
Up until the time the Union Company was sold by P&O to Tasman Union Ltd. (a company jointly owned by N.Z. Maritime Holdings and T.N.T. Shipping (NZ) Ltd.), all the Company's ships (with some exceptions) were given Maori names. After this the "Union" prefix began to appear, when the Company started to re-tonnage itself with the hitherto unheard of, chartering of ships.
As a rule of thumb (and again there were some exceptions), ships with a Maori name (e.g. UNION ROTORUA, UNION ROTOMA), were owned by the Company and those with a place name (e.g. UNION AUSTRALIA, UNION DUNEDIN) were chartered.
Changes in shipping methods and practices steadily eroded the fleet. In 1972 at the time of the handover, there were 47 ships and a staff of 3345. In 1982, this was down to 13 ships and 1619 staff. By 1988, there were 9 ships and 835 staff. By 1999, the Company owned only three ships and today the Company has gone.
 
#3 ·
I well remember The Union Company of New Zealand, I spent almost six monthe in Wellington during the Wharfies strike, on The Australia Star and watched the inter island ferries come and go between Wellington and Littleton,they were nice ships, sailed on two of them as a passenger.
I had a friend with Blue Star wno got married and went to NZ and sailed as a enginner with the Union Company, his name was Alec Walker (Jock).Lost track with him over the years and hoped I may find him thru this page,he hailed from Bathgate,Midlothian Scotland---here's hoping?
Neil
 
#4 · (Edited)
Unoin Company

Nice to see the Union Company mentioned as it was a big company both in New Zealand and also Australia. Having sailed on various union Co. ships in the 60's and 70's mainly on the Aussie coast and one voyage to Lyttleton in the early seventies. Just to name the ones I sailed on as follows.. Pateena, Kumalla, Kootara, Risdon , Seaway Queen and Seaway Prince, as you may be aware Wm.Holyman & Co. was part owned by the Union Company. Their ships mainly sailed out of Tasmanian ports to Melbourne and Adelaide and the vessels that I sailed on with that Co. were Tarrina, Wareatea,William Holyman and their last ship, Mary Holyman.Yet another peice of shipping history has passed us by. Hope this maybe of some interest to members.
Kind Regards, lensoveta (Kevin Harrison)
 
#26 ·
Nice to see the Union Company mentioned as it was a big company both in New Zealand and also Australia. Having sailed on various union Co. ships in the 60's and 70's mainly on the Aussie coast and one voyage to Lyttleton in the early seventies. Just to name the ones I sailed on as follows.. Pateena, Kumalla, Kootara, Risdon , Seaway Queen and Seaway Prince, as you may be aware Wm.Holyman & Co. was part owned by the Union Company. Their ships mainly sailed out of Tasmanian ports to Melbourne and Adelaide and the vessels that I sailed on with that Co. were Tarrina, Wareatea,William Holyman and their last ship, Mary Holyman.Yet another peice of shipping history has passed us by. Hope this maybe of some interest to members.
Kind Regards, lensoveta (Kevin Harrison)
Lindsay Sparks also sailed on the Mary Holyman. By chance did you sail with Lindsay
 
#5 ·
The USS Co, Had a very interesting past, I sailed on the Matua & Tofua on the Island run, to Fiji, Tonga,Samoa & Niue. It was a marvelous trip with a monthly turn around,though the trips back to Lyttleton in the winter were cold.The USS Co I believe built the Grand Pacific in Suva and it was managed by ex-cheif stewards it was a grand hotel in it's day. Nostaigla yes.
 
#6 ·
Union Co was of course owned by P&O but in turn it owned or had a large shareholding in most of the local coastal companies.I believe it also had large interests in New Zealand Forest Products,Newmans Bus Co. & several other NZ companies.In general they were largely left to run themselves. There was of course Australian shipping interests as well that diversified out from the core business.Octopus of the Pacific was an apt name. Kiwi
 
#9 ·
I have an advert from the NZ Herald of about 1956 stating that "The 65 ships of the USSCo of NZ ..."- each ship is shown in profile and named. Sorry I can't scan it for youse jokers as it's tucked away 12000 mls from Surrey- but will do as soon as I get back there.
In 1979 I returned to seafaring and joined "Dunedin" (ex "Union New Zealand") then "Waitaki"(ex Union Australia")- both run by Maritime Carriers of NZ.Wasn't there another one of those called "Union Tasman" - what happened to her?
 
#10 ·
Chris,
The last of the trio was the UNION TRANS TASMAN which was sold at the termination of her charter to the Union Company. At that time she was renamed ARNON, but don't know what happened to her after that.
The other two spent a long time laid up in the Philippines - DUNEDIN went there first, around early 1983 and the WAITAKI about a year later. One of them was renamed GOPHER, and I think both of them are still sailing.
 
#12 ·
I sailed in Union Co ships in Australia from 1968 to 1976. My ships were:- Poolta, Pateena, Koonya, Kumalla, Kootara, Seaway King, Seaway Queen, Seaway Prince and Seaway Princess as well as Abel Tasman when it was taken over from HC Sleigh. As you can see this list of names is a little at odds with flyer682's note about maori names.
Further to Chris Field's note on the fleet size, I have in front of me the Passenger List for Aorangi - Voyage 72N, sailing Sydney June 1, 1950. This booklet lists 7 passenger vessels (one building - Tofua), 59 cargo vessels (6 building - Kawaroa, Kurutai, Karoon, Kootara, Kawatiri & Kokiri), as well as Aorangi herself of Canadian Australasian Line and Taroona of Tasmanian Steamers. I don't know about the various NZ coastal lines, but even without them 68 ships is a pretty big fleet.
Chillytoes
 
#19 ·
I sailed on the poolta as a relief r/o she seems to have vanished from the pictures



Hi I sailed as a relief r/o on the Poolta cannot find a picture of her. I dunno what is making me so hungry for the old times I sometimes feel that that I would like to be back at sea. Silly isn't it after all these years. I got started by googling my first trip in the 60's and ran across some fellows I had sailed with. Well I cannot describe the feelings but it certainly stirred me up. All the best

Roy Thwaites
 
#13 ·
In defense of flyer682's comments of Maori Names for ships i sailed on most of the ussco's ships and i reckon that the Maori names referred to are for those ships registered in NZ, The Aussie ships carry aboriginal names, Koona, Pateena and kootara etc whereas the kiwi ships are named such as Kawaroa,Kurutai,Katui,Kowhai etc. Tofua,and Matua refer to place or things of an Island nature as these ships plied to the Islands. However as we all agree 68 ships is and was mighty impressive for a country the size of NZ and as such will never see the likes of again.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I also sailed on a variety of Union Coy ships , starting with Kanna in 1964.I dont know the origin of the name Kanna, it certainly doesnt sound Maori.the other ships i sailed on had Maori names ,such as Kokiri,Kawaroa, Kawerau,Kaimiro,Koraki,Waimate, Waimea,and the crane ships,Karetu, Ngakuta and Ngahere.The other 2 traded to the Pacific Islands-hence their names, Taveuni and Navua, they were named after 2 towns on the main Island of Fiji. The other ship i was on was named Union Aotearoa, which was on charter to Union Coy, with the Managers being Maritime Carriers.yes, it was a shame to see the last U .S .S .Coy vessel Rotoiti "vanish over the horizon" recently,certainly the end of a great era.
 
#21 ·
thanks to all who told me about the Poolta she was a bit little after ANL Timbarra. They wanted me to stay and were a good crew even painted the radio room for me.

I cannot get onto the nz site as so many suggested - dont like my email addresses which is a bit strange.

I got lugged ashore off the Iron Kimberly by my missus being a young bloke then well uno.

Went fixing tellys and up to now graduated to computer service.

Miss the sea now after all those shore jobs.

I rang up Melbourne some years ago when awa were changing to satnav, got a nasty surprise "do you have any recent sea service" I thought it/s like riding a bike who forgets after twice around the world.

Regards Roy Thwaites
 
#22 ·
Union Co. ships

Have just joined and was delighted to see the old Union Steam Ship Co mentioned on this site. As I recall all their ships (with the exception of Matua, Tofua and Navua) had Maori names, originally. In the 1970's this started to change.
I sailed in a number of Union Co. jobs in the 60's;- Waipori, Kawaroa, Karamu, Katea, Koranui, Navua, Wairata, Kawatiri, Kaiapoi, Kaitoa, Maori and Rangatira.
 
#23 ·
USSCo Australian fleet

Hi all,

I served on the Australian fleet in the mid 70's, Seaway King, Seaway Queen, Poolta ( I have a photo of her at Port Huon, somewhere in the archive), Pateena and Risdon, (my favorite).

4 years ago I met some engineers in the Maldives who sailed on Risdon after she was sold to Maldives National Shipping Co. We had a great night talking about shipping in those days. (It was a dry night being a Muslim country, but great food).

I feel my shipping days were the highlight of an engineering career, great shipmates and a mix of hard work and hard partying in port.

Bob Kluck
 
#40 ·
USSCo Australian fleet

Hi all,

I served on the Australian fleet in the mid 70's, Seaway King, Seaway Queen, Poolta ( I have a photo of her at Port Huon, somewhere in the archive), Pateena and Risdon, (my favorite).

4 years ago I met some engineers in the Maldives who sailed on Risdon after she was sold to Maldives National Shipping Co. We had a great night talking about shipping in those days. (It was a dry night being a Muslim country, but great food).

I feel my shipping days were the highlight of an engineering career, great shipmates and a mix of hard work and hard partying in port.

Bob Kluck
I did ever sail with Gordon jones he was a 2nd
 
#24 ·
Union S.S. Co of NZ.

In the early '60's I sailed on the delivery voyage of the 'Rippingham Grange' to the ship-breakers of Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.
On that voyage, of some seven months, I struck up a partnership with the R.O by the name of Ray Garrard. He originally came from Grays, in Essex, but was operating out of the 'pool' in Hong Kong.
At the completion of the delivery, the crew all flew back to the Colony where we all went our separate ways. However Ray and I booked into the MN hotel on the waterfront on the Island, dining in the China Fleet Club and fraternis- ing with the natives of Wanchai, for a week when we then parted, he to another ship, and myself back to the UK and to Houlder Brothers re-employ.
We kept in contact for quite a few years thereafter, during which Ray took a berth iin several Union ships and also got himself 'spliced' to a Filipino girl, and moved back to Hong Kong.
There after the trail has gone cold, but I would welcome any information as to his present whereabouts, bearing in mind that he would be about 75 years of age now, if still in the land of the living.
I wonder if any former Union employees ever met Ray in their travels and could thus throw some liight on my enquiries.
Pete' Lambert, I.O.W, UK
 
#25 ·
In the early '60's I sailed on the delivery voyage of the 'Rippingham Grange' to the ship-breakers of Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.
On that voyage, of some seven months, I struck up a partnership with the R.O by the name of Ray Garrard. He originally came from Grays, in Essex, but was operating out of the 'pool' in Hong Kong.
At the completion of the delivery, the crew all flew back to the Colony where we all went our separate ways. However Ray and I booked into the MN hotel on the waterfront on the Island, dining in the China Fleet Club and fraternis- ing with the natives of Wanchai, for a week when we then parted, he to another ship, and myself back to the UK and to Houlder Brothers re-employ.
We kept in contact for quite a few years thereafter, during which Ray took a berth iin several Union ships and also got himself 'spliced' to a Filipino girl, and moved back to Hong Kong.
There after the trail has gone cold, but I would welcome any information as to his present whereabouts, bearing in mind that he would be about 75 years of age now, if still in the land of the living.
I wonder if any former Union employees ever met Ray in their travels and could thus throw some liight on my enquiries.
Pete' Lambert, I.O.W, UK
I sailed with Ray a couple of times in the late 70's and met him in NZ after that. There is a R Garrard listed in the NZ white pages in Auckland phone +64 9 5356460 may be worth a try!
 
#29 ·
I always remember them as business looking like ships in the 50's during my spell in the antipodes, never did get to board one, the Nurses Homes held more attractions!

Poor 'Wanaka' an unfortunate name if you missed out the second 'a' whilst transmitting on the lamp
 
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