Ships and Sailormen by A.A. Kirk

A collection of pen portraits of some Australasian shipmasters and others whose lives have been dedicated to the sea.

Hardback, 1st edition 1964, 196pages, good condition

The days of the popular coastal and intercolonial passenger steamers which for many years were so familiar around the coasts of New Zealand and Australia have gone - probably for ever. All that remain are those that are concerned with short journeys between the North and South Islands of New Zealand ... and three vessels that run from Auckland to the Pacific Islands. Overseas liners have tried to replace these services formerly run by locally registered intercolonial vessels with rather inadequate and spasmodic schedules that bear no resemblance to those of their predecessors.

All this has meant that the sea travelling public has lost much of that happy atmosphere created by the former pleasant relationship which existed between officers and passengers. In an endeavour to recapture some of this, the author has selected a representative group of men who have dedicated their lives to ships and the sea, and given us a lively and accurate account of their adventures in peace and war.