By Gordon McLauchlan. In Softcovers, First edition 2012, Black and White Photographs, illustrations, 256 pages, Published By Bateman Auckland. A Very Good Plus Copy. 'The story of shipping in New Zealand told with wit and perception by one of our most well-known social commentators. New Zealand, a country 'rinsed by the sea', has a shipping story to tell as long and convoluted as its coastline. Thoroughly researched, with an eye for a good yarn but also with an acute sense of the shifting social and political scene over the years, McLauchlan tells an informative and engaging tale. The narrative is always lively, picking out the most salient and fascinating elements of the history of shipping in this country, including: the controversial and fraught times of union agitation on the wharves in the 1930s and '40s; the subsequent reforms in shipping and workplace practices, and the shift to the container age and related issues; detailed histories of port development in Auckland, wellington, Nelson, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Bluff, Dunedin/Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Westland, Timaru, Napier, Gisborne, Whangarei and Tauranga'