Illustrated with over 180 photographs and plans, this book tells the stories of three ships that plied the Tasman route between Australia and New Zealand in the 1930s and 1940s: Huddard Parker’s Wanganella and the Union Steam Ship company’s Awatea, the fastest ship on the Tasman Sea, and Monowai, whose 30-year career ended in 1960. The book covers the service of all three ships during the Second World War, which saw the bombing and destruction of Awatea.