Union Company
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with the Union Steamship Company of British ColumbiaUnion Steamship Company of British ColumbiaThe Union Steamship Company of British Columbia was a pioneer firm on coastal British Columbia. It started in 1889, from the beginnings of local service on Burrard Inlet near Vancouver, and expanded to the entire British Columbia coast...
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, in 1875, when it was floated by James Mills
James Mills (New Zealand)
Sir James Mills was a prominent New Zealand businessman and politician. He founded the Union Steam Ship Company in Dunedin in 1875....
, who had been clerk to Johnny Jones and his Harbour Steam Company.
After Jones’ death, Mills floated the Union Company with backing from Peter Denny
Peter Denny
-Career:Denny was a Director of William Denny and Brothers Limited, British & Burmese Steam Navigation Company, the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and others.-References:...
in return for orders for his Dumbarton shipyard in Scotland. The Union Company became a major shipping line, with a near-monopoly on trans-Tasman shipping, and was referred to as the Southern Octopus. Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
attacked the travel conditions on a Union Company ship in his travel book Following the Equator (1897).
The Union Company was sold by Mills to the British P&O Line in 1917. Mills, who was born in Wellington, was knighted in 1907 and K.C.M.G. in 1909. He was a UK resident from 1907, and died in London.
By 1990, the company operated 7 ships, and was involved in ship management, tourism, real estate and other ventures. By 2000, the Union Bulk barge made its last voyage.
The Union Company, Union Steam Ship Company, or Union Line has owned more than 350 ships, and has been the subject of a number of books.
For the airline subsidiary, see Union Airways of N.Z. Ltd
Union Airways of N.Z. Ltd
Union Airways of N.Z. Ltd was New Zealand's first major airline.-History:The Union Steamship Company took shares in East Coast Airways in 1934 and in Cook Strait Airways in 1935, and later that year amalgamated these into a new national airway, on 5 January 1936 opening services between Palmerston...
.