Anchor Ships and Anchor Men

For more than 100 years the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company provided cargo and passenger services to the Nelson provincial area. Its ships,sailed mainly in Cook Strait, providing regular links with Wellington on the opposite side of the Strait, The Anchor company was formed in 1862 around two earlier Nelson shipping enterprises and the "Foundry" name was added to the Anchor title in 1901 when that business was acquired. In his introduction the author records that the company had owned only 37 vessels with, in the 1900s, its fleet exceeding five ships for the first time, reaching its highest number of 16 ships in the 1930s. In his introduction the author wrote: "The Anchor Company started as a coastal shipping company and has remained so to the present time." At that point the fleet consisted "six fine motor vessels." Small shipping companies in NZ always faced stiff competition and Achor was no excaption. However, the company was fortuante that its early years coincided with the Otago and West Coast gold rushes; the outcome recorded in an early chapter "More Gold, More Ships." Kirk needs no introduction as a nautical historian, but in this company history much of its commentary was based oi the research and extensive typescripts of a former Anchor Chairman of Directors, Sydney Cannington, who was with the company for 53 years, joining in 1911 as office boy. He intended to write a company history but died in 1964 and in 1965 Allan Kirk was asked by the company to complete the work. A very fine shipping company record emerged from this joint authorship. Allan Kirk was at all times objective in presenting the compay's story from evey possible aspect. Unfortunatlely, the march of maritime technology put paid to traditional coastal ship trading not many year after the book's publication. First edition of 1967, 186 pages including three appendices (one the fleet list) and index, illustrated with more that 50 b/w photos, many of ships and including numerous portraits of company personalities, seagoing and shore staff. Blue hard covers with gilt spine titles are VG+, former owner label top edge front pastedown, small/unobtrusive dealer stamp lower centre title page, text block otherwise excellent, Colour pictorial DJ is VG with W W Stewart painting of the ship Titoki on front parel, small crease across lower front corner.…