page_title: Union Company
section_title: Steamer Express Wellington to Lyttelton
hierarchical_section_title: Union Company / Ferries / Steamer Express Wellington to Lyttelton
caption_attribution_description: English: The steamship Tamahine leaving Wellington on the 14th of November 1938. Taken from the deck of the Awatea, by an unidentified photographer.
context_page_description: Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited —when there was no chance of confusion casually referred to as Union, Union Company, Union Steam Ship Company, or Union Line— was once the biggest shipping line in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand's largest private-sector employer. It was incorporated by James Mills in Dunedin in 1875 with the backing of a Scottish shipbuilder, Peter Denny. Bought by shipping giant P & O around the time of the First World War it was sold in 1972 to an Australasian consortium and closed at the end of the twentieth century.
context_section_description: Union Steam Ship began regular sailings between Wellington and Lyttelton in 1895 with the Penguin making two round trips a week. In 1905 this became a daily service year round. In 1933 the name "Steamer Express" was adopted for the service. Over the years a number of ships were used, including two Maoris, two Wahines, two Rangatiras, and a Hinemoa.
  TEV Wahine entered service in 1966 and foundered and sank at the mouth of Wellington Harbour in 1968. The TEV Rangatira entered service in 1972 and was withdrawn in 1976, bringing the Wellington–Lyttelton "Steamer Express" to an end.
caption: Tamahine 1925-1962
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