Robin,   You could try shipping intelligence reports from NZ newspapers of the period.  The site www.pastpapers.natlib.govt.nz has some, and from a brief check, I can see the Moana sailing Melbourne to Wellington in 1900.  Otherwise Lloyds List might be your best bet.  There is a list of UK repositories on the Mariners-L website, and the Guildhall Library website has a useful guide on how to use the Index and Lists themselves. Coverage of other than limited years is available at a few UK sites including The National Library of Scotland. If he was a Master Mariner (Captain) or Mate his service record for these positions will be available in Lloyd's Captains' Registers; although Ist Officer is typically a position between 2nd Mate and Mate and therefore not covered.   Hope this helps.   Derek Hayward Dorset, UK   From: "Robin's wool" <[email protected]> Subject: [TSL] Union Steam Ship Co of New Zealand Can anyone help with access to records  from 1899 to 1930 for the Union Steam Ship Co of New Zealand? We have Alexander Forbes HIRD leaving Scotland around Sept 1899 to live in Sydney.  We know he was  at least "1st officer Merchant Service" by 1891 Census and it appears he was a ships officer with this shipping line out of Sydney from 1899 to 1906 as he appears over 100 times on the NSW ships lists. He is reputed to have been a Captain. Ships he was on include Koonya, Kakpo, Mokoia, Kamona, Kittawa, Moana, Karitane and Wakatepu How do I find out the routes they were sailing in 1900 to 1906? Regards Robin __________________________________________________________ Not happy with your email address?. Get the one you really want - millions of new email addresses available now at Yahoo! http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/ymail/new.html