Wayfarer and Warrior - The Monowai Story

Published by Kotuku Media Ltd, Wellington, 2005, 136 pages.

'The Monowai' holds a special place in the hearts of many New Zealanders, Americans and assorted members of the British Commonwealth armed forces. Both Monowais were the latest liners of their times and both served as troopships - from the Boer War to World War I, and the Pacific and D-Day theatres of World War II, during which she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Many danced the night away and found romance on Monowai during local or Pacific cruises, others used her as a Tasman Sea taxi to and from Australia, and in the 1940s she would provide the first and last sea voyage in many young lives. In the tradition of his previous books on New Zealand's cruisers, Jack Harker relates this history of the two Monowais with the benefit of eye-witness accounts from the veterans.