Secrets of the Great Ocean Liners


Book Description

Before the advent of commercial transatlantic flights in the early 1950s, the only way to travel between continents was by sea. In the golden age of ocean liners, between the late nineteenth century and the Second World War, shipping companies ensured their vessels were a home away from home, providing entertainment, dining, sleeping quarters and smoking lounges to accommodate passengers of all ages and budgets, for voyages that could last as long as three months.Secrets of the Great Ocean Liners leads the reader through each of the stages - and secrets - of ocean liner travel, from booking a ticket and choosing a cabin to shore excursions, dining, on-board games, social events, romances, and disembarking on arrival. Additional chapters disclose wartime voyages and disasters at sea. The shipping companies produced glamorous brochures, sailing schedules, voyage logs, passenger lists, postcards and menus, all of which help us to savour the challenges, etiquette and luxury of ocean liner travel. Diaries, letters and journals written on board also reveal a host of behind-the-scenes secrets and fascinating insights into the experience of travelling by sea. This book dives into a vast, unique collection to reveal the scandals, glamour, challenges and tragedies of ocean liner travel.




The Fabulous Interiors of the Great Ocean Liners in Historic Photographs


Book Description

Some 200 superb photographs -- in long shots and close-ups -- capture exquisite interiors of world’s great "floating palaces" -- 1890s to 1980s: Titanic, �le de France, Queen Elizabeth, United States, Europa, more. Informative captions provide key details.




Transatlantic Liners


Book Description

Since the end of the nineteenth century there has been a stunning succession of transatlantic liners, from the White Star Line's Oceanic of 1899 to the Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2 of 2004. These floating palaces often contained luxurious staterooms, ballrooms and lounges for the rich, and noticeably more modest and basic accommodation for poorer travellers. Their designs and powerplants were often cutting-edge as each competed to be the largest, most luxurious and fastest ship on the Atlantic. As the tides of passenger demand rose and fell through the years and the world plunged twice into global conflict, these ships had to adapt to survive. Many of these vessels – including Mauretania, Olympic, the first Queen Mary and France – had long and glorious careers; others – Titanic, Lusitania and Normandie among them – suffered tragic endings. J. Kent Layton describes the heyday of the superliners and explains what life was like for passengers, both rich and poor.




Normandie


Book Description

A magnificent tribute to the illustrious and ill-fated steamship. Normandiewas unquestionably the most beautiful ocean liner ever built. The world's largest at the time, she also became the world's fastest. Her art deco interiors were unrivaled: capacious, elegant, and chic, decorated by teams of France's most talented artists. YetNormandiewas plagued with frustrations-never attracting more passengers than the competition and tragically ending her days in flames at New York's Pier 88. Celebrated maritime historian John Maxtone-Graham confesses to a hypnotic fascination withNormandie. In this comprehensive volume, enriched by over 200 photographs and illustrations, he documents every aspect of the vessel's decorative antecedents, design, construction, and service. Always articulate, entertaining, and devastatingly well informed, Maxtone-Graham has created the definitiveNormandiepanegyric, a comprehensive and, at times, heartbreaking account of this fabled liner. 30 color and 175 black-and-white illustrations.




Ocean Liners


Book Description

“A truly comprehensive publication, running the gamut from the first Atlantic sail-enhanced steamers to today’s remaining handful of combi-liners.” —Maritime Matters Before the advent of the jet age, ocean liners were the principal means of transport around the globe, and carried migrants and business people, soldiers and administrators, families, and lone travelers to every corner of the world. Though the ocean liner was born on the North Atlantic it soon spread to all the other oceans and in this new book the author addresses this huge global story. The account begins with Brunel’s Great Eastern and the early Cunarders, but with the rise in nationalism and the growth in empires in the latter part of the 19th century, and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the colonial powers of Spain, France, and Germany soon established shipping lines of their own, and transpacific routes were opened up by Japanese and American lines. The golden age between the two world wars witnessed huge growth in liner traffic to Africa, Australia and New Zealand, India, and the Far East, the French colonies, and the Dutch East and West Indies, but then, though there was a postwar revival, the breakup of empires and the arrival of mass air travel brought about the swan song of the liner. Employing more than 250 stunning photographs, the author describes not just the ships and routes, but interweaves the technical and design developments, covering engines, electric light, navigation and safety, and accommodation. A truly unique and evocative book for merchant ship enthusiasts and historians.




Picture History of the French Line


Book Description

Superb pictorial history of the company's fleet of formidable passenger ships: Ile de France, Normandie, Liberté, Colombie, Antilles, Flandre, France, and many more. Over 170 black-and-white photographs.




Ocean Liners


Book Description

"The great age of ocean travel has long since passed, but ocean liners remain one of the most powerful and admired symbols of modernity. No form of transport was as romantic, remarkable, or contested, and ocean liner design became a matter of national prestige as well as an arena in which the larger dynamic s of global competition were played out.0This beautifully illustrated book considers over a century of liner design: from the striking graphics created to promote liners to the triumphs of engineering, and from luxurious interiors to on board fashion and activities. 'Ocean Liners' explores the design of Victorian and Art Deco 'floating palaces', sleek post-war liners as well as these ships' impact on avant-garde artists and architects such as Le Corbusier." -- publisher's description.




Ghost Liners


Book Description

Depicts five famous ships that have been lost at sea in modern times, the Empress of Ireland, the Lusitania, the Andrea Doria, the Brittanic, and the Titanic.




Liner


Book Description

David Easton believed his life was in complete ruins. He managed to scrape together just enough money for a one-way ticket on the fabulous Oceanis. It was the most luxurious liner afloat and he planned to revel in all its opulent pleasures until in the middle of the Atlantic crossing - he would leap from the fantail, thus ending his pain and misery. The problem was that he never dreamt that while counting down the hours until his death, he would meet Diana. Despite her traveling with her overly protective parents who hoped to introduce her to a suitable husband while onboard, they managed to find each other. As their affections grew, strange things began happening on the ship. At first, it was just mental images and dreams, but as the days passed their very reality began to bend beyond anything their minds could have imagined. Together they had to find out what was happening to the Oceanis and how they could find a way to save the great liner and all those aboard her.




The Night Lives On


Book Description

In this New York Times bestseller, the author of A Night to Remember and The Miracle of Dunkirk revisits the Titanic disaster. Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember was a landmark work that recounted the harrowing events of April 14, 1912, when the British ocean liner RMS Titanic went down in the North Atlantic Ocean, a book that inspired a classic movie of the same name. In The Night Lives On, Lord takes the exploration further, revealing information about the ship’s last hours that emerged in the decades that followed, and separating myths from facts. Was the ship really christened before setting sail on its maiden voyage? What song did the band play as water spilled over the bow? How did the ship’s wireless operators fail so badly, and why did the nearby Californian, just ten miles away when the Titanic struck the iceberg, not come to the rescue? Lord answers these questions and more, in a gripping investigation of the night when approximately 1,500 victims were lost to the sea.