The First Atlantic Liner

The first ever history of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s forgotten first ship, the SS Great Western, the fastest and largest Atlantic Steamship of its day.

Cunard, the most famous name in shipping, turns 175 years old in 2015. Cunard began back in 1840 with paddlewheel steamers, but grew and progressed and created some of the largest, fastest and most luxurious liners in their time. The final 'golden age' on the Atlantic run between Europe and North America was in the 1950s when the company slogan 'Getting there was half the fun' seemed so apt. Cunard had twelve liners running Atlantic crossings in 1958 but the same year saw the introduction of the speedy and efficient passenger jet that immediately stole transatlantic travellers. The Cunard 'cast' of the late 1950s includes such celebrated ocean liners such as Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as well as others like Mauretania, Caronia, Britannic, Saxonia and small ships including the Media and Parthia. Conquest of the Atlantic: Cunard Liners of the 1950s and 1960s is the story of these great ships that are all still remembered with much fondness and of the life onboard them. Cunard would face furious competition with jet aircraft and by 1969 be reduced to one Atlantic liner, the legendary and iconic Queen Elizabeth 2.

There has always been a romance around ocean liners, but this book looks behind the romance to show the reality of travelling the oceans of the world. The book starts with the first scheduled transatlantic crossings in the age of sail, then moves on through the development of the steamers and ends in the present day, when ocean liners have given way to airliners. All aspects of the subject are discussed. The experience of travelling by sea varied enormously from the luxury of first-class travel to the often brutal conditions endured by immigrants. Ship design developed in the race between competing companies to provide the most powerful ships. But while technology came into the fundamental design, when it came to décor, for many of the great liners the interiors looked back with a romanticised view of the past. It is not always realised that a great liner might have almost as many crew as passengers, and this looks at all those who kept the ships running, from the black gang in the engine room to the captain on the bridge. The result is a rounded view of what it meant to travel on some of the greatest ships ever built.

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.

The authors' text and illustrations provide a vivid picture of how the well-established traditions of the sailing ship were adapted to promote the development of the paddle ships and the early screw vessels.

193 black and white photographs covering the years from 1897-1927.

For 1930s Britain, the Queen Mary was a symbol of hope. Cunard had abandoned construction on what they had planned to be the grandest liner of all time (then known simply as Job 534) in the depths of the Depression. Her half-finished hull sat on the Clyde for years, but when Cunard announced they were going to complete her, it was a sign, perhaps, that the darkest days were over, that the country was emerging from economic disaster and that Britannia would soon rule the waves once again. The Queen Mary would go on to be one of the most famous ships in the world for all the right reasons. The first British ship to be over 1,000 feet in length, launched by her namesake (and for which the Clyde had to be artificially widened to allow such a large ship to pass through), she won the Blue Riband (the record for fastest Atlantic crossing) not once by twice – and when she won it the second time in 1938 she held it until 1952. After wartime service carrying up to 16,000 US troops to Europe at a time, she finally retired to Long Beach, California, in 1967. There she remains, a perfectly preserved reminder of a bygone era, and a celebration of the golden age of the transatlantic liner. In this book David Ellery, maritime historian, TV presenter and documentary maker, answers all the questions you might have about this glorious ship – and ones you might never have thought to ask too. This unique, accessible approach gives a fantastic introduction to the ship to anyone curious about her, but is also very detailed and comprehensive, covering everything from the ship's design, construction, engineering and interior fittings to her naming, wartime service and more. Packed with archival photographs and other original material, this is a fascinating and illuminating guide to the Queen Mary, looking beneath the sheen of her appointments to explore how her fame is well deserved.

Mobility is fundamental to economic and social activities such as commuting, manufacturing, or supplying energy. Each movement has an origin, a potential set of intermediate locations, a destination, and a nature which is linked with geographical attributes. Transport systems composed of infrastructures, modes and terminals are so embedded in the socio-economic life of individuals, institutions and corporations that they are often invisible to the consumer. This is paradoxical as the perceived invisibility of transportation is derived from its efficiency. Understanding how mobility is linked with geography is main the purpose of this book. The third edition of The Geography of Transport Systems has been revised and updated to provide an overview of the spatial aspects of transportation. This text provides greater discussion of security, energy, green logistics, as well as new and updated case studies, a revised content structure, and new figures. Each chapter covers a specific conceptual dimension including networks, modes, terminals, freight transportation, urban transportation and environmental impacts. A final chapter contains core methodologies linked with transport geography such as accessibility, spatial interactions, graph theory and Geographic Information Systems for transportation (GIS-T). This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the field, with a broad overview of its concepts, methods, and areas of application. The accompanying website for this text contains a useful additional material, including digital maps, PowerPoint slides, databases, and links to further reading and websites. The website can be accessed at: http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans This text is an essential resource for undergraduates studying transport geography, as well as those interest in economic and urban geography, transport planning and engineering.