The Great Liners

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.

Text and photographs describe the great passenger liners that traveled between the United States and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.

Ocean liners once sailed all the world's seas and played important roles in times of peace and war. Ships transported the rich and famous as well as millions of immigrants to new countries. Over time, airplanes changed the nature of travel and the role of the ocean liners. Today's cruise ships are dramatically different from the liners of old, bigger than ever, they are like small cities on the water.

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.

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

The mythology surrounding the Titanic overshadows the fact that the ship heralded a new age of transportation that forged the modern travel industry. The decades that followed the saga of the Titanic are laden with the names of even greater liners--the Ile du France, the Normandie, Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth, the S.S. United States and many others. This stunning book presents their fascinating history in words and beautiful photos.

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.