Holland America Line’s MS NIEUW AMSTERDAM carries on liner and cruise history of the famed cruise line.

Launched from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Venice on July 4, 2010, the 86,000-ton Nieuw Amsterdam celebrates the glamour and history of New York City, formerly called Nieuw Amsterdam, with its inspired interior design and art collection.

Holland America Line has installed an array of works valued at over $3 million, ranging from antiques by traditional Dutch masters to creations by renowned contemporary artists. Some pieces reflect the Dutch Golden Age while others, such as the spectacular centerpiece in the atrium, express a contemporary curiosity. Adorning the ceiling of Nieuw Amsterdam is an eye-catching abstract sculpture of the inverted New York skyline made from clear translucent blocks that hang upside-down. The sculpture was created by husband and wife Italian artists Gilbert Lebigre and Corinne Roger of Creazioni Lebigre & Roger. The significant collection, which includes works by celebrated artists Andy Warhol, Richard Estes and Roy Lichtenstein, continues with astounding displays throughout the ship.

A complimentary self-guided iPod art tour is available for guests wishing to view the entire collection. The iPod art tour is also available to download at no charge at www.hollandamerica.com and on iTunes.

Nieuw Amsterdam joins the recently launched Eurodam to further define and expand the Holland America Line premium brand with new concepts such as the innovative pan-Asian Tamarind restaurant and Silk Den lounge surrounded by panoramic views overlooking the ocean expanse and the Lido pool. Other additions are an Explorer’s Lounge Bar, a premium wine-tasting lounge, an elegant luxury jewelry boutique, new atrium bar area, enhanced and reconfigured The Showroom at Sea, and a new photographic and imaging center.

The new ship continues several much-admired Holland America Line features, including outside-view, glass elevators at midship; the Explorations Café — a cyber-coffee house powered by The New York Times; the Pinnacle Grill and Pinnacle Bar; the innovative Culinary Arts Center presented by Food & Wine Magazine, where culinary experts provide cooking demonstrations and intimate classes in a state-of-the-art on-board show kitchens; an expanded Greenhouse Spa and Salon with thermal suites and hydro-pool, the largest gymnasium ever built for Holland America Line; and a youth facility that includes the teens-only Loft. In addition the ship will feature the family-style Canaletto Italian restaurant.

Nieuw Amsterdam features 11 guest decks and staterooms spotlight all the Signature of Excellence premium amenities. Also featured are innovative spa staterooms with additional spa amenities.

The first Nieuw Amsterdam.

Deck scene aboard the first Nieuw Amsterdam.

The first Nieuw Amsterdam was launched in 1906 and used both a full set of sails and steam engines. She was 17,149 tons and carried 2,886 passengers, 2,200 of them in third class. She sailed in regular service through World War I and then through to 1932.

A look at the second Nieuw Amsterdam.

(Left: 6/5/1948-New York, NY: Star of stage and screen Katharine Hepburn, becomingly clad in slacks, unbent and gave an interview to the boys of the press as she sailed from New York, June 5th, on the S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam.)

The famed Nieuw Amsterdam II joined the fleet in 1938 as the company’s flagship. The silhouette of this ship can still be seen today behind Henry Hudson’s Half Moon in the company’s logo. At 36,287 tons, “the Darling of the Dutch,” as she was known, was decorated in great style and was launched by Her Majesty Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands.

Nieuw Amsterdam II served proudly in World War II completing 44 war time voyages carrying nearly 400,000 passengers (mostly troops).

Following the war she was rebuilt and, as the queen of Holland America Line’s “spotless fleet,” hosted countless well-known figures among her guests, including Katherine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Spencer Tracey and Albert Schweitzer.

The Nieuw Amsterdam III.

Nieuw Amsterdam III was launched in 1983 as one of the most elegant ships of her time. At 33,900 tons, Nieuw Amsterdam III sailed in Alaska in the summers and in the Caribbean in the winters.

With innovative design and guest offerings, Nieuw Amsterdam IV continues the proud tradition of her name and evolution of Holland America Line’s sophisticated mid-sized ships.

For complete information on Holland America Line’s cruises – click here.

The ICON-WEB AWARD is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1998 during the Web’s infancy, the ICON is presented by The European Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which includes an Executive 750-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities, and Associate Members who are former Icon-Web Award Winners and Nominees and other Internet professionals.

(Dot Com judges dining out at awards) The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization – made up of young leaders in the internet world. Reflecting the tremendous growth of the Internet as a tool for business and everyday lives, the Icon-Web Awards expands the mission of the Internet by honoring excellence in over 100+ Website, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Web categories.

Formal dinner for the ICON-WEB AWARDS – 2010.

Because of shipping shortages in World War I, Alcoa (formerly the Aluminum Company of America) developed its own shipping line to carry bauxite from its source in what is now Suriname and Guyana to aluminum mills in the United States and elsewhere. At first the line operated under foreign flags. From 1940 to 1969 it operated under the US flag.

Following World War 2, Alcoa Steamship Company acquired three unfinished Victory ship hulls in 1946.

The ships were redesigned and finished with accommodations for 96 first class passengers.  Alcoa hoped that by entering the passenger business, this would give the company an edge on any rival who might want to lure away some cargo, thereby reducing income per voyage.

In 1947 the ALCOA CAVALIER, THE ALCOA CLIPPER and the ALCOA CORSAIR established regular service between New Orleans and South America.  The ships were modern and provided excellent service.  But the mounting costs of U.S.-flag operations, forced the company to abandon their passenger service in 1960.

Portion of deck plan showing public rooms and suites.

The three cargo passenger liners.

Social History – Cruising The Past welcomes you aboard the legendary Santa Fe Super Chief – the train of the stars. Extra Fare – All Pullman Streamliner.

She came on the Super Chief.

One reason that the Santa Fe became such a famous railroad was because of its flagship passenger train, the Super Chief (and, the railroad also claimed the most streamliners in operation at one time).

The train quickly eclipsed its rivals (including its own cousin, the Chief) as the premier train to the Southwest and became so popular that it was the transportation choice of many Hollywood celebrities from the late 1930s through the 1960s.

It was also the Super Chief that inspired Santa Fe’s classic “Warbonnet” livery that is arguably the most beautiful paint scheme ever to be applied to a passenger train. Today, the Super Chief carriers on under the Amtrak banner although its one-of-a-kind paint scheme and interior designs are relegated to history.

Interestingly, the Super Chief came about because of necessity. With the Union Pacific having launched its new streamlined City of Los Angeles in 1936 the Santa Fe needed to launch its own competing premier train between Los Angeles and Chicago.

Having a direct route to the two cities (unlike the UP which had to hand off the train to the Southern Pacific to reach Los Angeles and Chicago & North Western to reach Chicago) gave the Santa Fe a distinct advantage although its first version of the Super Chief, while well planned, was not really up to par with the City of Los Angeles in that it was not streamlined and used standard heavyweight equipment.

Knowing it needed something better the Santa Fe with the help of the Budd Company, introduced the all new streamlined Super Chief in May of 1937. What resulted was a passenger train unrivaled in style, design, and luxury.

Super Chief Pullman Drawing Room – By day and by night.

Part of the train’s phenomenal success was its appeal and character. In designing the new Super Chief the Santa Fe wanted not only a contemporary passenger train but also one that reflected the railroad’s long-held relationship with Native American’s of the Southwest. To style the new Super Chief the train had an entire staff of designers, which quickly set to work bringing the soon-to-be legend to life.

Industrial designer Sterling McDonald created the train’s classic interior Indian designs and themes. Whenever possible McDonald used authentic Native American (many of which depicted the Navajo) colors (such as turquoise and copper), patterns, and even authentic murals and paintings in the train. He used a combination of rare and exotic woods like ebony, teak, satinwood, bubinga, maccassar, and ribbon primavera for trim through the train giving the Super Chief an added touch of one-of-a-kind elegance.

Everything inside the train exuded the Native American culture and way of life. However, the Super Chief’s livery also conveyed this, if not to an even greater degree.

The train’s now-classic “Warbonnet” paint scheme was actually designed by General Motors’ artist Leland Knickerbocker. Knickbocker’s livery featured gleaming stainless steel with the front half of the locomotive painted in red crimson, wrapping around the cab and trailing off along the bottom of the carbody with a Native American-inspired design (a design that would go on to distinguish the Santa Fe) used on the front of the nose with “Santa Fe” flanking the center.

For trim golden yellow and black was used. As Knickerbocker put it the design was meant to convey an Indian head with trailing feathers of a warbonnet (thus where the livery derived its now-famous name).

The locomotive that powered this new train was General Motor’s EMD EA model, a streamlined and completely self-contained diesel locomotive that handsomely matched the new Budd-built cars (themselves clad entirely in stainless steel giving the train a gleaming, “new” look).

For the most part the Super Chief remained quite popular through the 1950s. In 1951 it was reequipped for the final time featuring the Pleasure Dome lounge that included dome viewing, a cocktail lounge, and the famed Turquoise Room used for dinner parties. However, none of the upgraded equipment matched the exquisite beauty of the original Super Chief cars.

As the 1960s dawned, and as with the passenger rail industry itself, the Santa Fe found its fleet likewise in decline as passengers took to their private automobiles or the skies for faster and more convenient modes of transportation. However, unlike most other railroads which let their service slip and trains run down, the Super Chief remained an on-time, clean and regal operation right up until the end when Amtrak took over most intercity passenger rail operations in the spring of 1971.

While the Santa Fe, perhaps reluctantly, handed over its illustrious flagship to Amtrak at least the railroad could take comfort in knowing that the Super Chief, while nothing near as plush as when it was privately operated, was one of the routes retained by the national carrier.  However, the name SUPER CHIEF was dropped, at the insistence of Santa Fe, when Amtrak’s third rate service couldn’t compete with the famed all-Pullman train.  Amtrak has never matched trains like the SUPER CHIEF.  Its the time and the fact passengers no longer dress, have much class or give the train its glamour.  The last thing you could say about Amtrak is that it has any kind of ambiance or class.  The SOUTHWEST CHIEF is a far cry from the SUPER CHIEF or other name trains of the great stream-liner period.

The Steamboat Gordon C. Greene heads down the Mississippi in 1949 for New Orleans.

(Left: Capt. Mary Greene – co-owner of the Greene Line, and for 50 years the only woman pilot on the river.  She also was hostess aboard the steamboat) Social History and Steamboat History – A cruise aboard the GORDON C. GREENE in 1949.  A steamboat cruise south on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers – from Cincinnati to New Orleans and back – via Cairo, Paducah, Evansville, Memphis, Baton Rouge.  Over 61 years ago.  When times were much different.

The speed of the boat – was about that of the average of “Low Pressure” boats of Mark Twain’s time.  The “Low Pressure” signs on the wheel  housing of the Gordon C. Greene guaranteed that the steam would be kept well within the saftery limits.

(Left: When the river was high – the Gordon C. Greene would fold its smokestacks in the middle duck under bridges).

The Gordon C. Greene was built as “Cape Girardeau” at the Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1923 for the Eagle Packet Company of Saint Louis. Captain William H. Leyhe hired Thomas Dunbar, an eminent riverboat architect, to design and supervise her construction. She was the last packet boat built at the Howard Yard and she was decorated in the old style with a lot of jig-saw drapery, feathered stacks, and a lofty dome on the pilothouse.

A mock “drag” wedding was one of the activities aboard the Gordon C. Greene cruises.  The “chapel” is the dining salon of the steamboat.

Like many another steamboats, she was like a bride in that she wore ’something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue’ when she came out. Her engines came from the Ferd Herold, built by the Iowa Machine Works. Her whistles came from another old Eagle packet, the Calhoun. Her hull and cabin were new. Her pilothouse dome gleamed in a coat of shiny blue paint as she entered her St. Louis – Cape Girardeau trade in April, 1924.

(Scenes from a cruise in 1949.  Various views of passengers, the dining room, games – from horse-racing to bingo.)

She made history before she even touched the water. When Ed J. Howard died he left the operation of the shipyard in the hands of his two sons, Clyde and James E. Howard. They agreed that it would be best if Clyde ran the office while Captain Jim bossed the yard. The day for the launch came and Clyde Howard went into the yard to supervise the work, much to his brother’s dismay. He made a good job of it, too. Later they met in the office and agreed that one of them should buy out the other. James E. Howard did the buying and ran the firm until the beginning of World War II.

She served the Eagle Packet Company in their various trades, including Mardi Gras trips from 1925 to 1930, getting a taste of the work in which she was to gain undying fame. By 1935 the pinch of the Depression was so severe that the Eagle Packet Company was forced to do some drastic retrenchment, as they could no longer operate two boats (they also owned the much loved Golden Eagle), but over on the Ohio business was improving. Captain Tom Greene had an idea that he could make money with a tourist boat, so he started looking around for a suitable vessel. The Eagle Packet Company proffered the Golden Eagle, but he wanted no part of a wood-hulled boat. As those were desperate times they sold their fine steel-hulled steamer to the Greene Line for $50.000.

This transaction demonstrated the social unity and integrity of river folk when they faced a bad situation. Captain William H. Leyhe tells the story: “We put a price on her that we thought we would never make with her and we arranged for my brother and me to meet with Captain Chris and Tom on the Tom Greene at Louisville. On the way over my brother said to me, ‘I think we should ask for some earnest money in case they don’t take the boat, for we have a good trip in sight.’ I said, ‘Well, if they don’t take the boat, we would not keep the money,’ so we didn’t mention it.

“After the deal was closed Chris said, ‘I guess it is customary to put up some earnest money,’ and inquired how much. My brother said, ‘We will leave that up to you.’ Chris said, ‘Five thousand dollars?’ We said, ‘O.K.’

Capt. Joseph W. Heath, of the Gordon C. Greene, and Capt. Harry Reardon, a tugboat pilot on a busman’s holiday, discuss a favorite subject – the Mississippi.

“All arrangements had been made how she was to be paid for and when they would send their men to take her over. Captain Mary Greene was sitting up with us and when my brother and I got up to leave Mrs. Greene said, ‘Boys, you will get your money,’ and we did.”

The Gordon C. Greene lands at Paducah, Ky – the home of Southern Humorist IRVIN S. COBB.

In 1936 Captain Tom Greene added a second texas to better accommodate passengers and in 1937 altered it again. The result was to make her less pleasing aesthetically, but more attractive from a revenue standpoint, as these were the choicest rooms on the boat. Along with these changes the names of various decks were revised as a move toward better public relations.

Passengers attended Easter Sunday services in Cairo Ill, while on the Gordon C. Greene cruise.

The boiler deck became the ‘cabin’ deck, thus ending unpleasant connotations of heat and explosion, and the Texas Deck became the ’sun’ deck. To everyone’s mild amazement, she caught on. People began to come from all over the nation to take long trips on our rivers from Cincinnati to Charleston, West Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and even to Saint Paul, Minnesota, at prices ranging as high as $275.00 per person!

The Head Waiter and Pantryman prepare the evening meals.  The Gordon C. Greene was known for its abundant American and Southern cuisine.

(Left: First mate gives orders) A peculiar manifestation of our time was expressed by nearly everyone who’ rode her: “The first day on that boat I thought I’d go crazy! There was absolutely nothing to do. But after the second day I found myself enjoying, for the first time in my adult life, the luxury of doing nothing.” Entertainment on board was homespun, of the audience participation type, such as bingo, square dancing, and amateur acts by members of the crew. After seven to twenty one days of this each passenger felt like a member of the Greene Family.

Aboard the steamboat – and the deckplan.

(Left: The $10.00 a day plus cruise)

The boat proved to be a paragon of dependability and seemed to acquire a personal pride in her status as queen of the rivers. Various improvements were made from time to time such as converting to oil firing (the coal bunker became a club room) and enclosing the entire cabin deck with wood and glass, and she began to lose her youthful figure. Other boats seemed to resent her high and respected position and one of them even poked her snoot in a fit of pique near Louisville.

She appeared in the famous movies “Steamboat around the Bend”, “Gone with the Wind” and “The Kentuckean”.

In 1946 Captain Tom Greene had an idea, and with him an idea was practically a reality. He wanted to bring the Delta Queen around from Sacramento to the Mississippi, and so he did. On June 30, 1948, the Gordon C. Greene was deposed as the ruler of the rivers by the larger boat. She was placed in Upper Mississippi River tourist service, but this blow seemed to ruin the old girl’s morale. She began to have the most unaccountable difficulties, even breaking her wheel shaft, and began to miss scheduled trips. Her retirement came in 1951.

The Gordon C. Greene was replaced by the Delta Queen.

In 1952 she was sold to Portsmouth (OH) and used as a hotel under the name “Sarah Lee”, in 1955 she was renamed “The Sternwheeler” and used as restaurant and museum at Owensboro (KY). Some time she also spent a period of time as a floating restaurant at Tampa (FL). In 1960 converted to a theatre, bar and tourist attraction at New Orleans (LA). 1961 sold to Hannibal (MO) for $49,100 and renamed to “River Queen”. 1964 moved to St. Louis (MO) and used as restaurant.

HISTORY OF THE GREENE LINE STEAMBOATS

Greene Line Steamers originated as a family-owned and operated business established by Captain Gordon C. Greene and his wife, Captain Mary Greene. After working his way from deck hand to captain, Gordon Greene  purchased his first steamboat with his own savings in 1890. The last years of the 19th century and first years of the 20th were prosperous for steamship lines, and the Greenes purchased several “packet” steamers  which carried both passengers and freight. Their riverboats traveled on the Ohio River from the port at Cincinnati to Charleston, Pittsburgh, and other ports along the way, transporting agricultural products to the west and general goods to the east.

In the 1920’s the railroads came to dominate freight transport, and many packet steamer companies folded. Greene Line Steamers, however, survived by building modern steamships which could carry more freight, by capitalizing on shorter trade routes, as well as by initiating passenger pleasure cruises. Though the business of pleasure cruising stalled during the Great Depression, the Greene Line’s freight business endured. Greene Line Steamers directed a fleet of 26 steamboats when Captain Tom Greene, son and successor of Gordon Greene, purchased the Delta Queen in 1946.

Since its inaugural voyage on June 1, 1927, the Delta Queen has become “legendary” as the last original overnight paddlewheel steamboat in full operation. Captain A.E. Anderson, head of the California Transportation Company (CTC), had reportedly defied conventional wisdom when he built the Delta Queen and its twin, the Delta King. They were the largest, most extravagant sternwheel riverboats of their time, built at a cost of $1 million each. A crystal chandelier, stained-glass windows, and a grand staircase with accents of Honduran mahogany and bronze filigree were just some of the adornments to grace the Delta Queen. Though river transportation was in decline, CTC successfully operated both boats on the Sacramento River, offering “Luxury and Comfort Afloat” on overnight passages between San Francisco and Sacramento.

After some years out of service during the Great Depression, the Delta Queen and Delta King were leased to the U.S. Navy in the late 1930’s for barracks, for naval training and, later, to be used to transport men wounded at Pearl Harbor from oceangoing vessels to military hospitals in San Francisco. After extensive electrical and mechanical maintenance and a coat of navy gray paint, the steamboats provided general ferry transportation between naval bases in the San Francisco Bay area. When World War II ended, the Delta Queen and Delta King were sent to the mothball fleet. Tom Greene purchased the Delta Queen from the Maritime Commission with a bid of $46,250. (Another company bid higher for the Delta King, which eventually became a floating conference center in Sacramento.)

Tom Greene’s vision to place the Delta Queen into operation on the Mississippi River faced many challenges. To transport the flat-bottomed boat without damage over rough ocean waters–from northern California, along the coast of Mexico, through the Panama Canal to New Orleans–the Delta Queen would have to be towed. Most of the mechanical parts were dismantled and wood planks were mounted on the external framework of the first two decks to protect the ship’s interior. The Delta Queen arrived safely in New Orleans on May 19, 1947, after a month-long voyage. With the steamboat’s paddlewheel reinstalled and its steam engine realigned, the Delta Queen powered itself to the Dravo Shipyard in Pittsburgh for a complete refurbishment and overhaul. On June 30, 1948, the Delta Queen made its inaugural voyage under the banner of Greene Line Steamers from its port at Cincinnati.

A variety of problems beset Greene Line Steamers in the following years. The company had incurred a large debt from the $750,000 renovation of the Delta Queen, while competition from the trucking industry reduced freight rates, exacerbating the company’s financial difficulties. Frequent engine problems on the Delta Queen were also a hindrance. The company eventually purchased internal mechanical components from the owner of the Delta King for use as replacement parts, including the paddlewheel shaft which was replaced in 1980.

The premature death of Tom Greene in 1950 placed his wife Letha in charge of the company. To stay in business, Greene Line Steamers eventually sold all of the boats in its fleet except for the Delta Queen, including family namesakes, the Chris Greene, the Tom Greene, and the Gordon C. Greene. In 1958, without funds to market the company for the next steamboating season, Letha Greene decided to fold the company and put the Delta Queen up for auction.

The fate of the Delta Queen and Greene Line Steamers changed unexpectedly with the involvement of Richard Simonton. Letha Greene had returned this man’s check for a reservation in early 1958 with a letter explaining that the company was going out of business. Simonton had relished a steamboat trip with his family the previous season and was disappointed to learn of the company’s imminent demise. Simonton rescued the company with a $25,000 loan, a $25,000 stock purchase, and the assumption of $70,000 of the company’s debt. His friend E. Jay Quinby was named chairman of the board, with the primary responsibility for publicizing the company.

Quinby purchased an antique calliope, a steam-pipe organ, and installed it on the Delta Queen, making it the centerpiece of his efforts to promote steamboating. Quinby played the calliope for passengers as well as to attract the attention of the people in the shore towns who could hear the music as the paddlewheel boat traveled along the Mississippi River. Dressed in vintage clothing, Quinby traveled in advance of the Delta Queen to distribute old-style handbills and to promote the riverboat to the local media. Quinby’s formula successfully increased passenger bookings so that by 1962 the company’s mortgage and other debts were paid in full.

However, new legislation in 1966, the Safety of Life at Sea Law (SOLAS), threatened the Delta Queen’s existence as an overnight passenger ship. The law was enacted to prevent the risk of fire danger on overnight vessels carrying 50 or more passengers; the wooden superstructure of the Delta Queen was considered unsafe under the law. Two consecutive two-year exemptions were granted, but the company did not have funds to build an all-steel replacement. Overseas National Airways (ONA) purchased Greene Line Steamers in 1969 with the intention of building a new steamboat.

At the same time, company president Bill Muster and publicist Betty Blake continued the fight to maintain the Delta Queen’s presence on the Mississippi River by securing it a place on the Register of Historic Places in 1970. They fought for permanent exemption from SOLAS based on the Delta Queen’s perfect safety record, its on-board fire safety devices and the fact that it was not on ocean-going vessel but was always in sight of land. Public officials in support of a permanent exemption from the law included members of Congress, governors and other government officials in the cities and states along the Mississippi River. Public outcry to preserve the Delta Queen and river steamboating heritage included thousands of signatures on petitions to “Save the Queen.”

All was to no avail, however, and a final voyage was planned for October 1970. Publicity by Muster and Blake attracted large crowds to watch the Delta Queen’s final passage on the Mississippi River. This public support won the Delta Queen an exemption to 1973 after a rider was placed on unrelated legislation and by-passed the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. (Exemption status continued to be renewed; in 1998 it was extended to 2008.)

The 1970’s brought many changes to Greene Line Steamers. No longer a family-owned and -operated business, in 1973 the company changed its name to the Delta Queen Steamboat Company (DQSC) in honor of the Delta Queen. Under financial duress due to another renovation of the Delta Queen, new boat construction, and problems at ONA, the DQSC was sold to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York in 1973, and Betty Blake became president.

Mothballed liner SS United States as seen in Philadelphia from the Ikea Restaurant.

The funds will be used to buy the SS United States from its owner, Norwegian Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong, and to maintain the vessel in its current South Philadelphia berth for up to twenty months while redevelopment and refurbishment plans are solidified. The conservancy plans to establish a public-private partnership to own and operate the ship as a multi-purpose stationary attraction. In the meantime, the group will work to develop enhanced capabilities and resources, including new offices in Philadelphia and New York City, an expanded board of directors, a “Blue Riband” Council of influential Americans, and an advisory council of maritime experts and individuals with close ties to the ship.

Since being removed from service in 1969, the SS United States has had several owners. Still the holder of the Blue Riband transatlantic speed record, which it set fifty-eight years ago on the ship’s maiden voyage from New York City to England, the SS United States is widely considered the greatest ocean liner ever built. Indeed, the ship became an icon of its era, transporting four American presidents and numerous other heads of state, military and business leaders, and celebrities in addition to bringing many immigrants to the U.S. The ship was purchased in 2003 with plans to be returned to ocean-going service, although bids from scrappers were accepted in February 2010.

“We are thrilled that the SS United States has received a new lease on life,” said conservancy board president Susan Gibbs, granddaughter of the vessel’s designer, William Francis Gibbs. “This is a game-changer in our work to save this irreplaceable American icon. Mr. Lenfest’s vision and generosity give us a fighting chance to preserve the SS United States for generations to come. We also want to recognize the support of Norwegian/Genting. They first listed the ship for sale in early 2009 and turned down higher offers to partner with us in this patriotic effort.”

PATHE NEWSREEL OF QE 2 ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK ON MAIDEN VOYAGE

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as the ‘QE2′, is a former Cunard ocean liner, now owned by Nakheel (a division of Dubai World). She was designed to primarily run a transatlantic service from Southampton, England, to New York, USA, and was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth, and served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Built in Clydebank, Scotland, she was considered the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners built for over four decades before the construction of the QM2.

Before she was refitted with a diesel power plant in 1986/87, QE2 was also the last oil fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service. During almost forty years of service, the QE2 undertook regular world cruises and latterly operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. QE2 had no identical sister ship or running mate and never ran a year round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. QE2 did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life.
QE2 retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008, where it was planned for her to begin conversion to a floating hotel which would have seen her eventually moored at the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. However, as of March 2010 she remains moored at Port Rashid awaiting an uncertain future.

Lee Wesley Gibson, 100, stands next to a 1937 Pullman dormitory/club car at the Travel Town Museum in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park.

By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times

July 5, 2010

(Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)

When Lee Wesley Gibson began his new job as a coach attendant with Union Pacific Railroad in 1936, the country was in the grips of the Great Depression.

Millions of Americans were out of work. Like so many others around the country, Gibson moved from Texas to California in search of new opportunities. Within a year he landed a job with the railroad in his new hometown, Los Angeles.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LOS ANGELES TIMES AUDIO SLIDE SHOW – ON MR. GIBSON’S HISTORY AS A PULLMAN PORTER.

It was the beginning of a 38-year journey, during which he traveled the country and ultimately landed a much-coveted job as a Pullman porter, one of the uniformed railway men who served first-class passengers traveling in luxurious sleeping cars.

“I was very happy,” Gibson said. “It helped me feed my family … take care of them.”

Like thousands of other African Americans of his era, Gibson had found a job that provided steady work and helped elevate his family’s socioeconomic status. He was able to buy a car and a brand new home.

“For African Americans, it was a middle-class job,” said Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago, which celebrates the contribution of African Americans to the nation’s labor history. “It represented a sort of freedom, flexibility and education all in one bundle.”

The Pullman Palace Car Co. was founded by George Pullman in 1867 and was most famous for the development of the railroad sleeping car, which featured plush upholstery, marble-topped wash basins and lavishly decorated interiors. In the beginning, the company hired only African American attendants.

In 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters became the country’s first all-black labor union and helped pave the way for equal employment benefits; it later played a role in the civil rights movement.

Today, at 100, Gibson is the oldest surviving Pullman porter, according to records kept by the Randolph museum. There are fewer than 50 of the railroad men surviving.

“It was hard,” Gibson said of his work. “But it was fun.”

On May 21, the centenarian celebrated his birthday with more than 200 of his friends and family, which includes three daughters, six grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, 13 great-great-grandchildren and one great-great-great-grandchild.

President Obama, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the Union Pacific Black Employees Network and the USA Retirement Railway Board all sent cards, certificates of recognition or gifts.

Born in Keatchie, La., Gibson was the second of two children raised by a single mother. The family later moved to Marshall, Texas. When Gibson graduated from high school, he wanted to enroll in tailoring school, but the family couldn’t afford it.

Instead, he worked at odd jobs and started a cleaning and pressing service, before moving to Los Angeles in 1935 in search of a better life. He lived with a friend, earning his keep making sandwiches at a local tavern and at one time doing cleaning for a food production company.

Then one day in 1936, a deacon at his church who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a coach attendant asked Gibson’s wife, Beatrice, if her husband would be interested in a job with the railroad. Gibson jumped at the opportunity.

“He took me to the superintendent,” Gibson said, “and they hired me on the spot.”

In the late 1960s, Gibson graduated to the position of Pullman porter. His first trip in this new role was to Promontory, Utah — famous for the summit where the country’s first Transcontinental Railroad was officially completed in 1869. Soon he was rubbing shoulders with celebrities such as composer, pianist and big band leader Duke Ellington, jazz singer Cab Calloway, and jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who Gibson recalled was always friendly and willing to talk.

“He played Vegas and would catch my train from Vegas many times,” Gibson said. “He was quite interesting.”

Being a Pullman porter “was desirous by most African Americans,” said Hughes, who has written a book on the subject. “But not everyone could do that job. You had to be a certain type of person. You had to have natural elegance, stature … and the ability to interact with people at all levels.”

Porters sometimes also had to endure humiliation and racism as well as the caprice of some passengers and white railway employees. The black union would help to protect workers from some of these abuses.

Gibson says he was always treated with respect.

The Pullman Co. ended operation of sleeping cars in 1968, according to Aaron Hunt, a spokesman for Union Pacific. At that point, the various railroads took over the function, and Pullman porters were transferred to such companies as Union Pacific and later Amtrak.

Gibson, who retired in 1974, joked that the long periods away from home helped to strengthen his marriage.

“It kept the wife from not getting tired of me,” he said.

Despite his age, Gibson remains fit and alert. He takes no medication, doesn’t wear glasses and still likes to drive.

His wife died in 2004, after 76 years of marriage. But he has a lady friend, Evelyn Dotson, 82, and three doting daughters, Gloria Gibson, 65, Barbara Leverette, 76, and Gwendolyn Reed, 78. His firstborn, a son, died in 1958 of Hodgkins disease.

His daughters take turns looking after Gibson, preparing meals, taking him out to dine, making sure he has new clothes.

“He’s the backbone of the family,” Reed said. “At 78 years old, I can holler ‘daddy’ louder than anyone in the world, and he will always say, ‘What do you need?’ — at 100. He’s a role model for all the young men in our family … for all the men in the neighborhood.”

Gibson, a former state employee, gushed as she recalled how her father tailored her first formal dress to attend a junior high ball. He also made his daughters’ flag girl uniforms.

Only middle daughter Leverette was willing to throw a friendly jab at her father.

“My father and I are oil and water,” she said. “He’s so stubborn.”

Gibson didn’t miss a beat.

“And you’re stubborn-er,” he fired back, with a mischievous grin.

ann.simmons@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Anchor Line’s SS CITY OF ROME – July 4th Menu – 1900 – Russian Caviar

Liners and cruise-ships use to serve Caviar in first class – at least once or twice during each voyage.  That is a perk of the past.  Now the food is superior institutionalized cuisine on most ships.   Like a an okay banquet.  The caviar is gone and so is first class.

United States Lines SS MANHATTAN – July 4th Menu -1937 – Australian Kangaroo Tail Soup

Alaska Steamship Company’s SS ALEUTIAN – July 4th Menu – 1938 – More Russian Caviar

The Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the world’s first cruise ship.

Cruise Ship History and Cruising The Past – The Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the world’s first cruise ship. Built for the Hamburg America Line, she was launched on June 29, 1900 and served as a cruising passenger ship until December 16, 1906 after being accidentally grounded off Jamaica.

Credit for many of the photos seen here are through the courtesy of The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives – The Future of Our Past. This wonderful website is one of the largest private archives of historical documents from the 1800s through 1954. Click here to visit this wonderful website.

Photos of the ship and her public rooms – as seen in Scientific American.

With cruises targeted toward wealthy travelers, the Victoria Luise was designed to look more like a private yacht than any of her commercial counterparts. She had a trim hull 52.2 feet wide by 407.5 feet long.

What must have been the first cruise passengers as seen aboard the Victoria Luise. They were rich Europeans and Americans – pioneers!

She was painted all white with two masts, one fore and aft, and two tall, slim funnels amidships.

She had a rounded stern and a richly decorated clipper bow, with bowsprit, ending in a figurehead of the German princess.

Onboard, she also did not look like other commercial vessels of the time. She contained 120 cabins, all first class. All staterooms were luxuriously appointed. Reportedly, Ballin instituted some interior modifications recommended by the Emperor.

There was also a library, a gymnasium, and a darkroom for the development of film by amateur photographers. Pushing all this at a steady 15 knots (28 km/h) were quadruple expansion steam engines. After fitting out, the Kaiser formally inspected the vessel and was unhappy that it was slightly longer than the royal yacht Hohenzollern.

The cruise ship idea came from Albert Ballin. In 1866, he joined HAPAG (Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft ) as manager of its passage department. Two years later, he became Managing Director. It was during this term that he realized his company’s largest and flagship vessel, the Augusta Victoria, lay largely unused during the winter season. Due to inclement weather, travelers largely stayed away from the North Atlantic route. It was then that Ballin, despite criticism from his fellow directors at HAPAG and other steamship companies, planned to send the Augusta Victoria on a 58-day “pleasure voyage” from Cuxhaven, Germany to the Mediterranean and Orient. This extended cruise would include well-planned excursions ashore to ports-of-call along the route and Ballin would be a passenger himself. The voyage was a success and similar ones were planned.

Despite their increasing success, these early cruises, called “excursions”, were difficult to plan with existing ships. Constructed as ocean liners, they did not meet the requirements of the pleasure-seeking market. They offered few amenities aboard.

This became apparent during long stretches at sea. Furthermore their construction as multi-class vessels also proved a hindrance as such vessels provided restricted access to deck space. Whatever deck space there was, was mostly sheltered, and designed to accommodate the rigors of the North Atlantic instead of the seas of more southern climes. Ballin believed that only a vessel specifically designed for cruising would be appropriate. Furthermore, such a vessel could spend the entire year doing so.

In 1899, Ballin became director at HAPAG and months later, in 1900, commissioned Blohm & Voss to construct such a ship to be named after Kaiser Wilhelm II’s daughter. The ship was launched on June 29, 1900 and christened Prinzessin Victoria Luise.

She was a revolutionary ship for the times but her career was short lived.

Prinzessin Victoria Luise left on her maiden voyage on January 5, 1901 from Hamburg, stopping at Boulogne, Plymouth, and finally reaching New York on January 17. She would depart New York on the 26th to the West Indies for her first cruise. Her second cruise, to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, commenced from New York on March 9. Other cruises would take the ship to the Baltic. She would be used almost exclusively for cruising as she had limited cargo or mail capacity. Yet, she would be diverted from cruising on six occasions to make complete transatlantic crossings.

Almost five years after her debut, her illustrious career came to an end while on a West Indian cruise. On the night of December 16 the ship departed Kingston when her commander Captain Brunswig mistook the lighthouse at Plumb Point for that at the westernmost point of Port Royal. Heading north at 14 knots, the ship hit and climbed onto the rocks bow first at about 9 o’clock in the evening. In an attempt to dislodge the ship, the engines where put full astern to no avail.

The crew quickly calmed panicked passengers who were safely disembarked the following morning. The captain remained on the vessel after the evacuation, retreated to his cabin, and shot himself. A German Admiralty court found him negligent in May of the following year.

Salvage operations commenced immediately after the grounding. Within days, continued buffeting by waves and a storm pushed the ship broadside of the shore with a sharp list to port. Inspection revealed major structural damage to her frame and keel plates. Her engines had been displaced during impact and her port side was filled with 16 feet of water. She was declared a total loss on December 19.