MS PILSUDSKI docks in New York – 1938…
On November 26 1939, over seventy years have passed since the Polish legendary ocean liner M/S Pilsudski, one of the largest and most modern passenger ships that sailed under the Polish flag, sank off the English coast. Today, the ship herself is shrouded in mystery, probably comparable with that of the legendary ‘Titanic’.
Newsreel footage of the MS Pilsudski…
Social History: NASCAR’s earliest days forever connected to bootlegging…
Bootlegger speeding away. Perfect training ground for NASCAR.
The stories would be very nearly clichéd, if they weren’t at the same time oh-so true.
If you’re even remotely familiar with NASCAR lore, you know the tales. A bunch of dirt poor good ol’ boys who lived anywhere from Virginia on down to Georgia had no other choice to survive than the illegal whiskey business. They souped up their cars to haul their bounty, and then ran from the law like their behinds were on fire.
Red Bryon…
And because, well, heck, boys will be boys, they wound up racing each other on the local highways and byways. Then, somebody got the bright idea to cut a crude track out of some cow pasture somewhere, and the rest, as they say, is history. Junior Johnson was the most famous bootlegger to make a name for himself in NASCAR, of course, but he darn sure wasn’t the only one.
1937 CRUISE – NEW YORK TO NOVA SCOTIA ABOARD EASTERN STEAMSHIP COMPANY
From Youtube: home movies, a trip to Nova Scotia leaving from Pier 18 in NYC. (Some notes indicate it may be 1937.) We see Yarmouth and Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia, some large passenger ships, some of coastal Canada and a clam wrapped up in a box. The Bug Light on the eastern entrance of Yarmouth Harbor can be seen at 3:33 & 3:51.
From Stuart McLean, Archivist at the Yarmouth County Museum (rearranged into the order seen in the movie): “The vessel at the beginning may be the Yarmouth or the Evangeline. The harbour just after Pier 18, NYC is Yarmouth Harbour showing waterfront buildings and one of Eastern Steamships vessels. The hotel-swimming pool is the “Digby Pines” or “The Pines” located just outside of Digby, Nova Scotia. The vessel at the end of the footage is the Eastern Steamship “Acadia” which ran from Boston, sometimes from New York, to Yarmouth from 1932 to about 1940.”
The RMS Queen of Bermuda docked in Hamilton, Bermuda – 1950s. One of the most beautiful cruise ships of all times. The Furness Line vessel was designed for cruising to Bermuda in the style of a great liner and lasted until 1966.
Azamara follows in the tradition of great yacht like ships such as the elegant Stella Polaris. Considered the most beautiful cruise-ship of her time, she is seen at night in Stockholm, Sweden - mid 1950s.
Cruising The Past reviews and recommends cruise-ships and hotels providing a tradition of good service along with style reflected in the days of mid-century travel when the public demanded the very best. Our choices are not Las Vegas style hotels or cruise ships. We look for modern comfort, stylish service, a low key atmosphere that use to be called “first class”! We also realize that the demands of today’s air travel make it impractical to carry formal wear and many times we look for casual country club elegance. We endorse ships and hotels that reflect the best in current style and fashion with a look to the past when “getting there was half the fun…”
Azamara’s ships are small enough to visit out of the way ports avoided by the “Vegas” size ships.
The Azamara Journey feels like a members-only country club with its wide range of bars and lounges, and is best suited to mature couples.
Azamara Journey lets you get away from the crowds aboard its contemporary, mid-size ship. It offers a wide range of bars and lounges, at a slightly lower cost than the luxury lines but with many of the same features.
The drawing room/library aboard the Azamara Journey - reminiscent of trans-Atlantic small first class liners.
The interior decor is in good taste, and is a throwback to ship decor of the ocean liners of the 1920s and ’30s. The overall feel is of a members-only country club.
A lido deck has a tiny – and I mean tiny – swimming pool, but there is plenty of good sunbathing space. The uppermost outdoors deck includes a golf driving net and shuffleboard court.
The public rooms are spread over three decks. The reception hall (lobby) has a staircase with intricate wrought-iron railings. A large observation lounge (The Looking Glass) is high atop the ship. This has a long bar with forward views (for the barmen at least). There’s a bar in each of the restaurant entrances, as well as a Martini Bar. There’s also a Michael’s Club – a jazz/piano lounge, and, of course, a Luxe Casino, and a shop (Boutique C). Internet connectivity is provided at EConnections. Unfortunately, tacky art auctions spoil the cruise experience.
Our new video of a 1954 sailing aboard the SS ALASKA on a cruise to Alaska and the Inside Passage.
1954 ALASKA CRUISE from CRUISINGTHEPAST.COM on Vimeo.
1954 ALASKA CRUISE – a retro 50s look at a style of cruising and travel now vanished.
Video Includes: Views of the ship leaving the Port of Seattle, with streamers, confetti and visitors waving goodbye – something rarely scene today. See the ship sail up the inside passage… with passengers dancing, dining, playing shuffleboard and man nostalgic scenes of an Alaska steamship far different from the massive ships sailing the Inland Passage today. The Alaska Steamship Company operated passenger service from Seattle to all ports in Alaska from 1895 until 1954. During the summer weekly sailings visited the Inside Passage. The line challenged all kinds of winter conditions and operated year round offering regular sailings as far north as Nome. These are family films and footage taken during the 1920s through the 1950s.
Eastern Steamship Lines was one of the last American flag coastal passenger services.
The steamship Calvin Austin pulls away from the Eastern Steamship Company wharf in Lubec. Pope’s Folly island appears in the immediate background. Austin was President of the Eastern Steamship Company, formed in 1901 by a merger of the Eastern Steam Ship Co. with other lines.
In 1901, Charles Wyman Morse merged together the Boston &. Bangor Steamship Company, the Portland Steam Packet Company, the International Steamship Company, and several local lines on the Maine coast to form the Eastern Steamship Company.
1910 Postcard photograph of passengers arriving/departing from the Eastern Steamship Landing where steamships bound for Boston docked. Message on back of the card reads: “This is where we land when we get off the large steamers. Mabelle”
Because of the financial dealings of Mr Morse. and the competition Eastern gave the Fall River Line which was owned by the New Haven Railroad and backed by JP Morgan, a “bankers war” ensued between the two empire builders. Morse was eventually indicted in 1907 for conspiracy and the New Haven Railroad temporarily gained a controlling interest in Eastern, increasing its strength Eastern merged in 1911 with the Metropolitan Steamship Company and the Maine Steamship Company, but was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1914.
SS Evangeline at Pier 18 New York – This ship was built in Philadelphia in 1927 for the Eastern Steamship Company services along the U.S. East Coast. She could carry 751 passengers at 18 knots speed and was of 5043 grt and 378 feet in length. She ended her days as SS Yarmouth Castle by burning near Florida with the loss of 89 lives in 1965.
A promotional film made in 1935 by the New York Central Lines. Features a journey on the 20th Century Limited, once America’s premier train.
The New York-Chicago market was the premier intercity passenger service for Eastern railroading and the New York Central’s 20th Century Limited competed with rival Pennsylvania Railroad and its Broadway Limited for top honors (although based from traffic figures the 20th Century Limited did have an edge over the Broadway). While it will likely always be argued which train was the most successful what cannot be argued is their distinctive different styles with the20th Century Limited catering to business travelers and “new money” with its modernistic cool, sleek designs and colors while the Broadway Limited featured light, airy, and cheery accents and accommodated more to the older crowd. Ultimately, the rapidly declining interest in rail travel by the public through the 1950s forced the NYC to give up on its vaunted train and it made its final run in 1967.
Movie-star Kim Novak in the dining car on the New York bound 20th Century Ltd in 1956. Packed with businessmen, all eyes are on the beautiful celebrity.
Wonderful video – History of Pan American World Airways.
Documentary telling the story of how Pan American World Airways kick-started the jet-age and shrank the globe. Real-life ‘Pan Am girls’ recall a high-life of luxury and glamor; rubbing shoulders with celebrity passengers, international romances and having to wear the now infamous girdle. Stars of the jet-age such as Robert Vaughn and Mary Quant remember the food, fashion and girls that made them regular Pan Am passengers.
A Pan Am video from 1958 to show there new 707 jet service.
Pan Am’s success was largely due to its visionary founder Juan Trippe, who transformed a small mail carrier in to a global airline, pioneered flights for the masses and helped create the Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
Honor Blackman narrates the story of how Pan Am conquered the skies and left a legacy of affordable travel and a much smaller world. Beluga caviar and vintage champagne were served. Passengers dressed it was not like today’s cattle cars in the air.
Coffee and Cocktails: Pan Am First Class “lounge”, Boeing 707, early 1960′s. Lounge was located forward of first class.
Coach lounge on a 747 – early 1970s. The original 747s had first class and coach lounges. Some of the planes had piano bars.
SOCIAL HISTORY: Wonderful 1930s British Newsreel footage of the oldest people in the world at that time. They smoke, drink and don’t take endless pills or face a barrage of fitness nonsense.
