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13 days to go: APRIL 15TH COUNTDOWN TO RMS TITANIC 100th ANNIVERSARY: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

April 3, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

13 days to go: APRIL 15TH COUNTDOWN TO RMS TITANIC 100th ANNIVERSARY: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER… the best film about the RMS Titanic…

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER Trailer

100 years ago this month, the illustrious RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage, sailed dangerously through heavy ice in the North Atlantic on her way to New york. Such was the ship’s titanic size (to use the pun), the amount of water that it took for the “unsinkable” ship to overspill beyond its water-tight compartments (that were only as high as the first 5 decks) meant that it was a whole hour and a half – until approximately 1am on April 15th – before the ship sank.

THE NAZI VERSION OF THE “TITANIC” – THE 1943 FILM MADE AT UFA IN BERLIN DURING WORLD WAR II.

March 28, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

LINER, SOCIAL AND CRUISE HISTORY: THE OTHER “TITANIC”: THE NAZI VERSION YOU’VE NEVER SEEN… THE 1943 FILM MADE AT UFA IN BERLIN DURING WORLD WAR II.

The Nazi version of the Titanic story that fed shots (and plots?) to later western versions of the tragic tale…

The British took footage from the German film for “A Night To Remember”… the German film, is a very powerful piece of cinema. The film underplays the propaganda message and focuses on the characters instead. It also keeps the anti-semitism to blink-and-you-miss-it. This could have been the reason Goebbels’ banned the film. That and the fact by 1943 the Nazis’ message was turning towards what were called Durchhalteparolen, or rallying cries to hang on in there, such as typified by the 1945 film “Kolberg’. For the best Titanic film ever, seek out Roy Ward Baker’s “A Night To Remember” from 1958. For the worst watch Cameron’s ludicrous “Titanic”!

Cunard Line’s RMS CARONIA – The most famous liner in cruising history… she was the “millionaires yacht”!

March 26, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Travel and Social History: Cunard Line’s the RMS CARONIA – The most famous liner in cruising history… she was the “millionaires yacht”! Cunard Line History…

One of the best social history travel history films. The RMS CARONIA was the premiere cruise ship of the 1950s. The passenger list was filled with America’s rich. This ia an excellent Cunard Line advertising film of the CARONIA through Mediterranean with stops and side trips to many of the major cities with quick shots of interesting sights and maps showing route as the tour progresses. Tour starts along the African coast at Madeira to Tangiers, Malta, Cairo, pyramids, Luxor and into Israel, Istanbul, Yalta, Athens ruins, Dubrovnik, Venice, Vienna, Florence, Rome, Sicily, Naples, Pompeii and Herculanium ruins, French and Spanish Riviera, Portugal, Gibraltar and other scenic stops. — Various, appointments, activities, dining and Cunard Lines advertising their cruise opulent services. Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com.

The RMS CARONIA – the “Green Goddess” – probably the most deluxe cruise-ship in the history of cruising. Now a just a memory… None of the current condo ships compare. This was a liner…

LOS ANGELES TO HAWAII – 1927

January 25, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Menu from the LASSCO STEAMSHIP CALAWAII – Honolulu to Los Angeles crossing in 1927…

Cruise and Liner History: Hollywood to Honolulu -
The Los Angeles Steamship Company’s
Voyages to Hawaii in the Roaring ‘20s

History of the LOS ANGELES STEAMSHIP COMPANY. LASCCO. The Los Angeles Steamship Company or LASSCO was a passenger and freight shipping company based in Los Angeles, California. The company, formed in 1920, initially provided fast passenger service between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 1921, LASSCO added service to Hawaii in competition with the San Francisco-based Matson Navigation Company using two former North German Lloyd ocean liners that had been in U.S. Navy service during World War I. Despite the sinking of one of the former German liners on her maiden voyage for the company, business in the booming 1920s thrived, and the company continued to add ships and services. The worsening economic conditions in the United States, and the burning of another ship in Hawaii, caused financial problems for the company. After beginning talks in 1930, the Los Angeles Steamship Company was taken over by Matson Navigation on January 1, 1931, but continued to operate as a subsidiary until it ceased operations in 1937.

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: Cruise History, CRUISE LINE HISTORY, CUNARD LINE, Cunard White Star, FRENCH LINE, LASSCO, liners, los angeles steamship company, Love Boat, MATSON LINES, Pullman Company, retro, SOCIAL HISTORY, Titanic

FRENCH LINE’S SS NORMANDIE – The tragedy of the world’s greatest passenger ship.

December 28, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

If anything, the French Line’s SS Normandie was too beautiful. She was never as popular as Queen Mary because SS Normandie was like a floating art gallery that overwhelmed? the passengers, whereas Queen Mary was more traditional and felt like a home to the passengers. It’s a disgrace what happened to SS Normandie. To think such a revolutionary, innovative, and dazzling vessel was destroyed due to sheer stupidity breaks the heart.

Filed Under: Cruise History Tagged With: Cruise History, CRUISE LINE HISTORY, cruise ship, Cruising, cruising the past, CUNARD LINE, FRENCH LINE, Liner History, liners, loss, Love Boat, MATSON LINES, RMS TITANIC, SOCIAL HISTORY, ss normandie, Titanic, world war 2

SAILING UP THE AMAZON on the HILARY

December 26, 2011 By Michael L. Grace 1 Comment

Cruise and Liner History: THE BOOTH LINE from LIVERPOOL SHIPS.

The HILARY sailing up the Amazon.

The Booth Steamship Company’s HILARY of 1931 operated the Booth Line service from Liverpool to Manaus, 1,000 miles up the AMAZON.

Ordering the passenger-cargo liner HILARY at the height of the depression was a mark of considerable faith by the Booth Line, and the placing of the order locally on Merseyside was much appreciated.

The HILARY in her original form with a black hull and a funnel without the houseflag…

The HILARY was launched on 17th April 1931 and was completed by August. She sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Para and Manaus on 14th August, The new HILARY could easily be recognized by her distinctive three-note triple-chime steam whistle.

Passengers on the promenade viewing the Amazon.

Review: OCEAN LINER POSTERS… A FIVE STAR BOOK.

December 23, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Ocean Liner Posters is a wonderful book telling the story of shipping companies and their ships through the art they produced – their posters. For a century, ocean liners were the only way to travel from one continent to another. Millions of passengers travelled on transatlantic routes: millionaires, occupying luxurious suites with dream decors, signed by the best artists of the time, and emigrants in search of a future, meager savings in hand, huddled in third class – all sharing their journeys with tourists, soldiers and traders on the largest form of transportation ever built. This book charts the evolution of ocean liner posters from the first ship poster reproductions of the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the vessel’s image appeared alongside information about the routes taken, through the Art Nouveau era, when the image of the ship began to take a key role in terms of visual importance. The Art Deco period allowed masters of poster art such as Adolphe Mouron Cassandre to create enduring works for the likes of Normandie or the Atlantique. The book continues tracing the timeline of these posters, through the postwar period until the demise of transatlantic routes, through to the sixties, which saw the poster being modernized.

PEARL HARBOR – THE SS LURLINE WAS HALF-WAY FROM HONOLULU TO SAN FRANCISCO

December 7, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

SS Lurline Departing Honolulu with 442nd RCT, 1943

Youtube video – Sailing day on the SS LURLINE from Honolulu, Hawaii… memories now vanished.

Cruise History and Liner History: The SS Lurline was half way from Honolulu to San Francisco on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. She made her destination safely, travelling at maximum speed, and soon returned to Hawaii with her Matson sisters Mariposa and Monterey in a convoy laden with troops and supplies.

The SS Lurline docking at San Diego’s Broadway pier in the 1930s.

The SS Lurline was the third Matson vessel to hold that name and the last of four fast and luxurious ocean liners that Matson built for the Hawaii and Australasia runs from the West Coast of the United States. Lurline’s sister ships were SS Malolo, SS Mariposa and SS Monterey.

Lurline departing Hilo, Hawaii – 1960s

SS LURLINE arrrival scene – Honolulu – 1941 – Months before Pearl Harbor

RMS TITANIC – Centennial may be last chance for the super rich to visit watery grave.

December 5, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruise and Liner History: RMS TITANIC – Centennial may be last chance for the super rich to visit watery grave.

Down, down, down you go, for 2 1/2 hours, jammed with two other people in a tiny submersible, all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean — and all for a glimpse, through a 5- or 8-inch porthole, of the ravaged remains of the once-grand ship where the Astors and the Strauses played, dined and, in some cases, died.

The trip is not for the claustrophobic, nor the 99 percent: A two-week cruise that includes one dive, lasting eight to 10 hours, costs $60,000.

But for fans of the Titanic, no price or privation is too great — especially with the 100th anniversary of the sinking coming up on April 15.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Renata Rojas, a banker in New York City, said of diving more than 2 miles down to the muddy seabed. “I’ve been obsessed with the Titanic since I was 10 years old.”

Only existing film footage of the RMS TITANIC…

Centennial fever

With the centennial in mind, at least 80 people are expected to take the plunge to the wreck, according to the company that runs the trips, Deep Ocean Expeditions.

The ROTTERDAM IV – Holland America Line History

November 27, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Excellent video on the ROTTERDAM

Cruise and Liner History – The ROTTERDAM IV – Holland America Line History

Harland and Wolff, Belfast built Holland America Line’s ROTTERDAM IV in 1908. She held 530 First, 555 Second and 2,124 Third Class passengers. She was a liner with two funnels, Holland America’s first, 650 feet in length and 77 feet wide. Her registered tonnage was 24,170 and displacement of 37,190 tons. She traveled at an average of 16.5 knots. She was sold in January of 1940 to Dutch breakers.

Pool – Ziegfeld Chorus Girls…

The ROTTERDAM was one the finest, largest and most popular ships crossing the Atlantic and cost about $5,000,000 to build. She became famous because of her exceptionally attractive features, so that many discriminating travelers choose her in preference to many other Atlantic steamer. In luxurious appointments, in extraordinary size of rooms, averaging much larger than on any of our ships on previous Cruises, as well as in her extreme steadiness, almost eliminating seasickness, she was unsurpassed. She had 56 suites and rooms with brass bedsteads and private baths, and over 100 single rooms, together with a beautiful Palm Court, Verandah Cafe, Elevator, Social Hall, Library, 3 Smoke Rooms, a glass enclosed Promenade Deck, electrically forced ventilation of hot and cold air, etc. Most of the outside staterooms had two, and in some cases three, windows or portholes, some being fitted with a device that admits fresh air freely, even when the porthole was closed. One of her most attractive features was an immense Dining Saloon, seating nearly 500 people at small tables, where all of her passengers took their meals, and where an orchestra of artists of high merit played during lunch and dinner, as well as in the Social Hall in the evening.

PEARL HARBOR – THE SS LURLINE WAS HALF-WAY FROM HONOLULU TO SAN FRANCISCO

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