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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…

Carnival Corp’s COSTA CONCORDIA Ship Accident Stirs Thoughts of the ITIALIAN LINE’S ANDREA DORIA.

January 22, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Excellent Video on the ANDREA DORIA.

Cruise and Liner History – Carnival Corp’s COSTA CONCORDIA Ship Accident Stirs Thoughts of the ITIALIAN LINE’S ANDREA DORIA.

The world was shocked and astounded to learn of the wreck of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast. How could a modern, state-of-the-art passenger vessel have succumbed to such a gross navigational error in well-charted waters, in clear visibility and calm conditions?

Details of the events leading up to the grounding are only starting to be gathered by investigators but seem to point toward inappropriate ship handling on the part of Capt. Francesco Schettino. Far more disturbing, however, are the alleged actions of Schettino after his ship was stricken and determined to be sinking. He stands accused of abandoning ship before many of the 4,200 passengers and crew, leaving them without his leadership and guidance during a life-and-death evacuation process. If the preliminary reports are even half true, these actions should land him squarely in prison.

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.

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.

PAN AM – WHEN FLYING WAS FIRST CLASS

October 13, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

The new TV Series PAN AM takes you back to a time when flying was fun, and not like the nightmare one experiences today.

PAN AM – WHEN FLYING WAS FIRST CLASS

Like its iconic stewardesses, Pan Am had beauty and brains; they were the first carrier to adopt Boeing’s 747, revolutionized radio communication and emergency equipment, and broke records with a New York to New York ’round-the-world trip.

Cabin crew taken aboard Jet by captain during 1960s.

The fate of Pan Am, of course, was not a glamorous one with route monopoly problems and bankruptcy grounding flights permanently in December of 1991. For a few short decades, though, the pilots and their girls in blue were celebs in their own right, almost invincible, changing the way we would forever think about air travel, even inspiring a brand-new tv show 20 years later. But what was life really like in the friendly skies?

From the 1920′s until its demise in 1991, Pan American Airlines symbolized all that was luxurious in air travel. Elite fliers packed some of the first commercial use jumbo jets and were treated to delicious rounds of meals served by bright and beautiful girls in couture uniforms. Celebrities, businessmen and “Rainbow Class” alike jetted-off to far-flung vacation spots across the globe on this mega airline, the US’s first International carrier.
Like its iconic stewardesses, Pan Am had beauty and brains; they were the first carrier to adopt Boeing’s 747, revolutionized radio communication and emergency equipment, and broke records with a New York to New York ’round-the-world trip.

Social and Travel History… PAN AM… White-Glove Service

More than years ago, flying had a certain glamour: the luxurious seats, the doting (and beautiful) flight attendants, the gourmet meals… Today, most of the majesty of commercial air travel has been scrapped thanks to cutbacks and tight security. Miss the old days? We look back at what it used to mean to fly commercially.

Pictured: In 1968, a Pan Am flight attendant embraces and Aeroflot Stewardess before their first transatlantic flights from New York to Moscow.

LIFE photos featuring the glamour of air travel in the 1950s and 1960s… When passengers didn’t travel in cargo pants and t-shirts…

Pan American Airways System Sikorsky S-42B flying boat over Miami in the 1930s…

Interior of S-42B Sikorsky – wide aisle – two seats on either side. While the S-42B service was for but a brief time it demonstrated the type of passenger service Pan Am would offer in the future – from the DC-3 DC-4 – DC-6 – Boeing 377Strato-Cruiser – and the Boeing 707 Jet aircraft until the service was suspended in 1957 – every aspect of the service was First Class.

Pan American Airways System in flight food service aboard a S-42B Sikorsky.

Filed Under: Air Ship, SOCIAL HISTORY, STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: 1920s, 1950s, air travel, airline travel, atlantic, cbs pan am history, Cruise History, CRUISE LINE HISTORY, cruise ship history, CRUISE SHIPS, cruising the past, CUNARD LINE, FIRST CLASS AIR TRAVEL, FRENCH LINE, HOLLAND AMERICA LINE, MATSON LINES, New York, PAN AM, pan am stewardess, retro, RMS TITANIC, Steamships, Stewardesses, Titanic

THE SHAW SAVILL LINE – Great Ocean Liners sailing Around The World

October 3, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

THE SHAW SAVILL LINE – Great Ocean Liners sailing Around The World

The SOUTHERN CROSS in 1965 – transiting the Panama Canal – on her regular world cruise service.

Cruise History: Shaw Savill Line – The Last Ocean Liners

Deck games on Shaw Savill.

The Shaw Savill & Albion Company built two advanced one-class ocean liners for continuous around-the-world service. Voyages were approximately 75 days, from Southampton to Australia and New Zealand outward via South Africa and return via Panama or in reverse order.

Southern Cross was a remarkable ship for her time, with significant innovative features. She was the first major liner with funnel and engines aft, which created substantial mid-ship passenger space, the first passenger ship that carried no cargo (except stores) and the first major modern liner with all tourist class accommodations.

ALASKA CRUISE – 1950s – $9.00 a day FIRST CLASS

September 18, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

ALASKA CRUISE YouTube RETRO VIDEO – AUGUST 1954 – a great look at crusing during the 1950s…

This is a wonderful historical video of a 1954 sailing aboard the SS ALASKA on a cruise to Alaska and the Inside Passage. A retro 50s look at a style of cruising and travel now vanished. Views of the ship leaving the Port of Seattle, with streamers, confetti and visitors waving goodbye – something rarely seen 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.

A fond farewell. The SS Denali ends the era of passenger service for the Alaska Steamship Company as she makes her final departure and sails away for the last time from Pier 42, Seattle at 3 p.m., September 24, 1954.

Sailing day meant excitement for the Alaska Steamship Company liners. Here is the SS Alaska sailing from Seattle in 1952.

1950s ALASKA CRUISE – $9.00 a day First Class – Retro August 1954 look at the final days of the Alaska Steamship Company with a history of the famous organization that provided passenger service to the far north.

Cruise Liner and Steamship History – Alaska Steamship Company, Seattle, 1895-1971

History of the Alaska Steamship Company – Cruising The Past

Regular monthly boat service from U.S. ports to Alaska began in 1867 following the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Occupation troops were dispatched and cargo and mail soon followed. By 1875 several ship lines were making the voyage up the Panhandle in spite of often inhospitable waters and a treacherous coastline. The first tourists began booking passage as reports of unparalleled scenery were increasingly publicized.

On August 3, 1894, Charles Peabody, Capt. George Roberts, Capt. Melville Nichols, George Lent, Frank E. Burns and Walter Oakes formed the Alaska Steamship Company which would eventually enjoy a near monopoly of freight and passenger service to Alaska.. This group of six men began gathering $30,000 by selling 300 shares of stock, at $100 each. Charles Peabody was named president of the company.

WHEN CRUISE SHIPS WERE LINERS.

September 14, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Social History and Cruise History: Scenes from the 1930s and 1950s… when cruise ships were elegant liners. Ships that made liner voyages trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, etc. They would “cruise” in the off-season. Feast on these photos of sophistication – of a bygone and forgotten era.

First Class promenade deck aboard the Matson Line’s S.S. Monterey sailing from San Francisco to Sydney during the 1930s.

White Tie is in order for pre-dinner cocktails in the First Class Smoking Room aboard the T.S.S. Awatea in the late 1930s as the elegant liner sails the Tasman Sea. The two and half day crossing aboard the Union Steamship Company ship from Sydney to Auckland rivaled many trans-Atlantic liners. Her career was brief; she was sunk in World War 2.

The celebrated shopping mall of the SS L’Atlantique. The elegant French Line ship was the largest and most luxurious that ever operated between Europe and South America. Launched in 1931, her career was cut short by a fire in 1933. The mall was extremely modern for the period and wouldn’t look out of place on any of today’s cruise ships. The ceiling has a map of the North and South Atlantic – showing the route of the ship.

The French passenger liner SS La Marseillaise is seen arriving in Marseillaise from Vietnam during the 1950s. She was the largest and most luxurious ship operated by by the steamship company Messageries Maritimes. La Marseillaise operated between France and the Far East. The elegant vessel was launched in 1944 in the name of Marshal Petain (who was a French general who reached the distinction of Chief of State of Vichy France during the Nazi occupation). SS La Marseillaise had the distinction of sinking on two occasions, the first time in France before being completed during WW II, and the second time after an explosion and fire off the island of Grenada when she had been sold off for Caribbean cruises. La Marsillaise, like many liners after WW II, had many careers with various names.

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: Cruise History, Liner History, liners, RMS TITANIC, ships, SOCIAL HISTORY, Steamships

THE GRACE LINE

May 18, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Liner History – The Grace Line

Cruise History – THE GRACE LINE – In the mid 1800s, the Irish-born Grace brothers, William Russell and Michael, established a commercial and shipping business in Callao, the port of Lima, Peru. They prospered, especially in the exporting of guano from the Chincha Islands to the United States, where this fertilizer was in considerable demand.

In 1865, leaving Michael in charge of their interests in Callao, William established the firm of W.R. Grace & Co., in New York. By 1880 he had become a leading citizen and was twice elected Mayor of New York, despite opposition from Tammany. In the 1890′s the company entered the steamship business with a line of freighters running from New York to the South American west coast via the Strait of Magellan flying the British flag.

Grace’s original British-flag ships had black hulls, white painted masts and booms, and a green stack with a black top. After the First World War successors were painted grey, with masts and booms of the usual mast color. Hulls became black again in 1928 and masts and booms reverted to white in 1932. (about 1959-60 Grace passenger ships again turned to grey hulls).

SS L’Atlantique of the Cie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique was an unique example for the next ocean liners of the 1930s.

March 18, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

SS L’Atlantique of the Cie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique was an unique example for the next ocean liners of the 1930s, not only in Interior design, modernity, and wonderful Art Deco areas, but also a bad example regarding the risk of “fire”. Only 16 months she crossed the seas, when her lacquered interiors, wooden panels, were the victims of a fire on January 3rd 1933.

Youtube video – L’ATLANTIQUE 1931-1933 Part I, before the fire. Take a tour , on the beautiful liner before the accident. Photos source: l’Illustration 1930, 1931 – Miroir du Monde 1933.

Youtube video – L’ATLANTIQUE PART II , the doomed liner

On this January 3rd, 1933 only a part of the crew was aboard, 229 souls, the ocean liner was on the route to Le Havre, for some refits and transformations….but early in the morning at 6h 45…..a fire broke out.

Fitted out with the most expensive wooden lacquered panels, the Atlantique was on of the most modern designed liner of its period.

The beautiful shopping gallery, the use of wood and the important spaces gave the fire the best conditions to destruct this unique Art Deco Liner. 18 victims were the result of this accident and new rules for fire protection for Ocean Liners.

THE SHAW SAVILL LINE – Great Ocean Liners sailing Around The World

THE GRACE LINE

SS L’Atlantique of the Cie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique was an unique example for the next ocean liners of the 1930s.

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