Red Star Line Philadelphia-London-Antwerp-Boston Service (1908)

The new bi-weekly service of the Red Star Line between Philadelphia and Antwerp has already established a reputation which has placed it upon a sound basis of popularity. A steamer sails every other Friday from Philadelphia for Antwerp, via Gravesend (London); and returning, steamers leave Antwerp every alternate Thursday direct for Boston, where westbound passengers disembark.

Passengers will be booked from Philadelphia to London or Antwerp, or from Antwerp direct to Boston, but no passengers are carried on these ships westbound between Boston and Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia-London-Antwerp and Antwerp-Boston Service of the Red Star Line offers accommodations specially fitted to meet the ever-increasing demand of those who, while desiring the best the steamship affords, do not care to pay the higher rates demanded by ships carrying cabin passengers in two classes.

In this Red Star Line Service passengers are carried in second-class only, but they are accorded, without restriction, the best of everything on the steamers. There is no discrimination of class whatsoever, as neither first nor third-class passengers are provided for.

Exceptional advantages are thereby offered for a trip abroad at nominal expense, combining many features not obtainable elsewhere, except on the payment of first class fares. This excellent service is maintained by three fine vessels which, when in the Atlantic Transport fleet, carried only first-class passengers between New York and London.

They are the recently built, well-known steamers Marquette, 7.057 tons, Menominee, 6,919 tons, and Manitou, 6,849 tons. The Marquette is 502 feet long and 52 feet breadth of beam; the Menominee and Manitou are each 490 feet long and 52 feet breadth of beam. Regularity of voyage and exceptional steadiness under all conditions of wave and weather are features very attractive to the traveling public.

Steamships Marquette, Menominee and Manitou

The Marquette and Menominee are similar in their plans and furnishings. The woodwork of the entrance hall, stairways and public rooms is of walnut cowry (or Australian) pine, satinwood and bird’s-eye maple.

The ceilings are paneled in white or tinted with lincrusta embossed gold figures; the upholstery is in light brown or olive green plush, and the curtains are silk and wool damask. The staterooms, which are large and roomy are finished in white, with mahogany folding washstands while the beds and sofas have spring bottoms, mahogany side and footboards. The toilet rooms have van-colored marble mosaic floors, the partitions and ceilings being painted white.

The Manitou is similar in general plan, but is fitted throughout in finely polished oak and walnut, with white and gold ceilings, excepting the music room, which presents a very handsome appearance, finished in white.

The dining saloons on all these ships are spacious rooms extending the entire width of the saloon deck, with accommodations for about 100 persons. They are complete in their appointments, are richly furnished, attractively decorated and brilliantly lighted. The service is maintained at the high standard observed on all ships of the Red Star Line; the cooking is excellent and the tables are bountifully supplied with good things from the markets at home and abroad.

All the passenger accommodations are built in the deckhouse, on and over the saloon deck, a location well above the water-line and, in fact, the majority of the staterooms are upon the promenade deck, where are also the music room and the smoking room.

The upper bridge deck extends the full width of the steamer and the length of the deck-house, affording ample space for steamer chairs as well as promenading, while around the structure there is a well-sheltered deck.

Each steamer is supplied with an excellent library of well-selected books, a piano and an organ, and all the ships are lighted throughout by electricity. The ventilation is thorough.

The call en route at Gravesend on the Thames (the port for London) gives the passenger the option of disembarking at this important center of worldwide activity. If he is bound for the Continent, the final port—Antwerp—presents a decided advantage, as it is exceedingly convenient to the beauties of the Rhine and the Alps, and close to Paris and the charms of the Belgian and Holland seashore resorts.

In fact, Antwerp is the terminus of vast railway and steamer systems, which radiate to all parts of the Continent and the British Isles, and is as well, a treasure-laden city of fascinating historic interest.

Source: International Mercantile Marine Company, “Red Star Line Philadelphia-London-Antwerp-Boston," Facts For Travelers: American Line, Atlantic Transport Line, Dominion Line, Leyland Line, Red Star Line, White Star Line, 1908: P. 47-49

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