Passenger Liners of the World Since 1893

 

Front Cover, Passenger Liners Of The World Since 1893 By Nicholas T. Cairis, Revised Edition With Over 200 pictures, 1979.

Front Cover, Passenger Liners Of The World Since 1893 By Nicholas T. Cairis, Revised Edition With Over 200 pictures, 1979. Jacket photograph of liner, France III, from Colour Library International, Ltd. GGA Image ID # 201c11aa7e

 

From the Inside Dust Jacket

Present-day demand for air travel has almost outmoded the passenger ship; it has been unable to maintain the tempo of the airlines and has reluctantly moved out of the scene.

The author here takes a nostalgic look back to the heyday of the passenger ship, providing a brief history of 211 ships of over 10,000 tons, together with specifications and technical details of each.

For ready reference, the reader will find such diverse facts as:

  • Who built the ships?
  • Where and when were they built?
  • Tonnage and dimensions
  • Type of engine
  • Cruising speed
  • Passenger accommodations, officers and crew
  • Maiden voyages and final dispositions
  • Sister ships
  • General histories and much more.

To this revised edition, new technical data and updated information about the last voyages and final dispositions of ships have been added.

Thirteen of the better-known steamship companies dating back as far as 1893 are featured in this book. The book is illustrated with an original photograph of each of the 211 ships.

 

Contents

  • Preface
  • Cunard Line
  • French Line
  • Greek Line
  • Holland-America Line
  • Home Lines
  • Italian Line
  • North German Lloyd
  • Norwegian-America Line
  • Polish Ocean Lines
  • Portuguese Line
  • Spanish Line
  • Swedish-American Line
  • United States Lines
  • General Notes
  • Notes for Revised 1979 Edition
  • Index of Ships

To Jehovah who has endowed me with a love for the sea and ships and to my mother and father.

 

Preface

The port of New York is where all the great liners of the world have rendezvoused since the advent of the passenger ship to carry many travelers to far-off lands and resorts.

The term passenger liner is a label appropriate to steamships and motorships alike. The specifications governing a vessel of this type have undoubtedly fluctuated through the history of passenger-carrying ships. The phrase is entirely controversial,

I have decided to include vessels only exceeding ten thousand gross tons, thereby keeping this volume within reasonable limits. In all, there are enumerated two hundred and ten ships. Chartered ships and others completed to be released as war reparations or those that never sailed as passenger ships for the Lines, respectively, have not been included in this book for numerous reasons. Concerning these ships, a brief note relating to their stories will be found in the fleet lists.

In the following pages, I have gathered all such material about the most prominent steamship companies on the Atlantic Ferry today and those that have been there for some time. Some Lines have diverse services to other oceans, seas, and continents. My foremost interest was to include the better-known steamship company of each seafaring nation in the Western Hemisphere.

In total, thirteen of these Lines fly the national flags of their homeland, and the last of the Lines, the Panamanian ensign, owing to the company's numerous interests and keen tax purposes. I included this previous Line as a type of international firm whose founders were of Greek, Swedish, Italian, and American origin.

The lore for the sea and ships has prompted me to choose not only the vessel of my choice and liking but to combine the more significant number of all these liners in an unbiased, factual publication of, hopefully, everybody's favorite ships. Each vessel is illustrated with an original photograph to help the reader grasp the full beauty of these inspiring ladies, from the great leviathans and express greyhounds to the intermediate and cargo-type passenger ships.

In stating the history of the ship's life, if there is any such to mention, there is listed in order if known:

  • The builder and place of construction with the date;
  • The last known tonnage;
  • Overall length and extreme breadth;
  • Molded depth and number of propellers;
  • Type of propulsion and average service speed;
  • Attained speed on trial runs or maximum speed;
  • Passenger accommodations (the given figures are usually the last in the ship's life and are, in most cases, smaller in the latter years of a ship than when she first entered into service because of the immigration laws of the early 'twenties and the reclassification of the classes brought about through the years);
  • Officers and crew (this in most cases follows the same rule as passenger accommodations because of the advancements in technology);
  • Maiden voyage;
  • Bulkheads and a general number of decks (the labeling of decks is sometimes controversial because of changes in construction and the naming by designers.

Some may consider a specific section of a ship to be labeled a deck for passenger use, whereas others may not, depending on the length or location of the section); history and ultimate fate; and last, a sister ship or ships, if any, existed in the Line's services. Roman numerals preceding the name of a vessel designate the numbered ship to carry the name.

This fast-moving era of air travel has almost outmoded the passenger ship into oblivion.

Unable to maintain the tempo of the airlines of reducing once several-day journeys to a mere couple of hours and the competition of rates, the passenger ship has slowly, but reluctantly, moved out of the scene. Remorsefully, we are all witnessing the extinction of the passenger liner due to the drastic drop in transatlantic sailings since World War II. Some larger fleets have depleted rapidly, and many have used their ships to cruise most of the year.

Some have even sold cruise tickets to nowhere, where the vessel merely sails around in circles just off the coast for several days. As time went by, the steamship companies' conditions immersed in the possibility of a return to take her part in the travel medium, rightfully hers. Though should the liner fade into the past, she will always live in the hearts of many who knew her in her day.

All facts have been entered in this book to the best of my knowledge. The information gathered stems from various sound resources such as Lloyd's Register of Shipping, The American Record, newspaper articles, brochures, original abstract records, and, to some degree, written and oral correspondence with the Lines and shipping personnel. Should the reader have any reason to argue its contents, which I believe to be the most accurate, he may take the initiative to write me through the publishers. I would be most happy to assist him with the source of origination and degree of authenticity.

My gratitude would only be complete if I close by thanking the following people connected for supplying information and photographs for my book. They are enumerated thus: Mr. Claros of the Spanish Line, Mr. Vreugdenhil of the Holland-America Line, Mr. Rickmann of the North German Lloyd, Mr. Martin of the Cunard Line, Mr. Bet of the Italian Line, Mr. Bouvard of the French Line, Mr. Martin of the United States Lines, Mr. Henriksson of the Swedish-American Line, Mr. Amundsen of the Norwegian-America Line, Mr. Sigalas of the Greek Line, Mr Coutinho of the Portuguese Line, and Mr Tillet öf the Home Lines.

My thankfulness is also extended to Mr. John L. Lochhead of the Mariner's Museum at Newport News, Virginia; Mark Sexton of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts; Mrs. Alice S. Wilson of the Steamship Historical Society of America on Staten Island, New York, The Upper Clyde Shipbuilders of Glasgow, Scotland, Mr David Pearson of Belmont, Massachusetts, and the Maritime Museum of Barcelona for photographs.

'If the only flags we gave allegiance to were the houseflags of the Lines and the only battles fought were for the Blue Riband.

Nicholas T. Cairis
London, England

 

Alphabetical List of Ships

  1. Alaunia
  2. Alaunia II
  3. Albania II
  4. America
  5. America II
  6. Andania
  7. Andania II
  8. Andrea Doria
  9. Antilles II
  10. Antonia
  11. Aquitania
  12. Argentina (Home Lines)
  13. Argentina (Spanish Line)
  14. Arkadia
  15. Aseania II
  16. Atlantic
  17. Augustus
  18. Augustus II
  19. Aurania III
  20. Ausonia II
  21. Barbarosa
  22. Batory
  23. Begona
  24. Berengaria
  25. Bergensfjord
  26. Bergensfjord II
  27. Berlin II
  28. Berlin III
  29. Berlin IV
  30. Bremen II
  31. Bremen IV
  32. Bremen V
  33. Bretagne
  34. Britannic
  35. Campania
  36. Carinthia II
  37. Carinthia III
  38. Carmania
  39. Carmania II
  40. Caronia
  41. Caronia II
  42. Carpathia
  43. Champlain
  44. Chicago
  45. Colombie
  46. Colombo
  47. Columbus II
  48. Conte Biancamano
  49. Conte di Savoia
  50. Conte Grande
  51. Covadonga II
  52. Cristobal Colon II
  53. Cristoforo Colombo
  54. Cuba
  55. Cunard Adventurer
  56. De Grasse
  57. De Grasse II
  58. Donizetti
  59. Doric
  60. Dresden II
  61. Drottningholm
  62. Duilio
  63. Espagne
  64. Europa II
  65. Europa III
  66. Flandre
  67. France II
  68. France III
  69. Franconia
  70. Franconia II
  71. Franconia III
  72. Friedrich der Grosse
  73. George Washington (Norddeutscher Lloyd)
  74. George Washington (United States Lines)
  75. Georgic
  76. Giulio Cesare
  77. Giulio Cesare II
  78. Gneisenau II
  79. Gripsholm
  80. Gripsholm II
  81. Grosser Kurfurst
  82. Guadalupe
  83. Habana II
  84. Homeland
  85. Homeric (Home Lines)
  86. Homeric (White Star Line / Cunard-White Star)
  87. Ile de France
  88. Imperio
  89. Infante Dom Henrique
  90. Italia
  91. Ivernia
  92. Kaiser Wilhelm II
  93. Kaiser Withelm der Grosse
  94. König Albert
  95. Königin Luise
  96. Kronprinzessin Cecilie
  97. Kronprinz Wilhelm
  98. Kristianiafjord
  99. Kungsholm II
  100. Kungsholm III
  101. Kungsholm IV
  102. Laconia
  103. Laconia II
  104. Lancastria
  105. Lafayette II
  106. Lafayette III
  107. Lakonia
  108. La Lorraine
  109. La Provence
  110. La Savoie
  111. Laurentic
  112. Leonardo da Vinci
  113. Leviathan
  114. Liberte
  115. Lucania
  116. Lusitania
  117. Main II
  118. Majestic
  119. Manhattan
  120. Maasdam IV
  121. Mauretania
  122. Mauretania II
  123. Media
  124. Michelangelo
  125. München III
  126. Neptunia
  127. Neptunia
  128. New York
  129. Nieuw Amsterdam
  130. Nieuw Amsterdam II
  131. Noordam
  132. Noordam II
  133. Normandie
  134. Oceania
  135. Oceanic
  136. Olympia
  137. Olympic
  138. Orazio
  139. Oslofjord
  140. Oslofjord II
  141. Paris
  142. Parthia II
  143. Patria
  144. Pilsudski
  145. Potsdam (Holland-America Line)
  146. Potsdam (Norddeutscher Lloyd)
  147. President Adams
  148. President Arthur
  149. President Garfield
  150. President Harding
  151. President Monroe
  152. President Polk
  153. President Roosevelt
  154. President Van Buren
  155. Prinzess Alice
  156. Prinzess Irene
  157. Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm
  158. Queen Anna Maria
  159. Queen Elizabeth
  160. Queen Elizabeth 2
  161. Queen Mary
  162. Raffaello
  163. Republic
  164. Rex
  165. Rhein II
  166. Rijndam
  167. Rochambeau
  168. Roma
  169. Rossini
  170. Rotterdam IV
  171. Rotterdam V
  172. Royal George
  173. Ryndam
  174. Sagafjord
  175. Samaria II
  176. Santa Maria
  177. Sardegna
  178. Saturnia
  179. Saxonia
  180. Scharnhorst II
  181. Scythia II
  182. Sierra Cordoba II
  183. Sierra Morena
  184. Sierra Ventana II
  185. Slavonia
  186. Sobieski
  187. Statendam
  188. Statendam III
  189. Statendam IV
  190. Stavangerfjord
  191. Stefan Batory
  192. Stockholm
  193. Stockholm IV
  194. Stuttgart II
  195. Suffren
  196. Sylvania II
  197. Uige
  198. Ultonia
  199. United States
  200. Uruguay
  201. Veendam II
  202. Vera Cruz
  203. Verdi
  204. Ville D'Alger II
  205. Ville D 'Oran
  206. Virgilio
  207. Volendam
  208. Vulcania
  209. Washington
  210. Westerdam
  211. Zaandam II

 

Publication Information

  • Class 623.8243
  • Personal Name Cairis, Nicholas thomas
  • Main Title Passenger liners of the world since 1893, by n.t. cairis
  • Publication New York: Bonanza books, 1979
  • Pages: 226
  • Published: 1988-12-12
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0517288753
  • ISBN-13: 9780517288757
  • Binding: Hardcover (Revised Edition) with Dustjacket
  • Note: BONANZA BOOKS A Division of Crown Publishers, Inc. One Park Avenue New York, New York 10016

 

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