Crystal Cruises plans to resurrect what was once America’s largest, speediest, and most glamorous passenger ship. It wasn’t that long ago that we made the bold claim that “Crystal Cruises may change cruising as we know it”—and it looks like the luxury cruise line isn’t slacking. On the heels of ... Read More »

For three days, its 226 passengers and crew were cut off as rescuers struggled to dig them out. Help arrived just as hope began to dim. Great video on the train trapped by the blizzard… It was late Sunday morning, Jan. 13, 1952, and the Southern Pacific streamliner City of ... Read More »

These fascinating images show the golden age of cruising where lavish balls, tug-of-war on the deck and working out in suits appeared to be the order of the day. Shuffleboard on board British India in the 1960s… The development of steam ships in the 19th century led to ever more ... Read More »

The SS Europa (later the French Line SS Liberté) was one of a pair of fast ocean liners built in the late nineteen-twenties for the Norddeutsche Lloyd line (NDL) for the transatlantic passenger service. Her sister ship was the Bremen, and the two were very similar, though not identical. Come ... Read More »

Judy Garland is on the passenger list and its the Captain’s Dinner Night on the SS United States… And it is the one night that Judy Garland left her stateroom. Pictured: Sid Luff and his wife Judy Garland with a friend John Carlyle at right. 1956 1st Class Dining Room – ... Read More »

The final moments of the Canadian Pacific small liner SS PRINCESS KATHLEEN on September 7th, 1952. The Princess Kathleen sails to Alaska. The Canadian Pacific Line’s 6,000-ton Princess Kathleen, queen of Alaskan liners, was 18 miles from Juneau on the last trip of the season from Vancouver, B.C. to Skagway, Alaska. ... Read More »

“LUSCIOUS” LUCIUS BEEBE by Michael L. Grace…  New York Columnist Lucius Beebe: A Real ‘Dandy’… From the 1930s until his death in 1966, Lucius Beebe was the image of celebrity. An author, journalist, historian, raconteur, gourmet and bon vivant extraordinary – this extraordinary personality was one of the first gay ... Read More »

British pop legend, David Bowie (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), who starred in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth, had a long-standing fear of flying. Bowie sailed aboard Cunard’s QE 2, the Italian Line’s Leonardo da Vinci and P&O-Orient Line’s Oronsay. So while other superstars would take ... Read More »

The North Shore Line’s Electroliners was the interurban’s last gasp at retaining its passenger traffic, which had been slowly withering away since after 1910. For most street railway and interurban lines the coming of the automobile put an end to an industry that was just a few decades old.  The ... Read More »

The De Grasse was the first French merchant ship to restore the North Atlantic service after World War 2. The repairs and refurbishment took close to two years, but when the De Grasse returned to service in the summer of 1947, she was an almost entirely new ship. Upon her arrival ... Read More »