CRUISING THE PAST Travel and Social History

Until the late 1950s, Union Steamship Company served the small coastal towns of British Columbia, the Queen Charlotte Islands and offered cruises to Alaska. The company was founded in 1889 by John Darling, the director of a New Zealand shipping company who recognized a great need for a scheduled service that would transport supplies and work crews to various northern ... Read More »

Besides “crossing the Pond” on Cunard, Elizabeth Taylor sailed to Europe on the French Line’s SS Liberte, cruised to the Mediterranean aboard Cunard’s RMS Caronia and Mauritania. Liz sailed to the Caribbean and South America on the Grace Line’s SS Santa Rosa. She loved ships and the sea. Taylor had sailed a number of times on the RMS Queen Mary with her mother, ... Read More »

Ringo Starr, the former drummer for The Beatles, received the British commonwealth’s highest honor for his contribution to music and charities. The 77-year-old Ringo Starr received a knighthood from Prince William, decades after his lone surviving ex-Beatle Paul McCartney was honored. He used his real name Richard Starkey for the big event, as Prince William thanked him for being such ... Read More »

Maritime historian Peter Knego, who liked the former British passenger liner AUREOL, once the flagship of Elder Dempster Lines, so much that when she was broken up he rescued enough of her fittings to fill a shipping container, including a mahogany bar, tiger-maple panelling, cabinets, chairs and light fixtures and installed the lot in his California home in Oceanside, California. ... Read More »

Argentina was the only South American country to operate regular long-distance intercontinental ocean liners following World War 2, although always with ships of moderate size and speed. Alberto Dodero is a completely forgotten name in today’s world, but in the mid-20th century, he was the major shipping tycoon in South America. Eva Peron (Evita) with the British Ambassador, Sir John ... Read More »

Love Boat Rejects is a collection of pictures taken by Ian Hughes and his fellow photographers onboard American, Norwegian and Italian cruise-ships throughout the 1990s. Working the decks was Ian’s first job when he left Art College in Merseyside, UK,  in 1989. Welcome Aboard… Bon Voyage… First Sitting…   Second Sitting… Going Ashore… About the Featured Image Ship’s photographer Muir Vidler understood the pain: ... Read More »

Travel by cruise ship or passenger liner in the 1950s and 1960s was far different from today’s cruising. Many passengers were traveling from one point to another, they had a destination, while others were taking cruises. You could be sailing across the pond to Europe for business or pleasure, heading out of New York to the West Indies or South ... 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 SS Bremen, and the two were very similar, though not identical. The SS Europa  The German Director Leni Riefenstahl found it ... Read More »

The SS Groote Beer, a former Victory ship, operated between Europe and North America during the 1950s. The Groote Beer was part of Dutch Victory ships that provided immigrant transportation following World War 2. Along with the Zaiderkruis and Waterman, she brought many immigrants to North America and Australia. On the trans-Atlantic runs, the ships carried 40 First Class passengers ... Read More »

The New York to Detroit market was once crowded with trains, served primarily by the New York Central and Pennsylvania while the Baltimore & Ohio also offered exceptional services via Washington, D.C. The trains weren’t the victims of cancellation due to weather. The North Easter last week wouldn’t have stopped the trains.   The NYC’s All-Pullman Detroiter was arguably the ... Read More »

Sailing aboard North German Lloyd’s magnificent SS Bremen from New York to Bermuda for a 7-Day Cruise in the 1930s. Great images and a wonderful home movie video of the cruise. The SS Bremen was a German-built ocean liner constructed for the Norddeutscher Lloyd line (NDL) to work the transatlantic sea route. Bremen was notable for her bulbous bow construction, ... Read More »

As the RMS Titanic was sinking beneath the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, and survivors were thrashing about in the iceberg-clotted waters, what books might they have turned to with which to fashion a homemade life preserver or, in the case of some sturdy Theodore Dreiser novels, an entire raft? It’s hard to determine exactly ... Read More »

Judy Garland is sailing today on the SS United States. Everyone knew the famous star was on board because they had a First Class Passenger List. They also read that Marlon Brando, Salvidor Dali along with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were other celebrities sailing to Europe on America’s famous trans-Atlantic liner.  Cunard Line Passenger Lists Passenger lists were ... Read More »

  Cunard’s current success rests upon a rich heritage of 178 years of building and operating ocean liners on transatlantic voyages. From its earliest days, the Cunard name has been synonymous with leadership in ocean liners and transatlantic travel, a tradition that continues to this day. Hundreds of stars, celebrities, world figures, and royalty sailed on their ships. The QE ... Read More »

The familiar faces of Beatle Ringo Starr and actor Peter Sellers caused quite a stir at Southampton Docks almost fifty years ago, back in May 1969, when the pair were among 570 passengers boarding the second voyage of the QE2 at Southampton. The pair were going to the United States to complete a new Commonwealth United film called “The Magic ... Read More »