Ocean Liners (ePub)
A New History
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
File Size: 30.7 MB (.epub)
Pages: 184
ISBN: 9781399049818
Published: 1st May 2024
Other formats available | Price |
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Ocean Liners Hardback Add to Basket | £25.00 |
There has always been a romance around ocean liners, but this book looks behind the romance to show the reality of travelling the oceans of the world. The book starts with the first scheduled transatlantic crossings in the age of sail, then moves on through the development of the steamers and ends in the present day, when ocean liners have given way to airliners. All aspects of the subject are discussed. The experience of travelling by sea varied enormously from the luxury of first-class travel to the often brutal conditions endured by immigrants. Ship design developed in the race between competing companies to provide the most powerful ships. But while technology came into the fundamental design, when it came to décor, for many of the great liners the interiors looked back with a romanticised view of the past. It is not always realised that a great liner might have almost as many crew as passengers, and this looks at all those who kept the ships running, from the black gang in the engine room to the captain on the bridge. The result is a rounded view of what it meant to travel on some of the greatest ships ever built.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Ships Monthly - September 2024
"The result is a rounded view of what it meant to travel on some of the greatest ships ever built. This 184-page hardback book, by the prolific author and broadcaster Anthony Burton, who specialises in the history of transport and technology, is well illustrated."
In all this is a valuable social history embracing industry, trade, society and the approach of owners who engaged naval architects and shipbuilders to provide what the seagoing public came to expect. At the same time it demonstrates that the owners took on the competition and earned revenue as companies were consumed by amalgamation and the cruise industry went on to thrive as it does today."
IFSMA Newsletter - The Shipmaster's International Voice, Number 77, June 2024
"This is a very well put together book and I would highly recommend it to our readers."
Shipping, Today & Yesterday
About Anthony Burton
Anthony Burton has been writing about the history of transport and technology for fifty years. His books include Remains of a Revolution, The Railway Builders, The Locomotive Pioneers and biographies of Thomas Telford, George and Robert Stephenson and a biography of Marc and Isambard Brunel (due to be published in 2022). He has worked extensively in TV and most recently as historical adviser to the Discovery Channel series Industrial Revelations, More Industrial Revelations and On the Rails.