COVER STORY
“White Star decided
TO CONCENTRATE ON building ships with high-quality accommodation and LUXURY FEATURES”
Not wishing to enter into another
Atlantic ran aground at full speed near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Some 546 lives were lost, including every woman and child, apart from one little boy. Despite this setback, White Star continued to prosper and ordered its first twin-funnel ships, record-breakers Britannic and Germanic. Although this pair had a fireplace, piano and bookcase in the first class saloon, the 200 first class passengers had to share two bathrooms and five water closets. The battle for the Atlantic speed record intensified in the early 1880s. In 1884, the more conservative Cunard Line regained its supremacy with Umbria and Etruria, the largest and most powerful ships of their time. With superior and spacious accom- modation for first class passengers, they were among the most luxurious on the North Atlantic run.
26 WORLD OF CRUISING I Spring 2012 The Atlantic Race
White Star responded later in the decade with a beautiful pair of twin-screw, 10,000-ton liners, Teutonic and Majestic. These fast ships had a magnificent two-deck-high dining saloon situated between the two funnel uptakes and were the first to be designed for conversion by the Admiralty into armed cruisers in times of crisis.
records. Germany had also started to flex its muscles on the international stage and this was reinforced by the liners of Hamburg-Amerika Linie and Norddeutscher Lloyd, who introduced increasingly larger and faster ships.
C
unard’s 12,952-ton Campania and Lucania then entered service in 1893 and shattered the Atlantic
expensive speed race, White Star decided to concentrate on liners with high quality accommodation. In 1899, the 17,274-ton Oceanic became the world’s largest ship. In excess of 700ft long, she was the first to exceed Brunel’s 1858-built Great Eastern. A beautifully-proportioned liner with three tall masts, two enormous funnels and a narrow beam, she also boasted 20 luxury suites with an en suite bathroom and lavatories made from marble. In 1901, Great Eastern’s tonnage was finally surpassed by White Star’s 20,904- ton Celtic, the first of another four ordered from Harland & Wolff. These huge vessels not only offered new standards of comfort, they also had large cargo capacities and could carry more than 2,000 passengers in steerage class. With almost 2.5 million emigrants annually seeking a new life in the United States, this lucrative trade was now an integral part of transatlantic business. But
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100