Ocean Steamers: The History of Ocean Going Steam Ships

Seen through the eyes of a good writer and collector, the reader is taken through the history of Ocean Liner travel (mostly steam-powered ships) in the form of classic full color and black and white postcards, sales brochures, and other rare momentos from his personal and life-long collection. Each chapter is filled with detailed histories of the historic ships covered, and in chronological order--from Robert Fulton's "Claramont" and the experiemntal American 'steam coffen' "Savannah" of 1819, to Cunard Line's "Queen Elizabeth 2", and German Atlantic Line's "Hamburg" of 1970 (which apeared as the 'Britannic' in the classic British action film Juggernaught of 1974)! Other ships include White Star Line's revolutionary "Oceanic I" of 1870, the great "Imperator" of 1913 (and it's giant Pompeiian pool), the White State Line's "Titanic" of 1912, the 1930 moter ship "Bittanic III" and the revolutionary "Ile de France" of 1924 and Italian Line's "Augustus I" (1928), "Rex" (1932), "Andrea Doria" (1952), and the 1960's sister ships "Michelangello" and "Raffiello" of 1965 and Home Line's innovative cruise ship "Oceanic" of 1965 (A.K.A. 'The Big Red Boat' of the 1990's). Naturally, the spectacular French Liner "Normandie" is here, along with other Blue Ribbond award winner speed queens such as North German Lloyd's "Bremen" and "Europa" (1930's--all), and Cunard-White Star Line's "Queen Mary" and "Queen Elizabeth I" (1934 and 1940), and the modern cruise ship industry's great ancester and international favorite, the comfy "Caronia" of 1949 and the moderate-sized passenger-cargo ships "Media" and "Parthia" of 1947. Plus, there is a flood of other vessles--some of which are little known, such as Blue Star Line's "Arandorra Star" cruise ship of 1928, and Bibby Line's "Oxfordshire" of 1957, Royal Mail Line's classic cruise ship "Andes" (1939-1970), British India Line's "Uganda" of 1952 (Falklands War veteran and school ship until scrapped in 1984), Furness Burmuda Line's classic 'Honeymoon Ship' "Queen of Burmuda" and "Ocean Monarch" of 1932 and 1948, to other great ships like United States Line's "America" and the great "United States" (former holder of the Hales Trophy and still the holder of the Blue Ribbond as the fastest ocean liner ever for over 50 years now!) Matson Line's "Malolo" and "Montery" of the 1930's, Collins Line's "Pacific" of 1850, I.K. Brunel's incredible "Great Britain" of 1849 (preserved today as a living museum in Bristol in the U.K. and in the exact slip where she was built), and Brunel's enormous but ultimatly unsuccessful and ill-fated "Great Eastern" of 1855 (six times bigger then any ship at the time, who later laid the first Atlantic cable), Cunard's "Saxonia" and her three other sisters of 1954, P & O's "Canberra", Shaw Savil Line's "Southern Cross", and Orient Line's "Oriana" of the 1960's. John Adams also injects a good number of surprising facts on each ship, plus a favorite poem of his as the book's introduction. I rece