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Passenger Trade on North Atlantic World's Greatest Ferry—Ever More Speed and Luxury Demanded, Advancing Shipbuilding — Pre-eminence Here is an Accolade of Highest Merit tition for their patronage, has caused the transatlantic liner to develop to so superlative a type of ocean vessel. Were it not for that great volume of passanger traffic between Europe and North America, for at least six- ty-five years not approached on any other ocean route of the world, the transatlantic trade would be served just by ships of comparatively mod- est design, similar to those plying to the Orient, Australia, Africa, and South America. These would in general be constructed with primary consideration for cargo transport, with provision on the side for a cer- tain amount of passenger accommo- dation; moderate speed would be the rule. <A few fast passenger carriers might be looked for, ships of the ORAMA Class, headed perhaps by a Cap ARCONA or EMPRESS OF JAPAN. On routes other than the trans- atlantic the passenger service has usually been a secondary item, the traffic being founded essentially up- on cargo movement. Indeed, about the only instances where passenger transport has taken precedence on such routes have been the gold rushes to California and Australia in the early 1850’s. And it was in connec- tion therewith, by the way, that the celebrated American clipper ships at- tained their highest development, sharing with the later British tea clippers the renown of having been the fastest sailing ships ever built. Pition ‘tor or at least compe- Ocean Greyhounds for Passengers Extravagant development of liner design is not possible on cargo routes. To support greyhounds there would necessitate freight rates that the traffic could not afford. To be ex- ported merchandise must be market- able, and to be marketable it can stand just so much assessment and no more. But on the Atlantic, in the face of very considerable cargo business, the passenger ferry has nevertheless led in importance in virtue of the peren- nially heavy stream of travel between the Old and New Worlds. And as passenger fares are not altogether so rigidly controlled by commercial economics, as freights are by prices, The second and concluding part of this article will appear in the July is- sue. 28 Part | By W. L. Harms the transatlantic shipping companies have found it possible in the course of their competition to pit against each other vessels of steadily in- creasing speed and magnificence. This race was indeed suspended for a dozen years or so, due to the sober- ing effects of the World war, but it has latterly been taken up again with all the earlier enthusiasm. The great transatlantic passenger trade and the transatlantic liner both date from just after the close of the War of 1812. : In Colonial times the work now done by the ocean liner was_ per- formed largely by private merchant- men, whose owners, employing them primarily for transporting their own A Modern Record TEE North German Lloyd liner Bremen during the first year of her operation, completed July 1930, carried 54,153 passengers and covered 128,000 miles. Of these passengers 16,855 were carried in third class, the most popular part of the ship, the first Cass passengers numbered 15,- 123, tourist third class 19,379 and second class 9796. Of the total of 54,153 passengers carried 96,587 were from Europe and 27,566 from the United States. On her first trip to the United States, the Bremen made the crossing in 4 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes at an average speed of 27.83 knots, establishing a world record. On her return she improved this record, making the trip in 4 days, 14 hours and 30 minmtes at an average of 27.91 knots. In October 1930 the Bremen broke her own record and made the westward crossing in 4 days, 17 hours and 18 minutes. The fastest speed by the Bremen was 29.5 knots. eee SRNR A ANE TEAL DI ES AY ON RNR ORS RRS: MARINE REVIEW—June, 1931 merchandise, made a little profit on the side in accommodating passen- gers, carrying mails, and utilizing un- filled cargo space by taking on the shipments of others. The Earliest Mail Packets In addition to those merchantmen there appeared on the ocean as early as the seventeenth century a class of vessel, the English government mail packet, engaged in a service very suggestive of that of the modern liner. The significant feature of their employment was that these packets served regularly on a definite route and, what is most interesting, they sailed on their schedule dates of de- parture whether the winds favored them or not. These are the first ob- ligations of a present-day liner. Private interests also occasionally sought to operate packet service, as common carriers of passengers, car- go, and mails. However, their ef- forts were not attended with much success in those days; navigation was a risky business financially, because of the constant menace of foreign ag- gression on the seas, even in times of peace among governments. Fur- thermore, commerce was discouraged by the arbitrary restrictions placed by the nations on each other’s ves- sels. With the close of the War of 1812 a new spirit of respect for each other’s rights arose among the mari- time powers in general. Commerce was now freed of oppressive legisla- tion, and peace and security were as- sured on the seas. As a result ocean trade and travel began to increase to such an extent that the common car- rier became an absolute necessity in transatlantic traffic. The remedy was obvious, and the Atlantic liner sprang into existence, the privately operated packet services quickly mul- tiplying and taking on the aspect of ‘big business.’’ The early Atlantic liners of course were just sailing ships, but of a class that quickly won admiration for speed and seagoing qualities. And they were all of American national- ity. It was in these years that emigra- tion from Europe to America got under weigh. Beginning with a few thousands the annual rate rose to the twenty thousands in the course of the 1820’s, jumping to the sixty and