Having a Dutch uncle has its privileges, and I am not only referring to the generous portion of premium Gouda and wry humor on my
Ocean Liners
Christmas on the Titanic – What Would It Have Been Like?
As many other admirers of the legendary RMS Titanic, I have my spells of daydreaming – what if she hadn’t sunk on her maiden voyage?
9 Fascinating Facts about the RMS Titanic
You already know why the Titanic was so disastrously short on lifeboats, or how Bruce Ismay cheated death, or which ship picked up survivors the
The Razzle Dazzle Camouflage: When British Artists Fought German U-Boats
If you have ever been to a modern-art gallery, you must have heard the likes of: ‘Hmm…what am I looking at?’ ‘What in the world
The HMHS Britannic – Greatness Without Glamour
The tragic demise of the RMS Titanic still haunts the world more than a century later, while after decades of faithful service, the RMS Olympic
In the Flames of Madness – the SS Morro Castle
In the dark hours before dawn on 9 September 1934, the residents of Asbury Park, a seaside town in New Jersey, woke up to a
Why Are Ocean Liner Hulls traditionally Black and Cruise Ship Hulls White?
We all know those photographs from the golden age of the ocean liner – giant black hulls with sharp, white superstructures towering above. Ever wondered
The SS Île de France – A Floating Monument of the Arts Décoratifs
By the late 1920s, the charm of the legendary pre-Great War ocean liners was already fading. Yes, Cunard’s Mauretania, Aquitania and Berengaria were as dependable as ever, and White
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his Ships
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century and was a time of reason and enlightenment, of ingenuity and progress, of whistling steam-powered
The SS Imperator: A Grand Hotel on the Ocean
A new ocean liner joined the Hamburg-America Line on 23 May 1912: the mighty SS Imperator. First interesting fact: she was a he. By order of Kaiser Wilhelm