Page 315 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2024

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Left Reading through the 93-year-old article, the most World via British ports . This British dominance,
The British ocean important aspects of the transatlantic passenger represented most notably by companies like the
liner “Queen Mary” trade become apparent: On one side, shipping Cunard Line and White Star Line, would not be chal-
in the River Clyde
in Scotland. The companies were striving to offer luxurious con- lenged until the turn of the century.
photograph was ditions for passengers onboard their vessels. On What the 21st-century reader must comprehend
published in the 15 the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, all is that, up until the introduction of commercial
April 1936 issue of
3
Naftika Chronika on stakeholders of transatlantic passenger shipping passenger jets in the 1950s , ocean liners were the
the occasion of the were trying to find ways to shorten the distance only means available to anyone wanting to cross
vessel’s imminent between Europe and North America. the Atlantic. These ocean liners, apart from their
maiden voyage.
During the 1930s, and with the world entering an immense size and carrying capacity that captivated
Right unstable era both economically and politically, the the general public’s imagination, symbolised each
The German ocean prestige of having the world’s fastest ocean liner nation’s maritime prestige. As Naftika Chronika
liner “Europa” as flying your country’s flag was of immense impor- mentions about these vessels: Nothing else embod-
presented in the 15 tance and constituted the driving force behind ies the maritime greatness of a country than these
August 1931 issue of
Naftika Chronika. many ocean liner management companies’ decision “floating colossi”, which traverse the oceans at diz-
to order the design and building of majestic “giants zying speeds, encompassing the national prestige
1 Naftika Chronika, of the high seas”. of the most powerful nations on earth.
Issue No 16 From an early point in the history of transatlan-
(15 August 1931),
p. 13. Transatlantic Passenger Shipping from the 19th tic shipping, companies and passengers focused
2 Timothy Hatton, century onwards principally on the speed of vessels crossing the
Time on the The modern age of the transatlantic passenger Atlantic. Very soon, the title of the fastest ocean
Crossing: Emigrant
Voyages across the shipping era was officially inaugurated in 1838 after liner to cross the Atlantic became a coveted status,
Atlantic, 1853 to the completion of the historical voyage of the "Sir- and it was not long before the unofficial yet highly
1913, IZA DP No.
16274, 2023, page 1. ius", which was the first steam-powered vessel to sought-after distinction of the Blue Riband became
3 Even then, safety traverse the Atlantic. In the following decades, the a driving force for competition in the North Atlantic.
issues regarding transatlantic passenger shipping sector flourished,
passenger jets
would prolong being the primary facilitator of mass European The Blue Riband
the commercial immigration to the North American continent. Dur- The Blue Riband was a distinction awarded to the
exploitation of
ocean liners for a ing the first few decades of steam-powered trans- passenger ship with regular service across the
few more years. Most atlantic shipping, the protagonist title belongs to Atlantic Ocean that would record the highest aver-
consider the end of
the ocean liner era British liner companies. Between 1853 and 1913, age speed during a trip. The term was originally
to have culminated more than 10 million UK citizens transited the Atlan- used in horse racing and was more widely used after
at the end of the
1960s right before tic towards the US or Canada, with a large number the beginning of the 20th century. Given that ocean
the Boeing 747’s of European immigrants emigrating to the New liners followed different routes, the Blue Riband
first flights.

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