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The Only Way to Cross: The Golden Era of the Great Atlantic Liners - From the Mauretania to the France and the Queen Elizabeth 2
This painstakingly researched volume chronicles the age of luxury transatlantic travel and the splendid, glittering steamships that thundered across the world's most dangerous ocean ferrying the world's wealthiest and most prominent passengers, from Mary Pickford and Sally Rand to Edward, Prince of Wales, between the U.S. and Europe during the first half of the century.
434 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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466 people want to read
About the author
John Maxtone-Graham
33 books15 followersJohn Maxtone-Graham has written numerous works, including The Only Way to Cross—“the bible of the ship buffs"—Normandie, and France/Norway. He spends six months lecturing aboard ships. Ashore, he lives in New York City.
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November 2, 2024
“The largest, fastest and the grandest [ships] were built and launched exclusively for the Atlantic service. As a result, perfection of hulls and propulsion was accelerated. The paddle wheel disappeared, superseded by the screw propeller. Dubious [British] Admiralty officials were convinced of its advantage only after witnessing a tug of war between two vessels, one equipped with the new device, the other with conventional paddles. Almost simultaneously, their Lordships refused to endorse an iron ship; they had it on no less an authority than the Duke of Wellington that an iron hull would not float…But having agreed to the propeller, they were ultimately forced to accept it in an iron hull, for wood could not withstand the underwater thrust of screws. By the turn of the century, the world’s greatest merchant ships sailed the Atlantic, flying the colors of half a dozen energetic companies. Whether these companies chose to acknowledge it or not, each class of vessel they built was designed in specific response to a rival’s challenge. This was the hallmark of Atlantic competition and the vigor with which it was pursued compressed a quite remarkable evolution within the span of six decades…”
- John Maxtone-Graham, The Only Way to Cross: The Golden Era of the Great Atlantic Express Liners – from the Mauretania to the France and the Queen Elizabeth 2
There is no denying that travel today has never been more accessible. Once a privilege reserved to the upper classes, there are now more opportunities than ever before to leave home. I am not a rich man by any means – my wealth being tied up in used books – but I’ve still been able to see far-flung parts of the world by the judicious use of airline miles and a willingness to stay in hostels.
There are, of course, consequences to the rise in travel, which can be seen in environmental impacts, clogged tourist destinations, and the erosion of cultural sites. More pertinent to our purposes, though, is the fact that while visiting new places is great, the act of travel is not. To the contrary, it often resembles a hell devised by Sartre, if Sartre had been a cost-cutting corporate executive: packed airports; long lines; rude employees; ruder passengers.
Travel in the 21st century can be described thusly: treated like animals; acting like animals.
As John Maxtone-Graham makes clear in The Only Way to Cross, it was different back in the old days. At least if you could afford the proper ticket.
***
The Only Way to Cross is a hybrid. For the most part, it is a history, covering the heyday of the great Transatlantic ocean liners during the 20th century. But it is also a warm, exceedingly nostalgic remembrance from a guy who used to travel on those ships.
This brings us to a salient point, but one I don’t want to endlessly belabor: Maxtone-Graham did not travel like most people on Transatlantic steamers traveled. As he notes on the first page of his introduction, he is descended from a Scottish lord, and began traveling with his family back-and-forth across the Atlantic at the age of ten. The vast majority of folks during this time only made the trip once, in steerage, for the purpose of immigration. While Maxtone-Graham’s descriptions of the luxurious saloons, staterooms, and dining rooms represent the stately heart of The Only Way to Cross, they were not available to everyone.
That said, Maxtone-Graham – who died in 2015 – seemed like a wonderful gentleman. He looks exactly how you’d expect a man with such a hyphenated surname to look; he loved the sea, and ships, and talking about both; served in the Marines during the Korean War; and fathered Ian, a writer on The Simpsons.
***
According to Maxtone-Graham, travel during the Golden Age of Steam – from the Mauretania in 1906 to the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969 – was a different, more civilized kind of beast.
Unlike the sardine-seating of modern jetliners, the ships of yore were huge floating palaces languidly crisscrossing the busiest sea-lanes in the world. Travelers did not have to worry about baggage fees; they showed up with mountains of luggage. There were fights over seating, but these involved tipping stewards to get the best deckchairs. There were divertissements aplenty: gymnasiums, swimming pools, Turkish baths, reading rooms, smoking rooms, gambling, and silly hat contests. Dinner was a formal affair, announced by bugle and requiring a tuxedo and black tie.
Oh sure, every once in a while your ship would sink, and you’d be required by breeding and social custom to either meekly enter a lifeboat or cheerfully plunge into an ice-cold sea, there to drown or freeze. Most of the time, though, it was just caviar and champagne and attentive stewards and putting a fiver into the daily distance pool.
***
The historical sections of The Only Way to Cross proceed in chronological fashion, describing the design and launching of the most famous and opulent liners. Unsurprisingly, there is a chapter on the Titanic, but despite the book’s opening line – “The North Atlantic is the most dangerous ocean in the world” – this is not a compendium of shipwrecks and disasters. A lot of time is spent on more mundane matters, such as the international competition between shipping lines. For example, Maxtone-Graham devotes an entire chapter to Germany’s super-German behemoths, such as the Imperator, which would have dwarfed the Titanic, had the Titanic managed to get across the ocean even once.
Though the Atlantic is ravaged by storms and studded with icebergs, the most dangerous thing upon the seas is man. Thus, much of The Only Way to Cross concerns the two World Wars.
In each of these terrible conflicts, these beautiful ships – with their raked lines, lavish appointments, and stylistic flourishes – were turned into mundane auxiliary cruisers, troopships, or hospital ships. Many turned into casualties. Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, struck a mine. Both the Carpathia – which rescued Titanic’s passengers – and the Californian – which ignored them – were torpedoed and sank. Most infamously, the sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 – dumping hundreds of women, children, and infants into the waters off the Old Head of Kinsale – helped to propel America into the First World War.
***
The Only Way to Cross is also part travelogue, interspersed with Maxtone-Graham’s own experiences as a traveler.
For obvious reasons – I am not 100 years old; I am not from old money; I am not from new money – I have never taken a transatlantic steamer. My interest in the sea really begins and ends in the study of shipwrecks. However, I found it quite appealing – and mentally refreshing – to actually learn about a normal voyage, rather than a doomed one. I enjoyed the sections on the quotidian rites of daily life on a passenger liner, whether that be the formalities of dinner seating, or the tactics used by professional gamblers to make their marks.
Maxtone-Graham mostly writes about this in the past tense, a time already gone, as it mostly was when this came out in 1972. However, there are times he slips almost unconsciously into the present tense, writing about tipping your steward and getting through customs in a way that sounds like useful advice for your next trip. Strange as it sounds, it gave me a pleasant wistfulness to discover the sacraments of a dead tradition, a nostalgia for things unexperienced. There were moments when I felt like I could book a ticket, show up at the dock with a carload of baggage, board the ship with confidence, and comport myself properly at dinner. Also, I’d know right away about all the professional gamblers, because they’d let me win a bunch of games first.
Alas, that time is gone and those ships are gone. The lucky ones were turned into scrap and recycled into other things, a slow, undignified erasure. The unlucky ones rest on the ocean floor, picked apart by treasure seekers, rusting into dust, and haunted by ghosts. This Golden Age feels both recent and a million years ago.
***
As I said up top, I don’t intend to beat the dead horse of class. It’s no secret that the fancy, stylized, dreamlike crossings described by Maxtone-Graham amounts to only a fraction of the experience.
To his credit, Maxtone-Graham makes a couple of feints toward the broader reality. Indeed, he starts with Charles Dickens’s miserable 1842 voyage on the Britannia, to show that things were not always so genteel. He also includes a solitary chapter on steerage passengers. This is a rather short and lonely passage, especially considering the fact that shipping lines – not unlike today’s airlines – made their margins by emphasizing quantity over quality.
Clearly, Maxtone-Graham wrestled with this very concept. Within the span of two pages, he grapples with the conditions in Third Class (“vaguely prisonlike,” but “clean, honest and reasonably priced”), muses about the reactions of steerage passengers to their quarters (“My own suspicion is that…these grateful people would have settled for anything”), announces that steerage-class women would time their pregnancies to give birth during the voyage (for the ostensibly higher level of medical care), and finishes his thoughts with an admonishment to the upper classes not to go “slumming” in third-class. Apparently, visiting steerage was – for some elites – part of a voyage’s adventure.
***
Planes have supplanted ships as the chief mode of international travel. This is both a miracle and a nightmare, a paradox at 35,000 feet. On the one hand, you have the cramped seats, the lack of legroom, and the asshole in front of you who put the seat all the way down; you have crying babies, screaming kids, and slurring drunks; you have the death-by-a-thousand-surcharges, along with the vague suspicion that your luggage is going to Vienna, while you’re heading to Vermillion; and you have the ever-present feeling of being bulk freight shipped by a faceless corporate entity, because you are.
On the other hand, you’re in the sky, flying faster, higher, and longer than any bird in it’s wildest, most hallucinatory bird-dreams.
The upshot is that despite its ritual degradations, air travel can safely get you from one end of the earth to the next in a matter of hours. With all due respect to those motivational posters: the destination is the destination.
Maxtone-Graham takes us back to a time when the journey meant so much more. I don’t care if his vision is a bit sepia toned. Sometimes – just sometimes – the past can be a pleasant place to visit. And all of this without having to pay for your carry-on, go through security, or develop deep vein thrombosis in your comically-small middle seat.
- John Maxtone-Graham, The Only Way to Cross: The Golden Era of the Great Atlantic Express Liners – from the Mauretania to the France and the Queen Elizabeth 2
There is no denying that travel today has never been more accessible. Once a privilege reserved to the upper classes, there are now more opportunities than ever before to leave home. I am not a rich man by any means – my wealth being tied up in used books – but I’ve still been able to see far-flung parts of the world by the judicious use of airline miles and a willingness to stay in hostels.
There are, of course, consequences to the rise in travel, which can be seen in environmental impacts, clogged tourist destinations, and the erosion of cultural sites. More pertinent to our purposes, though, is the fact that while visiting new places is great, the act of travel is not. To the contrary, it often resembles a hell devised by Sartre, if Sartre had been a cost-cutting corporate executive: packed airports; long lines; rude employees; ruder passengers.
Travel in the 21st century can be described thusly: treated like animals; acting like animals.
As John Maxtone-Graham makes clear in The Only Way to Cross, it was different back in the old days. At least if you could afford the proper ticket.
***
The Only Way to Cross is a hybrid. For the most part, it is a history, covering the heyday of the great Transatlantic ocean liners during the 20th century. But it is also a warm, exceedingly nostalgic remembrance from a guy who used to travel on those ships.
This brings us to a salient point, but one I don’t want to endlessly belabor: Maxtone-Graham did not travel like most people on Transatlantic steamers traveled. As he notes on the first page of his introduction, he is descended from a Scottish lord, and began traveling with his family back-and-forth across the Atlantic at the age of ten. The vast majority of folks during this time only made the trip once, in steerage, for the purpose of immigration. While Maxtone-Graham’s descriptions of the luxurious saloons, staterooms, and dining rooms represent the stately heart of The Only Way to Cross, they were not available to everyone.
That said, Maxtone-Graham – who died in 2015 – seemed like a wonderful gentleman. He looks exactly how you’d expect a man with such a hyphenated surname to look; he loved the sea, and ships, and talking about both; served in the Marines during the Korean War; and fathered Ian, a writer on The Simpsons.
***
According to Maxtone-Graham, travel during the Golden Age of Steam – from the Mauretania in 1906 to the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969 – was a different, more civilized kind of beast.
Unlike the sardine-seating of modern jetliners, the ships of yore were huge floating palaces languidly crisscrossing the busiest sea-lanes in the world. Travelers did not have to worry about baggage fees; they showed up with mountains of luggage. There were fights over seating, but these involved tipping stewards to get the best deckchairs. There were divertissements aplenty: gymnasiums, swimming pools, Turkish baths, reading rooms, smoking rooms, gambling, and silly hat contests. Dinner was a formal affair, announced by bugle and requiring a tuxedo and black tie.
Oh sure, every once in a while your ship would sink, and you’d be required by breeding and social custom to either meekly enter a lifeboat or cheerfully plunge into an ice-cold sea, there to drown or freeze. Most of the time, though, it was just caviar and champagne and attentive stewards and putting a fiver into the daily distance pool.
***
The historical sections of The Only Way to Cross proceed in chronological fashion, describing the design and launching of the most famous and opulent liners. Unsurprisingly, there is a chapter on the Titanic, but despite the book’s opening line – “The North Atlantic is the most dangerous ocean in the world” – this is not a compendium of shipwrecks and disasters. A lot of time is spent on more mundane matters, such as the international competition between shipping lines. For example, Maxtone-Graham devotes an entire chapter to Germany’s super-German behemoths, such as the Imperator, which would have dwarfed the Titanic, had the Titanic managed to get across the ocean even once.
Though the Atlantic is ravaged by storms and studded with icebergs, the most dangerous thing upon the seas is man. Thus, much of The Only Way to Cross concerns the two World Wars.
In each of these terrible conflicts, these beautiful ships – with their raked lines, lavish appointments, and stylistic flourishes – were turned into mundane auxiliary cruisers, troopships, or hospital ships. Many turned into casualties. Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, struck a mine. Both the Carpathia – which rescued Titanic’s passengers – and the Californian – which ignored them – were torpedoed and sank. Most infamously, the sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 – dumping hundreds of women, children, and infants into the waters off the Old Head of Kinsale – helped to propel America into the First World War.
***
The Only Way to Cross is also part travelogue, interspersed with Maxtone-Graham’s own experiences as a traveler.
For obvious reasons – I am not 100 years old; I am not from old money; I am not from new money – I have never taken a transatlantic steamer. My interest in the sea really begins and ends in the study of shipwrecks. However, I found it quite appealing – and mentally refreshing – to actually learn about a normal voyage, rather than a doomed one. I enjoyed the sections on the quotidian rites of daily life on a passenger liner, whether that be the formalities of dinner seating, or the tactics used by professional gamblers to make their marks.
Maxtone-Graham mostly writes about this in the past tense, a time already gone, as it mostly was when this came out in 1972. However, there are times he slips almost unconsciously into the present tense, writing about tipping your steward and getting through customs in a way that sounds like useful advice for your next trip. Strange as it sounds, it gave me a pleasant wistfulness to discover the sacraments of a dead tradition, a nostalgia for things unexperienced. There were moments when I felt like I could book a ticket, show up at the dock with a carload of baggage, board the ship with confidence, and comport myself properly at dinner. Also, I’d know right away about all the professional gamblers, because they’d let me win a bunch of games first.
Alas, that time is gone and those ships are gone. The lucky ones were turned into scrap and recycled into other things, a slow, undignified erasure. The unlucky ones rest on the ocean floor, picked apart by treasure seekers, rusting into dust, and haunted by ghosts. This Golden Age feels both recent and a million years ago.
***
As I said up top, I don’t intend to beat the dead horse of class. It’s no secret that the fancy, stylized, dreamlike crossings described by Maxtone-Graham amounts to only a fraction of the experience.
To his credit, Maxtone-Graham makes a couple of feints toward the broader reality. Indeed, he starts with Charles Dickens’s miserable 1842 voyage on the Britannia, to show that things were not always so genteel. He also includes a solitary chapter on steerage passengers. This is a rather short and lonely passage, especially considering the fact that shipping lines – not unlike today’s airlines – made their margins by emphasizing quantity over quality.
Clearly, Maxtone-Graham wrestled with this very concept. Within the span of two pages, he grapples with the conditions in Third Class (“vaguely prisonlike,” but “clean, honest and reasonably priced”), muses about the reactions of steerage passengers to their quarters (“My own suspicion is that…these grateful people would have settled for anything”), announces that steerage-class women would time their pregnancies to give birth during the voyage (for the ostensibly higher level of medical care), and finishes his thoughts with an admonishment to the upper classes not to go “slumming” in third-class. Apparently, visiting steerage was – for some elites – part of a voyage’s adventure.
***
Planes have supplanted ships as the chief mode of international travel. This is both a miracle and a nightmare, a paradox at 35,000 feet. On the one hand, you have the cramped seats, the lack of legroom, and the asshole in front of you who put the seat all the way down; you have crying babies, screaming kids, and slurring drunks; you have the death-by-a-thousand-surcharges, along with the vague suspicion that your luggage is going to Vienna, while you’re heading to Vermillion; and you have the ever-present feeling of being bulk freight shipped by a faceless corporate entity, because you are.
On the other hand, you’re in the sky, flying faster, higher, and longer than any bird in it’s wildest, most hallucinatory bird-dreams.
The upshot is that despite its ritual degradations, air travel can safely get you from one end of the earth to the next in a matter of hours. With all due respect to those motivational posters: the destination is the destination.
Maxtone-Graham takes us back to a time when the journey meant so much more. I don’t care if his vision is a bit sepia toned. Sometimes – just sometimes – the past can be a pleasant place to visit. And all of this without having to pay for your carry-on, go through security, or develop deep vein thrombosis in your comically-small middle seat.
February 6, 2012
The heyday for ocean liners was the period just prior to WW I. The ships grew in size and luxury. Emigration paid the way. The peak year, 1907, witnessed the departure from Europe of 1,300,000 new emigrants to the United States. Most traveled third class, steerage, in dormitory style bunks, with adequate food.
It was abuse of emigration that abetted its demise. The steamship lines tried all sorts of ways to persuade people to ship out on their ships. Their agents would often pay bureaucrats to deliver potential emigrants. Countries willingly complied, delighted to rid themselves of undesirables. That fueled the call for more anti-immigration bills in Congress, and in 1921 Congress passed a law drastically cutting back the number of legal immigrants.
Maxtone-Graham obviously loved travel by ship, and the book is a delight to read. It's filled with amusing anecdotes and information about what it was like.
Coal dust was a major problem. Before loading, all the vents and louvers and interior spaces were shut off. The coal was then loaded manually off barges, a process that took about 24 hours. But then the entire ship, layered in coal dust, required cleaning. The switch to oil-fired burners occurred following WW I. The ship's doctor was the first to benefit. No longer was he inundated with passengers who had cinders in their eyes.
My favorite story pertains to the infamous Foo-Foo Band. They were a cacophonous group of musicians who greeted the arrival of every steamer with raucous music, parading up and down the gang plank and over the ship. This went on for some time until one very sharp-eared customs agent realized that the tuba sounded flatter leaving the ship than it had boarding. A search revealed drugs hidden in the tuba's bell.
It was abuse of emigration that abetted its demise. The steamship lines tried all sorts of ways to persuade people to ship out on their ships. Their agents would often pay bureaucrats to deliver potential emigrants. Countries willingly complied, delighted to rid themselves of undesirables. That fueled the call for more anti-immigration bills in Congress, and in 1921 Congress passed a law drastically cutting back the number of legal immigrants.
Maxtone-Graham obviously loved travel by ship, and the book is a delight to read. It's filled with amusing anecdotes and information about what it was like.
Coal dust was a major problem. Before loading, all the vents and louvers and interior spaces were shut off. The coal was then loaded manually off barges, a process that took about 24 hours. But then the entire ship, layered in coal dust, required cleaning. The switch to oil-fired burners occurred following WW I. The ship's doctor was the first to benefit. No longer was he inundated with passengers who had cinders in their eyes.
My favorite story pertains to the infamous Foo-Foo Band. They were a cacophonous group of musicians who greeted the arrival of every steamer with raucous music, parading up and down the gang plank and over the ship. This went on for some time until one very sharp-eared customs agent realized that the tuba sounded flatter leaving the ship than it had boarding. A search revealed drugs hidden in the tuba's bell.
Want to read
July 9, 2015I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of this Golden Era and traveled to Europe across the Atlantic by liner as a young girl, first class, three glorious times. Some of my relatives had made the same voyage, slightly earlier, steerage class, in the opposite direction.
As for me, I fell in love. A first dance, a first crush and a forever fondness for luxury and fine dining; I delighted in a certain École des Beaux-Arts style despite its excess; and I formed a deep passion for the vast yet seemingly conquerable sea.
John Maxtone-Graham was in love with the great Atlantic Liners too, but he wrote a book about it--in fact he wrote vast pages about this very special moment in seafaring history. He died Monday, July 6, 2015. He was 85.
This is a link to the New York Time obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/boo...
As for me, I fell in love. A first dance, a first crush and a forever fondness for luxury and fine dining; I delighted in a certain École des Beaux-Arts style despite its excess; and I formed a deep passion for the vast yet seemingly conquerable sea.
John Maxtone-Graham was in love with the great Atlantic Liners too, but he wrote a book about it--in fact he wrote vast pages about this very special moment in seafaring history. He died Monday, July 6, 2015. He was 85.
This is a link to the New York Time obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/boo...
February 10, 2025
One thing the reader must keep in mind is that this book was published in 1972 so transport across the ocean is pretty limited to industrial cargo ships and social cruise behemoths with basically only one transatlantic liner still in business - the Queen Mary 2 (information found via Google and not from the book).
As for the book, insight into he golden age of travel across the Atlantic - in some cases for immigration between North America and Europe and in others, for pleasure/business especially with wealthier individuals. Maxtone-Graham remembers his own trips on various of what was to become luxurious carriers and in later chapters gives his own impressions and memories.
But first, some initial history like the first steamer to cross was the U.S.S. Savannah in 1819 but mostly it's about these "floating superlatives" from the turn of the 20th century to the 'present (1972)". Detailed information of the RMS Mauretania - literally from the laying of the keel to the installation of lighting, flooring, ceiling designs, staircases, private rooms and cabins. Activities on board - which for a number were attempts to find a wealthy husband for their daughter, gamblers and car sharks swindling the naive, along with other games. Recall that this is the same time as the Titanic, the Olympic, the Berengaria, and many more.
During the first world war, many of these ships served as troop transports to and the return of wounded from the front. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania that made a savage impact - the loss of innocence with the killing of non-combatants that reflected through the decades. Post World War I, had many of the surviving ships were being converted from coal to oil and the author makes a point of telling a tale of the stokers deep in the bowels of a ship.
Admittedly, Maxtone-Graham seems to have been fascinated by the Normandie (maiden voyage in June 1935) as he basically dedicated most of a chapter to her construction, the change in interior styling and common areas just as another war loomed. The Depression and sheer age began to have ships - 8 of the White Star-Cunard and 2 of the French liners - slowly removed from service. (Only the Aquitania served in both wars) just when they would desperately be needed again as troop and munitions transports.
Yet most of another chapter is dedicated to the sad destiny of the Normandie which was in NYC from before the RMS Queen Elizabeth's arrival to complete it's construction in 1938 (since the dry docks were needed for Royal Navy repairs). The nearby SS Normandie was confiscated by the U. S. government in December 1941 to be converted to the U.S.S. Lafayette for troop transport. then the detailed fiasco of who was in charge as the Normandie burned and capsized in February 1942. The various schemes to re-float her - some quite amusing like filling this multi-ton behemoth with ping pong balls - to her move to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where she would languish until sold as scrap in September 1945. An ignoble end to one of the largest ships of her time as well as one of the most lavishly decorated.
The last of these elegant greyhounds of the sea - the 3 Queens of England (Mary and 2 Elizabeths) as well as the revolutionary U.S.S. United States - tried to counter the situation of dwindling numbers as the airplane was faster as well as the prohibitive wages. Crossing the Atlantic was being replaced by 'cruising'.
Oh, and two bits of interesting information:
*the Blue Ribband that was such a goal for these liners - it was award (no liner EVER mentioned they were attempting to achieve it beforehand) given to the passenger liner that made the fastest average speed when crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
*and for some reason, American, English and French ships were "female" while German and Italian were "male".
This book - overall - did have spots where it bogged down but overall, it provided some insight not only in how society changed from the 1910's into the 1960's centering about this one niche of crossing the Atlantic via a luxurious liner. Priorities certainly changed as well as the preferred decor and interaction between crew and passengers.
2025-007
As for the book, insight into he golden age of travel across the Atlantic - in some cases for immigration between North America and Europe and in others, for pleasure/business especially with wealthier individuals. Maxtone-Graham remembers his own trips on various of what was to become luxurious carriers and in later chapters gives his own impressions and memories.
But first, some initial history like the first steamer to cross was the U.S.S. Savannah in 1819 but mostly it's about these "floating superlatives" from the turn of the 20th century to the 'present (1972)". Detailed information of the RMS Mauretania - literally from the laying of the keel to the installation of lighting, flooring, ceiling designs, staircases, private rooms and cabins. Activities on board - which for a number were attempts to find a wealthy husband for their daughter, gamblers and car sharks swindling the naive, along with other games. Recall that this is the same time as the Titanic, the Olympic, the Berengaria, and many more.
During the first world war, many of these ships served as troop transports to and the return of wounded from the front. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania that made a savage impact - the loss of innocence with the killing of non-combatants that reflected through the decades. Post World War I, had many of the surviving ships were being converted from coal to oil and the author makes a point of telling a tale of the stokers deep in the bowels of a ship.
Admittedly, Maxtone-Graham seems to have been fascinated by the Normandie (maiden voyage in June 1935) as he basically dedicated most of a chapter to her construction, the change in interior styling and common areas just as another war loomed. The Depression and sheer age began to have ships - 8 of the White Star-Cunard and 2 of the French liners - slowly removed from service. (Only the Aquitania served in both wars) just when they would desperately be needed again as troop and munitions transports.
Yet most of another chapter is dedicated to the sad destiny of the Normandie which was in NYC from before the RMS Queen Elizabeth's arrival to complete it's construction in 1938 (since the dry docks were needed for Royal Navy repairs). The nearby SS Normandie was confiscated by the U. S. government in December 1941 to be converted to the U.S.S. Lafayette for troop transport. then the detailed fiasco of who was in charge as the Normandie burned and capsized in February 1942. The various schemes to re-float her - some quite amusing like filling this multi-ton behemoth with ping pong balls - to her move to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where she would languish until sold as scrap in September 1945. An ignoble end to one of the largest ships of her time as well as one of the most lavishly decorated.
The last of these elegant greyhounds of the sea - the 3 Queens of England (Mary and 2 Elizabeths) as well as the revolutionary U.S.S. United States - tried to counter the situation of dwindling numbers as the airplane was faster as well as the prohibitive wages. Crossing the Atlantic was being replaced by 'cruising'.
Oh, and two bits of interesting information:
*the Blue Ribband that was such a goal for these liners - it was award (no liner EVER mentioned they were attempting to achieve it beforehand) given to the passenger liner that made the fastest average speed when crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
*and for some reason, American, English and French ships were "female" while German and Italian were "male".
This book - overall - did have spots where it bogged down but overall, it provided some insight not only in how society changed from the 1910's into the 1960's centering about this one niche of crossing the Atlantic via a luxurious liner. Priorities certainly changed as well as the preferred decor and interaction between crew and passengers.
2025-007
November 29, 2012
I first read this book when it was published back in 1972. It was a Christmas gift from my father and certainly one of the best gifts I have ever received. I discovered the world of the atlantic ferry: the shipbuilders, the financiers, the social classes, the dreams of nations, the architectural achievements, the technology...It is considered a classic in every sense of the term. I have reread it a couple of times. A great book.
November 17, 2021
I'm not sure where my love of ships and ocean liners came from. I've never seen the ocean I person, although I have lived right on a lake as a child and now live close to Lake Superior. Maybe it was my grandfather's service in the navy in the war which I heard about many times throughout my life. But ever since my grade one teacher opened up a book on Titanic that I was hooked. I think this is the third time I've read this book and it continues to captivate me. Like most memorable books I've read I can even remember reading it for the first time huddled on a bus going to work, or shopping or wherever. Despite having some dull moments which the author acknowledges in the introduction of the book and will allude to in the subsequent sequels about cruises and how liners evolved into cruise ships, overall its a very enjoyable read. You almost feel like you ate on the ship at times. Starting with the birth of the great liners in 1907 when the first giants Lusitania and Mauretania were launched and going to the death of the liners by the mid 60's as air travel became more common and safer, the book covers everything from the conception of each ship, to the building, launching and maiden voyages. Of course the little rivalries between countries and between shipping lines in the same countries like White Star and Cunard are mentioned. We learn about life on board from deck games to dances, chapel services, how much most captains hate having to socialize with passengers and the seedier side of things like smuggling, gambling and avoidance of paying duty which I know continues to this day as people cross the border by car. We follow these great liners as they go to war, in a few cases twice, and it's almost sad to watch the grand old ships like Olympic and Mauretania be taken out for scrap after long storied careers. You can tell the affection the author has for these old liners. Even after several reads (at least three) its still quite an enjoyable read and does make me wish for that long ago era when liners were the only way to cross.
April 1, 2015
I love the whole romance thing when it comes to the golden age of the transatlantic liner. That is, a romantic time if you happened to be in first class, didn't get seasick and had the time to travel. However I am also very interested in the other side - steerage, stokers, the officers etc. and this book delivers on that.
It is an affectionate account of the time for sure. It is clear that J M-G has a great affection for these ships and this comes across throughout the narrative and that is fine by me! Probably because he shares my bias here when perhaps there might be more to critique than comes across in these pages.
However it is a nice account, really starting with the Mauretania and ending with the QE2. The book is now really quite dated since we now have the mega-cruise ships as well as the new liner the QM2 which wasn't foreseen. Neither was the fact of the Titanic discovery which shed more light on that disaster.
What makes this book highly readable to me is the aforementioned accounts of the ordinary people, the anecdotes and the descriptiveness of the prose which really brings things to life. There are various asides into particular events of historic significance such as the Titanic and Normandie disasters and these are worth dwelling on.
Overall a very engaging read of a time that we will certainly not see again and one which many do genuinely regard as a Golden Age.
It is an affectionate account of the time for sure. It is clear that J M-G has a great affection for these ships and this comes across throughout the narrative and that is fine by me! Probably because he shares my bias here when perhaps there might be more to critique than comes across in these pages.
However it is a nice account, really starting with the Mauretania and ending with the QE2. The book is now really quite dated since we now have the mega-cruise ships as well as the new liner the QM2 which wasn't foreseen. Neither was the fact of the Titanic discovery which shed more light on that disaster.
What makes this book highly readable to me is the aforementioned accounts of the ordinary people, the anecdotes and the descriptiveness of the prose which really brings things to life. There are various asides into particular events of historic significance such as the Titanic and Normandie disasters and these are worth dwelling on.
Overall a very engaging read of a time that we will certainly not see again and one which many do genuinely regard as a Golden Age.
May 13, 2021
The strength of this book is not just Maxtone-Graham's skill as a writer but also the time in which it was written - at the tail-end of the Atlantic liner era, in which Maxtone-Graham himself regularly travelled on some of the passenger ships he's writing about. This means "The Only Way To Cross" is full of anecdotal gems about the minutiae of the voyages, such as boarding, departure, games during the crossing, recurring jokes, tricks for getting the best steamer chair, all the kind of things which would be lost without eyewitness testimonies.
There are a few mistakes, like the misspelling of the "Blue Riband" award as "Ribband." A small point - and I'd guess potentially an editorial one - although a little odd, given just how often the competition is mentioned in the book. A few times, the descriptions of a few of the liners' statistics are a bit off, and for me some of the chronology of where to place certain thematic chapters was a bit jarring. Those are, however, fairly minor and if they catch the eye, they don't distract the mind. It's a fascinating memoir that brings us as close to the experience of travelling on these ships as we are ever now likely to get!
There are a few mistakes, like the misspelling of the "Blue Riband" award as "Ribband." A small point - and I'd guess potentially an editorial one - although a little odd, given just how often the competition is mentioned in the book. A few times, the descriptions of a few of the liners' statistics are a bit off, and for me some of the chronology of where to place certain thematic chapters was a bit jarring. Those are, however, fairly minor and if they catch the eye, they don't distract the mind. It's a fascinating memoir that brings us as close to the experience of travelling on these ships as we are ever now likely to get!
January 10, 2024
This is a passion project of immense quality. John Maxtone-Graham is clearly extremely interested and in love with his ships, and this love is infectious. I went into this book liking the big liners, I left having shed tears for them. I wish I could have seen them in their glory days
August 28, 2025
A home run with me and has contributed to rekindling my Jones for another ocean voyage (or two or …).
I don't need to do a full review. Some guy named "Matt" has the first review up (100+ likes so far) and he says all you need to know about this book. Unfortunately, Mr. Maxtone-Graham isn't with us and won't be updating this book, but apparently he wrote a book on The Queen Mary 2 --- the only real ocean liner still available -- but since his Queen Mary 2 book was published in 2004, as the ship was just hitting the oceans, I'm doubting Mr. M-G had much to say.
In any event, if you enjoyed The Only Way to Cross, get yourself to Cunard and The Queen Mary 2 in New York or Southampton and take a VOYAGE (not a cruise) -- that means cross the Atlantic -- seven days. I'm not saying you can't go other places on The Queen Mary 2 -- nothing wrong with going on to Hamburg or Norway, or all around the British isles, or whatever -- but if you do anything at all, you MUST cross the Atlantic, because that's what ocean liners were designed to do . . . and there's only one left!
There's PLENTY to do on that voyage, and since it can be cheaper than a plane ticket, why not? Food and lodging included! (I've done it four times, plus once on to Hamburg, and now I want to do it again!)
I don't need to do a full review. Some guy named "Matt" has the first review up (100+ likes so far) and he says all you need to know about this book. Unfortunately, Mr. Maxtone-Graham isn't with us and won't be updating this book, but apparently he wrote a book on The Queen Mary 2 --- the only real ocean liner still available -- but since his Queen Mary 2 book was published in 2004, as the ship was just hitting the oceans, I'm doubting Mr. M-G had much to say.
In any event, if you enjoyed The Only Way to Cross, get yourself to Cunard and The Queen Mary 2 in New York or Southampton and take a VOYAGE (not a cruise) -- that means cross the Atlantic -- seven days. I'm not saying you can't go other places on The Queen Mary 2 -- nothing wrong with going on to Hamburg or Norway, or all around the British isles, or whatever -- but if you do anything at all, you MUST cross the Atlantic, because that's what ocean liners were designed to do . . . and there's only one left!
There's PLENTY to do on that voyage, and since it can be cheaper than a plane ticket, why not? Food and lodging included! (I've done it four times, plus once on to Hamburg, and now I want to do it again!)
January 26, 2021
A great look at history from the author. How ships evolved from being basic transportation(many only sailed because of necessity) to luxurious. Also interesting is how much hasn't changed-American's attitudes towards gratuities vs. foreigners, How American's we're unwilling to do basic jobs, while foreigners enthusiastically did these jobs, and most jarring perhaps-the salvaging of the giant ships during the depression (which today's salvaging due to the pandemic seems eerily reminiscent of).
September 17, 2020
Great overview of the golden age of ocean liners (and a little beyond). Touches on the social, technical, and historical aspects of ocean liners. It doesn't go too much in depth on any one topic and that isn't the intention (there are more niche books out there on particular ships, companies, or sub-topics).
It is clear that Maxtone-Graham had a lot of nostalgia for ocean liners and that comes out in his writing. This is a nice feature since many readers have likely never stepped foot on a true ocean liner and never will since they're more or less gone.
I would recommend this to anyone generally interested in ocean liners or maritime history. It might inspire more reading for those very interested.
It is clear that Maxtone-Graham had a lot of nostalgia for ocean liners and that comes out in his writing. This is a nice feature since many readers have likely never stepped foot on a true ocean liner and never will since they're more or less gone.
I would recommend this to anyone generally interested in ocean liners or maritime history. It might inspire more reading for those very interested.
May 19, 2022
A very informative and delightful book on the history of trans-Atlantic ocean liners. It tells you about all the ships you immediately think of like the Titanic, Mauretania, or Queen Mary but then goes even more in depth and discusses things you would never have known about before like how people swindled others on board or the connection between captains and their ships. I already loved everything about the golden age of ocean crossings but this book firmly cemented my love of it and made me even more interested in it, if that was even possible!
September 4, 2025
I have a maritime background. When the SS United States was being moved from Philadelphia to Mobile AL there was mention of this book on a TV show covering the move of the vessel. It is an interesting read, going back to vessels that crossed mainly the Atlantic Ocean, and starting in the mid to late 1800’s. In those days vessels were referred to as passenger liners. Their role was to get people from Europe to the USA or the reverse with few if any intermediate stops. These days of massive ships, they ares probably best called, as they are, cruise ships.
September 21, 2024
From a passenger in the 1930s in a letter: “the whole place is like a setting for a ballet. Choruses of stewards, sailors, firemen, stewardesses, engineers. There are also some fifty liftiers in bright scarlet who look like the petals of salvias flying about these golden corridors. That is the essential effect—gold, Lalique glass and scarlet. It is very gay but would drive me mad after a week” (310).
May 6, 2021
Definitely recommended for those who want to learn more about twentieth-century ocean liners, this book goes into detail on the history of the most notable ships on the North Atlantic run from the Mauretania onwards, while also painting a vivid and personal picture of what a typical voyage was like. It's certainly made me wish I could try such a crossing for myself.
June 17, 2022
A rather mundane description of the luxury liners of the 20th century. I read it hopes of getting insight as to the voyage my immigrants ancestors might have taken to reach the USA, but this both dealt mostly with the details of transit as a First Class passenger, whereas my family traveled in steerage.
April 22, 2017
Maxtone-Graham wrote this book nearly forty years ago, at the end of an era. When it was published, the age of the great steamships crossing the Atlantic had just about come to an end. There were only a handful of ships making regularly scheduled runs from Europe to the United States. The book ends with the launch of the Queen Elizabeth II, which the author suggests might be the last of the great ships. He failed to foresee the growth of the cruise business. (Today, the QE2 has been replaced with a newer ship, the Queen Mary II, which makes the Atlantic run from the Spring through Fall). Most ships today that cross the Atlantic are on repositioning voyages, moving from summer cruises on the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas to the Caribbean Sea or to the Pacific through the Panama Canal. Although the cruise business continues to thrive, the airplane has replaced the ship on the trans-Atlantic passage. Furthermore, the ships that remain are not truly steam ships as they are powered with diesel engines.
"The Only Way to Cross" covers the development of the great ships of the twentieth century. These ships served duel purposes, transporting the rich and famous in elegant staterooms to the poor immigrants in the less favorable parts of the ships, such in the stern above the turbines. He discusses technological development such as the shift from piston driven propeller shafts to turbines, which allowed ships to increase their speed and efficiency. Also explored is hull and prop designs. As the century began, coal was a major source for fuel, which required longer docking in the port to replenish one's supply. For this reason, the great shipping companies early in the century desired to keep three major liners in service, which allowed them to have a ship leaving Europe and New York the same day each week. A regular schedule like this allowed them to secure mail service contracts. As companies sought to update their fleets early in the century, the White Star line built three ships for this service: the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. The Olympic was a success; the other two met their demise early in their career. The Titanic sank on her maiden voyage and the Britannic, which never carried a passage as it was launched as Europe entered the Great War and used as a troop hospital ship, struck a mine and sunk. Interestingly, the author tells the story of Violet Jessop, who was a stewardess on the Titanic and a nurse on the Britannic. She survived both. Later, as oil replaced coal, and the turbines became more efficient, the speed and the turnaround time for each ship allowed the companies to meet the same schedule with just two ships (As an example, Cunard's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth).
Maxtone-Graham has a love for ships. Throughout this book, he constantly adds tidbits of knowledge. One was the need for "four-stacks" on ships. Early on, there was a belief among immigrants that the four-stack ships were superior which is why the White Star Line put four stacks on ships even though they were only using three stacks for exhaust. We also learn about the naming of ships. In the 19th and early 20th Century, the White Star Line ended the names of their ships with "ic" (such as Titanic), while the Cunard Line main ships ended in "ia" (such as a Berengaria, a ship built by Germans but received and renamed by the British company after they obtained the ship at the end of the World War I). Although much of the Atlantic business was handled by British firms, they had strong competition from German, French, Dutch, Italian and American shipping interest. The post war "United States" was one of the fastest liners ever built. It was built through cooperation from the Navy and commercial interest. The thought was that the ship could easily be converted to haul troops in the event of war. Another area explored is on board dining and the author notes the advantage chefs on the trans-Atlantic trade had (in comparison to restaurants) as they could purchase the best (and cheaper) food from two continents. Another interesting tidbit is the rise of the cruise business during Prohibition, as some of the great ships from earlier in the century were converted and used to take Americans out into waters were they could legally drink.
The author spends much time discussing ship disasters. He examines the Titanic sinking (and some of the myths such as it had not been said that the ship was "unsinkable" but "practically unsinkable." The Titanic demise brought many safety improvements to the industry, but then there was the Great War and torpedoes were another danger. Also a problem was fire as seen in the demise of the French ship, "Normandie," that was in New York at the outbreak of World War II and being converted to serve as a troop ship. She caught fire and rolled over on her side in port. As the author points out, ships are most vulnerable to fire in port, where civilian firefighters with seemingly unlimited pumping capacity, can easily capsize a ship by dumping too much water into the hull.
For anyone who loves ships, this book is a must read!
"The Only Way to Cross" covers the development of the great ships of the twentieth century. These ships served duel purposes, transporting the rich and famous in elegant staterooms to the poor immigrants in the less favorable parts of the ships, such in the stern above the turbines. He discusses technological development such as the shift from piston driven propeller shafts to turbines, which allowed ships to increase their speed and efficiency. Also explored is hull and prop designs. As the century began, coal was a major source for fuel, which required longer docking in the port to replenish one's supply. For this reason, the great shipping companies early in the century desired to keep three major liners in service, which allowed them to have a ship leaving Europe and New York the same day each week. A regular schedule like this allowed them to secure mail service contracts. As companies sought to update their fleets early in the century, the White Star line built three ships for this service: the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. The Olympic was a success; the other two met their demise early in their career. The Titanic sank on her maiden voyage and the Britannic, which never carried a passage as it was launched as Europe entered the Great War and used as a troop hospital ship, struck a mine and sunk. Interestingly, the author tells the story of Violet Jessop, who was a stewardess on the Titanic and a nurse on the Britannic. She survived both. Later, as oil replaced coal, and the turbines became more efficient, the speed and the turnaround time for each ship allowed the companies to meet the same schedule with just two ships (As an example, Cunard's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth).
Maxtone-Graham has a love for ships. Throughout this book, he constantly adds tidbits of knowledge. One was the need for "four-stacks" on ships. Early on, there was a belief among immigrants that the four-stack ships were superior which is why the White Star Line put four stacks on ships even though they were only using three stacks for exhaust. We also learn about the naming of ships. In the 19th and early 20th Century, the White Star Line ended the names of their ships with "ic" (such as Titanic), while the Cunard Line main ships ended in "ia" (such as a Berengaria, a ship built by Germans but received and renamed by the British company after they obtained the ship at the end of the World War I). Although much of the Atlantic business was handled by British firms, they had strong competition from German, French, Dutch, Italian and American shipping interest. The post war "United States" was one of the fastest liners ever built. It was built through cooperation from the Navy and commercial interest. The thought was that the ship could easily be converted to haul troops in the event of war. Another area explored is on board dining and the author notes the advantage chefs on the trans-Atlantic trade had (in comparison to restaurants) as they could purchase the best (and cheaper) food from two continents. Another interesting tidbit is the rise of the cruise business during Prohibition, as some of the great ships from earlier in the century were converted and used to take Americans out into waters were they could legally drink.
The author spends much time discussing ship disasters. He examines the Titanic sinking (and some of the myths such as it had not been said that the ship was "unsinkable" but "practically unsinkable." The Titanic demise brought many safety improvements to the industry, but then there was the Great War and torpedoes were another danger. Also a problem was fire as seen in the demise of the French ship, "Normandie," that was in New York at the outbreak of World War II and being converted to serve as a troop ship. She caught fire and rolled over on her side in port. As the author points out, ships are most vulnerable to fire in port, where civilian firefighters with seemingly unlimited pumping capacity, can easily capsize a ship by dumping too much water into the hull.
For anyone who loves ships, this book is a must read!
September 19, 2020
This is a great book for when you are ready to graduate from liners that sank to liners that didn't. Full blog post here: tylerwolanin.com/blog/2020/9/13/what-...
May 9, 2021
This book fully engaged me with lots of terrific information about the planning and building of these ships with beautiful descriptions of interiors and anecdotes about working on the ships. I just loved the book.
December 21, 2025
The author does not shy away from expressing his opinions on the subject matter, however there were many more anecdotes to enjoy than in "The Sway of the Grand Saloon".
A few factual errors, although mostly found through the benefit of hindsight - this book was published over 50 years ago.
A few factual errors, although mostly found through the benefit of hindsight - this book was published over 50 years ago.
May 26, 2021
A classic. The bible for those interested in transatlantic travel in the first half of the 20th century.
December 27, 2022
Dnf. Hoped for more about the guest experience, less engineering. However, will give it another chance because of my research.
February 2, 2024
The book is a lovely collection of stories about the golden age of ocean liners. It's sort of the definitive "must read" book for anyone interested in the history of the ocean liners.
February 16, 2014
Extremely well written, filled with exhaustive detail and personal accounts. A broad but complete overview of the history of passenger travel on the Atlantic between Europe and America with an emphasis on the "Golden Era" of the great steamships.
Anyone who is interested in what it was like to book passage on one of the great liners should enjoy this.
Much technical information on the ships themselves and interesting insight to the workings of the passenger comfort aspects of the ships.
While I enjoyed the book, I would have liked a few more pictures - I found myself googling many of the ships names mentioned - and I confess that I struggled finishing the last couple of chapters. The details on the wreck and recovery of the Normandie seemed a bit out of place and the last chapter seemed as abrubt as the end of the great liners when the airlines took over.
Nevertheless, well worth reading if only to use as a starting off place for further research.
Anyone who is interested in what it was like to book passage on one of the great liners should enjoy this.
Much technical information on the ships themselves and interesting insight to the workings of the passenger comfort aspects of the ships.
While I enjoyed the book, I would have liked a few more pictures - I found myself googling many of the ships names mentioned - and I confess that I struggled finishing the last couple of chapters. The details on the wreck and recovery of the Normandie seemed a bit out of place and the last chapter seemed as abrubt as the end of the great liners when the airlines took over.
Nevertheless, well worth reading if only to use as a starting off place for further research.
Want to read
October 29, 2010I always imagined that it would be fun to travel on an ocean liner during their heyday--although not the Titanic. (Interestingly enough, my maternal great-great grandmother was slated to travel on that il-fated ship with her dear Colorado friend and partner in crime, Annie Oakley. After visiting the pope in Italy, great-great grams had a premonition and decided not to board the ship.)
Anyway, thank goodness for that, otherwise I wouldn't be around to imagine boarding a luxury liner with a whole bunch of hat boxes, French poodles or yorkies, and those blankets that they gave you for sitting on the deck while taking in the air!
Recommended by the author of The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester.
Anyway, thank goodness for that, otherwise I wouldn't be around to imagine boarding a luxury liner with a whole bunch of hat boxes, French poodles or yorkies, and those blankets that they gave you for sitting on the deck while taking in the air!
Recommended by the author of The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester.
March 2, 2013
John Maxtone-Graham is an eminent authority on the history of passenger ships. This book, while certainly not new, gives a thoroughly lively and enjoyable account of the history of the great ships of the North Atlantic from the 1820s to 1971. If you are at all interested in the history of transport, this is a good one for you. The author does not bore the reader with endless statistics or technical details, yet the fundamentals of construction which made these great ships the marvel of their age are brought to light the corresponding sociopolitical history is not left unexplored, thus the twin trains of thought converge intelligently and painlessly on the page. Never mind the supposed dated ness of this work, it is a true classic.
July 30, 2013
A magnificent tome that takes a long and wonderful voyage through maritime history, "the Only Way To Cross" is a MUST read for those learning about the North Atlantic Ferry. Mr. Maxtone-Graham has you spellbound throughout this voyage, introducing ships and their inhabitants and leaving you as if they had always been part of your life.
At the end of this book, you yearn for more-something he delivers in other fine books-but that's for another review!
NB: I'm a long-time Mariner, and found many that I'd served with that had read-and immensely enjoyed-this book. Indeed, many were influenced by it to make the sea their home.
At the end of this book, you yearn for more-something he delivers in other fine books-but that's for another review!
NB: I'm a long-time Mariner, and found many that I'd served with that had read-and immensely enjoyed-this book. Indeed, many were influenced by it to make the sea their home.
March 12, 2011
Avoided reading this for quite awhile mostly because its giant form factor didn't lend well to portability. Perhaps that's appropriate for a book about the leviathans of the Atlantic ocean, mostly focused on the earlier half of the last century.
It was a really enjoyable read, except where it delved a bit too deep into the technical. I suppose some people are interested in that, but there were points where I was like, "really, another page about coal?" All in all though a book that captures both the romanticism and reality of a bygone era.
It was a really enjoyable read, except where it delved a bit too deep into the technical. I suppose some people are interested in that, but there were points where I was like, "really, another page about coal?" All in all though a book that captures both the romanticism and reality of a bygone era.
May 21, 2015
I was excited to read this book, but overall disappointed. It felt like a self published book almost, sort of like a book of town history or genealogy, with an insider's perspective that was hard to understand. The narrative flow was weird too; there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason other than a loose chronology. It's clear Maxtone-Graham (has a great name) loves sea travel and writes knowledgeably and occasionally interestingly about it - but it's that occasionally that's the operative word here.
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