Rivet heads take note. This fascinating classic volume looks at the state of the art in shipbuilding and nautical engineering during the early 1920’s. We’re not talking about any ol’ ships here either. This is a book about ocean liners, covering in exquisite detail the greatest passenger liners of the day. There is also some minor details about warships and tankers, but that is very secondary. A host of famous ships are used as examples both in the text and in the illustrations.

Olympic, Britannic and Majestic of the White Star Line get a good deal of coverage. Scattered throughout the book are various references to Titanic as well, although she is not a focus of the text. Mauretania, Lusitania, Aquitania and Berengaria get the attention from the Cunard Line. America’s Leviathan is also covered in some detail. The closing chapters of the book finish with details about what was then the newest technology, the first motor ships. Vessels covered include the Domala, 1921, the Aorangi, 1924, the Asturias, 1926, and the Carnarvon Castle, also 1926.

As you might notice from that list of names, the focus of this book is most definitely on British innovation predominantly, and that remains the focus for this entire book. If you know your ocean liners, you know that three of those ships mentioned above were actually German built, but that fact is giving the briefest of comments, then conveniently forgotten from then on.

In ten chapters, the author covers just about every detail that went into the construction and operation of these massive ships. The opening chapter gives a brief look at the explosion in size and power that had occurred in the previous few decades. Examples are provided by comparison with some famous earlier vessels, including the Great Eastern, the Britania and the Oceanic.

The next section focuses on the great shipyards that built the behemoths. with coverage of shipbuilding equipment of all kinds, as well as hull designs and construction, watertight integrity techniques, and so on. Following is a brief chapter on launching big ships, explaining everything from wooden wedges to hydraulic rams.

Further chapters focus on the inner workings of these marvels of engineering, covering details as diverse as coal and oil technologies, triple expansion and turbine propulsion systems, etc. The next features a section on navigation, covering equipment like bridge instruments, compasses, sounding signals, searchlights and much more.

There is a chapter on safety at sea, wherein double skins and watertight integrity systems are discussed, as is wireless technologies, lifeboats, davits, fire fighting equipment, even ice detectors. The next chapter is on comfort at sea, and it details all the novel equipment that made the ships technological wonders to the passengers who rode on them. Included are discussions of a broad range of items, from refrigerator plants, to onboard newspapers, telephone technology, cooking equipment, and various specialty rooms like gymnasiums, libraries and lounges.

A chapter called Special Features discusses even more of the wonders of passenger comfort and convenience. This section features a table of the 12 largest ships in the world at that time from Majestic to Belgenland, with details about each ship’s builders, owners, propulsion systems, speed, size, etc. The final chapter, called Odds and Ends sums up with stuff that doesn’t fit conveniently under any other heading.

Throughout this book the focus is on the technology, and on the machinery, with many illustrations donated by the leading companies whose equipment were used on the ships. Rounding out the book is a choice selection of 12 pages of advertisements from some of these companies that provided equipment and machinery to the great liners of the time.

The time period covered in this book was an exciting one for the huge liners. The Great War had ended, and the first stirrings that would erupt into an even greater conflict were not yet rearing their ugly heads. Advances in ship technologies were occurring practically daily, or so it seemed. This wonderful old book is a pure joy to anyone interested in this important period in the design and operation of the great liners.

This book was first published in 1926. A second edition was printed in 1928. Both are fairly hard to find, although a few copies are usually available on the larger used book sites.