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The Black PearlBaltimore Company PROPRIETORS James W. Ballard J.M. Dryden Hall, Jr. Barclay H. Warburton, III
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Origins, Orient and Oriana, by Charles F. Morris (Brighton, England, Teredo Books Ltd., New York, Mccartan& Root, 1980, 500 pp., 220 illus., 9 color, ÂŁ22.80). A plethora of books in recent years has dealt with large passenger ships, mainly on the transatlantic run, with repetitious photographs and prints of famous vessels, their saloons and menu cards, written from the viewpoint of a passenger or enthusiastic observer. Origins, Orient and Oriana brings us a new and welcome slant on the subject - that of the designer and operator, which puts it into proper perspective. The author Charles F. Morris, as naval architect to an old established passenger ship company, the Orient Line, tells us a story which covers famous sailing ships, clippers and luxury liners in an easily readable and often humorous manner, with a pleasing lack of pedantry in handling technical detail. The opening chapters deal with the development of ships from the earliest days before scientific principles were evolved . The art of shipbuilding, as the author notes, is a combination of art and science and rarely can the product be called the work of one man. Nevertheless, it is an injustice that one may see architects' renderings of large buildings in art academy displays, but never a scaled drawing of a large ship, which is equally a work of noble art and much more exacting in its call on the imagination of its creators. The first vessel acquired by the company, which gave the line its name, was the sailing ship Orient, in the emigrant passenger trade to Australia. The company at this time was J. Thomson & Co., and then Anderson, Green & Co. in 1878, the Green name being associated with the well known Blackwall Frigate Company. We are reminded of many famous names
in the sailing ship era of the company, such as Heather Bell, Coonatto, Borealis,
Argonaut, Godiva, Red Riding Hood, Witch of the Wave, Hesperus and Harbinger, some of which are illustrated by rare and interesting photographs. A transitional period of sail and steam culminated in the iron screw ship St. Osyth, which in 1878 established the Orient Steam Navigation Co. on the Australian run. This was a period which can be quite confusing to anyone trying to trace the precise history of the company as they took over as managers four steamships, the Lusitania, Chimborazo, Cuzco and Garonne from the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. The latter vessel was the first to carry the OSNC flag. The first vessel actually built for the company was the Orient in 1879, which had electric lighting and refrigerating facilities. From here the author traces the history of the more familiar steamships with names commencing with "O" or "Or," including the Ophir, which is enjoying a present popularity in a new book, a facimilie of an illustrated diary by a petty officer recording a cruise with the Duke and Duchess of York aboard. The combined OSNC and PSNC ships were joined in 1901 by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., who had purchased the PSNC ships. The company name changed from Orient Pacific to Orient-Royal Mail until in 1909 the original and present title was assumed. There follows a description of operating costs, considerations in design with conflicting opinions, wind tunnel experiments for funnel designs, and similar problems with their fleet up to modern times. The deterioration of standards of tidiness in cabins occupied by both passengers and crew after the introduction of one-class travel im noted. One can doubt the eliminaSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980