music conductor Arturo Toscanini, the newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook, cosmetics queen Helena Rubinstein , and others of that ilk. The ship was so crowded that the indoor swimming pool was emptied, but none of the passengers seemed to mind sleeping on cots in the empty pool, corridors and other spaces. My father arranged to fly from Manchester to Lisbon to catch the Italian liner Rex on its regular Genoa-N aples-VillefrancheLisbon-New York run. As he boarded, Italy declared war against the Allies, and as a Liners of the 20s and 30s were fam ous for their fabulous interiors. Resisting the modern British subject he had to disembark. Finally, influences of Art Deco , Italy's Cosulich Line built a first-class ballroom with a period he was able to take one of the last of the Pan decor aboard the Yulcania, built 1927. American flying boats, known as the Flying Clippers, for the long multi-fuel-stop flight to New York from thatched-roof cottages, tall oaks and elms, and sheep peaceLisbon. fully grazing, a field of wild daffodils and blue bonnets. Yet, In the 20s and 30s, on the last day of a voyage, most liners in the near distance something appeared as a mirage, the gave passengers postcards with photos of the ship on one side superstructure and funnel of a freighter seemingly gliding and an "Abstract of Log" on the other. Fortunately I saved across the bucolic landscape! We would drive to the banks of some of them and had them mounted on my living room wall. the Manchester Canal, wave and watch as a freighter slid by The oldest is from Olympic in 1921 ; I was a ship-enthusiast with such exotic words as "Vanessa, Philadelphia" or "Abdul, even at age two! Dar Es Salaam" emblazoned on the stem . The Manchester Favorite ship, favorite crossing? It is a hard question to Ship Canal is virtually unheard of in this country except in answer, dependent not only on the ship, but one's mood and maritime circles; yet it was as miraculous in its way as the more other subjective factors. One favorite was surely Exochordia. famous Suez and Panama Canals. American Export Lines had a fleet of freighters; they also had Young people today are barely aware of the vast rivalry four cargo liners known as the "Four Aces"-Exochordia, between the nations, vying to have the best, fastest, most Exeter, Excalibur and Exambion were the names of the quar- luxurious ships afloat. Called " Ships of State" by some, they tet. About 9,000 tons, they made the Mediterranean run from were moving works of art, proudly displaying the best techniEast Coast ports mostly on schedule and to specific ports as cal and artistic achievements of their own countries. Each liner opposed to the changeable schedules and routes of most had its own mystique, its own personality, going beyond mere freighters, whose sailings depended on cargo requirements. In material display. Some like Ile de France and the first 1935 we drove from our house in Altrincham, Cheshire, the Mauretania were wildly popular whilst others, equally grand, 250 miles to Newhaven, Sussex, one of the cross-English never achieved such affection and recognition. Two more Channel ports, and watched with trepidation as our Armstrong- examples are Queen Mary which was always more popular Siddeley car was gingerly lifted by cranes onto the ferry. The than its near-sister Queen Elizabeth. It is these differences that same procedure occurred as we debarked in Dieppe. The drive gave the great liners their soul and their allure. Today, the only regularly scheduled transatlantic liner is the whole length of France was glorious, Paris, Auxerre, Lyon, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. Members of my Queen Elizabeth 2 which plows the Atlantic lanes throughout family had been on Exochordia's Mediterranean cruise to the year, interspersed with crui ses. Polish Lines Stefan Batory Italy, Palestine (as Israel was known in those days), Egypt and (a sound, unfussy, one-class vessel I crossed on in 1955 , then Greece and were en route back to the States. My American known as Holland America Lines' Maasdam) was the only grandmother left Exochordia at Marseille and joined my other ship to carry on the regular transatlantic trade until parents for the drive back to England, whilst I took her cabin recently , when the ship was sold for scrap--once again, jet on board ship. Our route took us to Algerciras (Spain), Malaga planes had won out. (Spain), Casablanca (Morocco) and San Miguel (Azores) to It is shocking that QE2 , the last vestige of the great British New York. What a delightful little ship! Only about 100 passen- merchant marine, was recently re-engined and refitted in the gers and the cabins so arranged in a sort of semi-circle that three Lloydwerft Shipyard in Bremen, West Germany, instead of or four of them shared a veranda open to the sea, with tables for the logical place, the John Brown Shipyard, Greenock, Scotsnacks and deck chairs for sunning. An intriguing arrangement land where she was built! the likes of which I have not seen elsewhere. Twenty years later Cruise ships? There are more of them each year. Many with in 1955, I took American Export's large Independence from their high, top-heavy superstructures and outlandish funnel Naples to Marseille, and almost the identical route back to New configurations look like moving wedding cakes. Others, more York as we had made on Exochordia in 1935. subdued, try to carry on with some of the manner of the old No story of living in the North of England during the period days. None will ever match the transatlantic crossings of the 1928-1939 could be complete without mentioning the Manches- fabled liners of the 1920s and 1930s. ..t ter Ship Canal. Liverpool and Manchester are both in Lancashire and the lovely rural county of Cheshire juts into it. Sometimes Ralph Freeman, who now lives in New York, also contributed driving near our house in Altrincham, we would gaze upon a the article "The Manchester Ship Canal," published in Sea scene that could have been painted by Constable: rose-covered History 57, Spring 1991. 22
SEA HISTORY 65, SPRING 1993