January 28, 2005
Celebrating the era of grand ocean liners
There was an elegant time in travel -- before the arrival of those magnificent men with their flying machines -- when a trip to America was done only by ocean liner. The Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool will be celebrating that era starting today with today's opening of "Liverpool to New York: The Only Way To Cross." The exhibit -- with loads of information online -- aims to recreate the six-day voyage from preparations made before the sail, to exploring the ships, meeting your fellow passengers and finally arriving in New York. From the exhibit, (be sure to read aloud with your best Beatles accent): Passing the Ambrose Lightship was the sign that the crossing was nearly over; only another twenty miles to Pier 90. Passengers lined the railings for their first sight of land, the coastline of Long Island. The ship dropped speed and picked up a pilot at Sandy Hook at the entrance to the Ambrose Channel. As it entered New York Harbour it hooted a greeting.
For some passengers, the Manhattan skyline was an old friend. Others marvelled at its drama for the first time. As in Liverpool, liners sailed into the very heart of the city. The skyscrapers looked like a giant sea wall. A 'skyscraper' was originally the term used for the highest sail on the mast of a sailing ship. Disembarking passengers faced a number of challenges before they were free to enter the city.
First and second class passengers were cleared through immigration as the liner sailed into New York Harbour. Until 1954 third class passengers faced one last journey - a ferry to Ellis Island beside the Statue of Liberty. There they were questioned by doctors and immigration officials to check that they were 'fit to enter'. Around 2% were sent back home. The rest met up with relatives at the Kissing Gate before catching the ferry back to Manhattan.
The US Customs Service was famous as being the toughest in the world. After disembarking, passengers stood by their luggage in the Customs Hall for inspection. Little escaped the eagle eye of the Customs men.
Once on land, passengers faced the twin hazards of dishonest porters and taxi cab drivers who overcharged. Luggage was regularly 'lost' so that the porters would be tipped twice, once for finding it and once for carrying it. In the 1930s and 1940s the rackets of the Manhattan waterfront, controlled by four master criminals, were legendary.
‘Vultures’ watched passengers closely as they disembarked in the 1950s. These unscrupulous lawyers were on the lookout for passengers with a limp or wearing a bandage. They volunteered to sue the shipping line for injuries suffered on board, splitting any costs awarded 50/50 with the passenger. It also tells about the "Gangplank Willies" -- New York reporters and photographers who boarded the liners at quarantine for the last eight miles before the docks. Purser McCubbin of the ill-fated Lusitania was known to serve tha hacks breakfast and Cunard whisky in his cabin while he sent "sent bellboys to fetch millionaires or those involved in the latest divorce scandals, for interview."
January 28, 2005 10:00 AM in History
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