For some people there is a fascination with the glamour of the days when ships with tall raked smoke stacks were the only way to cross to the Americas. Museums and magazines have a small area devoted to this fascinating and absorbing aspect of shipping. How often does the student or browser enthralled by the passenger ship have to deal with naval vessels and coastal craft, barges and navigation instruments? This Society is for those who want to go straight to the heart of the Passenger Ship story.
Other
people develop romantic interests in the mail services to far flung colonies,
the regular services that linked countries and whole empires together. Some
remember cargo liners that also carried passengers. Many members developed their
interest in ships after working at sea or taking holidays on cruise liners.
Indeed, cruising and how it is changing is a key interest to hundreds of our
members. The Society is for those interested in all passenger carrying vessels -
from the age of sail right through to the present and what lies ahead.
Our Mission
The Ocean Liner Society is a focus for those primarily
interested in ships that undertook line voyages, how they changed into cruising
ships and the cruise liners that will take us to sea in the 21st century.
Based in Britain, the Society has links with learned and knowledgeable writers,
researchers and has members all over the world. Whether you are fascinated
by the Australian, New Zealand and Pacific services of P&O or Orient
Line, Royal Mail Line services to South America, the German greyhounds,
Canadian or European liners plying the St Lawrence, Portuguese ships serving
Africa, the services to the Cape or the grand Italian liners and more ....
the Society has something for you.
Whether you just want to get more out of your cruise holidays or have a passion for other aspects of shipping (such as the celebrities who sailed in them) or the lives of ordinary people touched by the experience of travelling or working on passenger ships, the Society can help you develop your interest.
The passenger ship is a developing and living thing. Its role has changed from an uncomfortable and necessary form of transportation to a highly developed leisure vehicle. We are in exciting times as new tonnage is now being delivered which once more outstrips the superlatives of the "golden age" some 70 years ago.
Please note: we do not employ seagoing staff and we regret we do not have the resources to undertake research into voyages and ship history for you. Check our "links" section for sites that may be able to help you.