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Passenger Trade on North Atlantic World's Greatest Ferry—Ever More Speed and ity Demanded, Advancing Shipbuilding — Pre-eminence Here is an Accolade of Highest Merit intermediate liner in the scheme of transatlantic traffic, the ship- ping companies could not rot around the fact that it was the expr-ss steam- er that created prestige fo1 he line and furthermore received pr. ~ con- sideration in the dispatch c_ the mails. These considerations led to the introduction of a class of steam- ships of immense proportions and Ca- pacity for passengers (but not for cargo, no more than a limited amount of this being provided for, as in grey- hound steamers), which were further powered to a speed not far below that of the record holders. The pioneer in this respect was the White Star line, which had indeed been the lead- er 1n the development of the inter- mediate liner. S ATISFACTORY as was the giant Comfort and Luxury From 1911 to 1914, then, there were brought out the OLYMPIc, the TITANIC, the IMprERATOR, the VATERLAND, and the AQuiITANIA. The BRITANNIcC and the BisMakcK were still under con- struction at the outbreak of the World war; the former was destined to be lost in the course of the conflict and the latter not to be completed until after the war. These seven super- liners rated at from 22% to better than 24 knots, and registered at from 45,000 tons to 56,000 tons gross; in size they have not yet been exceeded. Their proportions enabled the steam- ship lines to attain new extremes of comfort and luxury for the passenger. The war of course played havoc This is the second and concluding part. The first appeared in the June issue, Part II By \W. L. Harms with the Atlantic ferry. The German lines were forced to discontinue op- erations altogether, while the fleets of the others were extensively drawn upon by their respective governments for national service. And travel was naturally discouraged by the circum- stances. Following the close of the war, not till 1922 was the transatlantic serv- ice restored to normal. One element of it, however, had undergone a rad- ical change. One of the first cares of the steam- ship companies, probably the very first, upon the conclusion of hostili- ties, had been to prepare themselves to take advantage of the great rush with which emigration from Europe to the United States was due to be re- sumed. AS many important vessels had been lost in the war the lines placed orders for the construction of a number of new steamships. The Cunard-Anchor associated com- panies, whose fleets had suffered se- verely, committed themselves in par- ticular to an extensive program, pro- viding for no less than twenty new intermediate liners ranging in size from 12,000 to 20,000 tons, at 15 to 17 knots speed. In addition the British, American, and French lines acquired such of the liners surrendered by the Germans as were suitable for their purposes. The United States shipping board, in es- tablishing the new American transat- lantic service now known. as_ the United States lines, planned to build it up for the most part of the largest of the ex-German liners in its pos- session. An interesting feature of these ac- tivities was that while these addi- tions to the transatlantic fleets were in general intended to accommodate first, second, and third class _ pas- sengers in conventional ratios, several ships were fitted solely for third class, that is, emigrant passengers. Such were the new Mount CARROLL and Mount CLinton together with the ex- German Mount Cuay of the United American lines, as also the Verpic, RIMOUSKI, and MINNEKAHDA of the International Mercantile Marine sys- tem. While the others were vessels of under 10,000 tons, the MINNEKAHDA was a notable case in respect of her great tonnage of over 17,000 gross, though there had been a _ precedent just before the war when the 14,000- ton greyohund KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE was remodeled for that same purpose. Large Increase In Immigration The expected rush of emigration was indeed materializing, rising from the wartime nadir of 100,000-odd for the year 1918 to 800,000 for 1921 (the “years” of course always representing the United States government fiscal years, ending June 30 in the corre- sponding calendar years). Then came the blow! On May 19, 1921, the President’s signature con- firmed as law a bill to restrict the rate of immigration to the United States roughly to 3 per cent annually for each nationality of the number of residents of that nationality reported in the census of 1910. This law was in force three years. Through that period there were 300,000 admissions for 1922, but well over 500,000 for 1923, rising to 700,- 000 for 1924. In this last year the law of 1921 Drawing of New Cunarder—Building at John Brown’s, Clydebank, Scotland. 16 MARINE REVIEw—July, 1931 Length 1018. feet—Speed Estimated, 32 Knots