The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic

Image that! Here was one, enjoying a deeply researched yet well-written narrative HISTORY book on long-gone passenger ships and historical Atlantic shipping lines to discover that – having sailed past many of these liners, and actually served as a steward on one and been a passenger on another - that one now must form part of history oneself. Bit disconcerting.

And a thoroughly enjoyable book it is too, Brinnin brings alive the Brunel and Cunard ambitions and achievements and writes the adventure-story of the challenges and competition of the early transatlantic crossings, by steam rather than the glorious ”cloud driven” sailing packets and schooners of the East Coast and the Maritimes. From the first ‘hybrids’ of show more steam-assisted clippers through to the close of the glorious trade of the super-liners with their swaying Grand Saloons the author humanizes a history peopled by many strong and daring characters (Captains Preserved Fish and Pardon Gifford) but always dominated by the Halifax based Cunarders.

Originally an immigrant family from the Rhine the Kunders became Cunard – one of the most recognized and the longest lasting shipping families in the Maritimes. The pages (and excellent index and bibliography) echo with the glorious names – the Aquitaine, Great Eastern and Western, the Queens, America, Bremen, Lusitania … and, of course, RMS Titanic.

Against all current business sense and advice, Sir Samuel Cunard alone bid compliantly to the demands of the Victorian government (with the Royal Navy in the background thinking ahead to alternative uses of such a fine training ground) for fast, reliable and steam-driven fleet to be awarded the rights – with accompanying guaranteed subsidiary – to carry the Royal Mails across the Atlantic. Hence the prefix of RMS on these great majestic ships.

Finally their glorious reign was ended by cheap and – nowadays spartan and arrogant – air service, the need for a regular crossing was being satisfied by the end of the 1960’s by multiple flag-carriers. Only in the cruise ships – those massive and probably far less seaworthy floating hotels – are there any slight echoes of the grandeur and luxury of those Grand and Swaying Saloons. show less

The Sway of the Grand Saloon is a minutely detailed account of shipping and travel over the North Atlantic from the days of sail, through the development of steam power, and into the 20th century. It’s filled with the people, politics, commerce, and engineering that seems so commonplace today that we forget how difficult it was. Full of toothsome facts, they sometimes get lost in the laborious tendency of historians for multi-claused sentences that can dawdle for half a page until the reader forgets the point. Nonetheless, it’s a very useful reference for anyone with an interest in shipping.