Seize the Trident

The major theme of this book is that a very few key individuals fought out a 'turf war' designed to achieve supremacy on the North Atlantic and that this contest became a central one in the ultra- nationalist antagonism that led to the Great War. I would not deny there is much truth in that but in this account some relevant facts are ignored or down- played because they do not support the thesis, this resulting in an overly simple case being presented.For example, in the opening chapters the historic supremacy of the Cunard company is emphasised, but there is no mention of the Guion Line at all and not much about Inman and the early efforts of the American Line. In reality Cunard really struggled over a twenty year period from the late 60's until the late 80's and then, in some desperation, used Guion's builder Thompsons to construct the successful Umbria and Etruria. For most of that period Cunard relied heavily on its usually ignored Mediterranean trade whilst on the North Atlantic its reputation for safety at sea was the only major factor it had going for it- and following the loss of the ex Guion liner 'Oregon' they were very lucky to retain that. The author does note the slightly ironic fact that Oregon's full compliment, along with Cunards reputation, was rescued by a German rival, the NDL liner 'Fulda'.Did the Kaiser really have such a dominating influence over the building of NDL's super liners? In fact nearly a decade elapsed between his visit to the White Star liner 'Teutonic' in 1889 and the completion of 'Kaiser Wilhelm de Grosse' in 1897. The German Government provided little practical incentive- there were no subsidies. However in the 1880's NDL commissioned a very large number of fine liners comprising the 'Fulda' class, most of which were built in Britain, whilst HAPAG's 'Columbia' class were far from the insignificant vessels they are presented here as being. The eventual appearance of the German express steamers, built by their own developing shipbuilding industry, was a natural progression that almost certainly would have happened anyway, Kaiser or no Kaiser. Mr Burgess has carried out in- depth studies of the Kaiser, J.P.Morgan, Albert Ballin and Bruce Ismay- rather less, it is clear, on the dirctors of NDL or on Lord Inverclyde of Cunard. I was left with the feeling that the importance of the individuals, as presented by the author, tends to reflect the amount of research he has done on them, rather than the other way about.Having said all that, there is no question that the personal portraits presented here are compelling and make for a good read- much more interesting than the mere recounting of company statistics and the decisions of boards of directors. The description of the ships themselves are geared to their style and social order as much as to their performance at sea. Space and luxury became more important than mere speed. Profits depended on packing in the emigrants, prestige on the attractions offered for First Class. Completing the circle, and perhaps perversely, the prestige of a ship in its turn attracted the emigrants. It is interesting to note the German emphasis on the Kaiser and his family, with huge painted portraits, busts and 'name dropping' visible everywhere, whereas the British companies simply attempted to present their monied customers with the best in upper class good taste (as that was defined at the time). This sort of thing revealed German insecurity and a certain lack of confidence: certainly Cunard and White Star took the view that if you really were superior you did not have to keep on telling everyone about it.Insecurity stemmed from the newness of the German shipbuilding Industry and, indeed, of the German Empire itself. Nevertheless, despite this lack of 'history' the Germans had already secured a greater share of the North Atlantic trade than the British even before they built their first super liners. That is simply because Hamburg and Bremen were directly accessible to the hordes of Central and East European emigrants, whilst Southampton and Liverpool were not. These are facts that do not suit the authors thesis, but his book does emphasise that the super liners were all about national prestige and self image: they were the 'icing on the cake' of the then already booming North Atlantic business. That sort of thing did get decidedly out of control, whilst at the same time these vast ships outpaced safety legislation, the abilities of their crews and the communications technology of the day- with 'Titanic' consequences.The very existence of these ships ensured they would play a significant role in the First World War. In the same way that he focuses on a few key personalities earlier in the book the author concentrates on representative ships- Kronprinz Wilhelm, Lusitania and Vaterland (Leviathan)- to characterise the war at sea. These huge liners were soon found to be too big, cumbersome and vulnerable to be really successful as cruisers, but late in the war great irony came from the employment of several German super liners as American transports, used to take many thousands of troops to fight against the people who built them. After the war there was much symbolism in HAPAGs trio of great ships being distributed between the victorious allies. In the end Britannia would continue to rule the transatlantic waves for several more decades.I've been a little critical here- but this is a very enjoyable book to read and also very thought provoking: I cannot say that about many books I come across these days. I bought a good copy of this volume for £12 or so, at which price it is a real bargain.

A great weekend read - looks at the Ocean Liner competition that occurred between the US, UK and Germany before the first world war and how for many years the blue ribbon race channeled the aggression between both sides in a non-violent manner until political events overtook it all. Captures ship life and personalities of those years well and reads like a thriller in some places.

Granted, this isn't going to take the place of "The Sway of the Grand Saloon" or other ocean liner classics, but I found the book to be a very decent read. If I had to pick one particular "gripe" about the book, I think it pays a little too much time on J.P. Morgan, the man himself, but you can always skip ahead on that. The data on the ships themselves is quite good and I certainly recommend this one.

Good read.

Book arrived and has been perused. But I think it will now just gather dust. Bibliography shows author consulted only the English sources, but no German, either primary or secondary, many now available in translation. A shame, as the result seems one sided, replete with a number of nagging errors. The Kaiserin was Auguste (with an e) Viktoria, a mistake Ballin made once to his regret. Ballin kept an open berth at Harland & Wolff until at least 1905, when they built his Amerika. The largest German liner when Olympic debuted was the George Washington, a NDL liner, not HAPAG as stated. The first large German liner after the war was the luxurious NDL Columbus of 1922, not the comfortable HAPAG Albert Ballin of 1923. I imagine there are a number of other errors, but these stood out in a rather hasty look-through, which I think is all the book will get.Also most contemporary German authors agree that the Kaiser had little or no influence on the directors of the German lines, and they received no input or subsidy from the Admiralty, unlike Cunard.All in all a disappointment.

It's hard in today's world to recognize that national competitions, national honor could rest on who could build the biggest, fanciest, fastest passenger liner. It's hard to imagine that newspapers would treat the crossing the Atlantic times as events to be covered as headline news.But it is true. The years from 1889 when Kaiser Wilhelm II declared that he would "seize the trident" from the British up until World War I was a period of time when the civilizations of the world pushed technology and luxury to the limits. Even minor inconveniences like the Titanic running too fast for safety with fatal consequences provided only a short interruption.Strange also was the way the era came to an end. With the outbreak of war the German liners were taken over by the allies and used to transport American troops to fight against Germany.This book is a delightful history of the time and well worth reading. I'd just like to see another couple or three chapters. One would be on the times between the world wars. And another on the attempt after the war to return to the great age of ship travel with ships like the United States and Andrea Doria. Perhaps a final chapter on the modern cruise ships, at 70,000+ tons, these dwarf the ships from the Superliner Era, and they just go around in circles.

At first the book was very interesting, but then little "facts" were missing - like the remark that when the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" in 1903 at 19,000 tons - that the Kaiser was happy he had the "Largest ship in the world" - well, what happened to the White Star Line "Celtic" and "Cedric" - at 20,000 and 21,000 tons - they were the "Largest ships in the World" at this time - no, they weren't built for speed, but he didn't even mention the White Star "Big Four" in context to this subject - each of White Star's "Big Four" took her place as the "Largest ship in the World" when she was introduced - and although, the Germans measured their tonnage slightly different than the British - there was some dispute which was larger - the "Kaiserin Ausguste Victoria" or the "Adriatic" although, in a very short time period these two would be displaced by the "Lusitania". The "Cedric" is mentioned in the book as being "ancient" in 1914 - perhaps in technology - but, not in age - she lived until 1934 and was one of White Star's most successful ships. In the context of ocean liner history - the "Celtic" was the first ship built that was over 20,000 tons and was the first ship to displace the "Great Eastern" in size - all of the "Big Four" were extremely successful ships, and White Star's final abandoning the field of speed. This omission really got me to wondering if the author really knew his subject and blew it for me - like the other reviewer in this section - after reading the first couple of chapters - the book will be put back in the book shelf and remain there - an interesting addition to my collection, but, not a definitives study in the race between Germany and Great Britian in building Transalantic liners.