This definitive history of the Blue Riband of the Atlantic faithfully records in words and pictures that remarkable era when the North Atlantic Ocean, separating the Old from the New World, was bridged by passenger liners whose names are forever enshrined in Shipping Halls of Fame. For more than ten decades the Western Ocean was the setting for intense and unceasing rivalry between shipowners in Western Europe and North America, competing for the prestige, passenger traffic and financial rewards which would accrue to the company operating the largest, fastest and most luxurious liners on this crowded international sea highway. This struggle for supremacy led to the building of a long line of ships which, when commissioned, epitomised all that was finest in naval architecture and marine engineering. The incomparable beauty, grace and speed of these liners was a constant source of wonder to an enthralled public who rejoiced in their voyaging and never more so than when, by establishing a new record, they gained the coveted, if symbolic, accolade, the Blue Riband of the Atlantic. The story of these 'Greyhounds of the Atlantic', the triumphs and vicissitudes of their sea-going careers, is told in this factual and eminently readable history.