Steady as she goes

Fairy-tale palaces that float upon the sea first appeared in the Edwardian era. A century later, the majestic ocean liners of the 'golden age of travel' continue to captivate

- Agnes Stamp

CHARACTERISED by glamour and an interest in speed, the interwar period witnessed a surge in travel and tourism. Commercial flights were a new concept (Imperial Airways offered routes from Croydon to the Continent), private motorcars boomed on British roads from 187,000 in 1920 to some 1.5 million by the outbreak of the Second World War and fast, smart passenger ships, such as Aquitania, Normandie (the world's most perfect ship') and Queen Mary, established the ocean liner as the ultimate embodiment of a luxurious way of life, determined by affluence and opulence.

Despite the 1920s marking the dawn of the 'golden age of travel', the most lucrative period for the ocean liner was the Edwardian era, the 'Gilded Age' that witnessed majestic liners Olympic, Titanic and Aquitania embark on their maiden voyages, carrying first-, second-and third-class passengers. COUNTRY LIFE would later note that these ships were 'the purest opulence [that] had been set afloat. The ships were heavily Edwardian, they were the Charlottenburg Palace, the Gothic Chatsworth; they were all the Ritz hotels of the western world amazingly established on the sea' (When luxury went to sea', December 26, 1968). A Cunard captain said RMS Aquitania was 'a fairy tale come true. It is the fairy tale of the city that floats in the mid-Atlantic'.