Ships Nostalgia banner

Nice looking ships.

34K views 124 replies 85 participants last post by  KregWillson 
#1 ·
This may not be the right place to start this thread, but I am sure the Gentle Moderators will replace it if needed.

Looking at some of the lovely photos that members have taken over the years, I wonder has anyone ever said to themselves "now THAT is a beautiful looking ship"?

Of course, everyone has their own idea of what that means, but I am interested as to what fellow SN'ers think.
 
#2 ·
I have always had a love of the old steam coasters the type with the bridge midships. Matching that is a love of the big traditional tugs, the ones that look like tugs from Europe and the US.
Nicest Cargo ships would be Brocklebanks Mahout and Markor.
Most beautiful ship ever was watching Queen Mary coming out of a dull morning, coming towards us and cracking on a good turn of speed.
Beautiful indeed.

Don
 
#3 ·
Honestly I find any ship large or small from the pre-container age preferable to the almost identical, ugly and indistinguishable ships of today. But, I guess 100 years ago old salts from the sailing ship era were saying the same about those awful steam ships. The worst thought is that today's bulk carriers and container ships may be considered the 'the good old days' in 50 years time.
Ian
 
#5 ·
Don
Whilst my second trip was on Mahout and I took the Markhor to hand over(to the eventual scrappers) and I did spend some time on Maihar ( loved it) - there is a snap on here somewhere of the Mahsud off Cape Town (with a London bus on deck). That I think is the finest snap I have seen of a Brocks boat. I am sure many others will disagree but Hey Ho - lets have a beer and discuss with nodding of heads , raising of elbows and a right to differ.
Rgds
Uisdean.
 
#6 ·
Without doubt, the most beautiful ship I ever saw was the ED's mailboat 'Aureol'. As a small boy I was often taken down to New brighton to watch ships entering and leaving Liverpool. I used to get quite excitied when I saw Aureol leave Pier head and pass the 'Brazil', pilot on board. Little did I think then that years later I would serve aboard as officer cadet for 3 round-trips to Lagos. Sadly by this time, the late 60's / early 70's, the writing was on the wall for passenger travel by sea. The era of cruising had really to begin, we were in a sort of purgatory as regards this activity.
 
#46 ·
I remember the Aureol as a small boy in the early 1950's returning from Lagos to Scotland/Scotland/ Lagos (although we didn't dock in Scotland, got a train in those days) on leave with my parents. The old man was harbour master at the time in Lagos and they returned each year on an ED liner. I also sailed as a wee fella on the Apapa. The Aureol was a lovely looking ship right enough.
 
#9 ·
I've always liked pre war ships. Most of them have nice restrained curves and well proportioned masts and deck houses. I think this is because at that time all design was by hand in a drawing office with the full scale being fared out by the shipwrights using battens.

Most modern ships look dreadful, particularly the cruise liners.
 
#15 ·
Couldn't agree more, but think about the Hamburg Sud ships BEFORE the CapSan yachts; CAP VILANO and CAP NORTE come to mind. Reefers always seem to be the prettiest, but a big heavy geared Blue'ey, or one of KNJCP/RIL little "Dinkey" freighters? The lines and functionality of those ships always hit the spot with me.
 
#11 · (Edited)
It looked to me as for some reason reefers were made to look good? Well, I thought a lot of them looked god at least.

Some part of the appreciation of beauty is a preference for own culture i think, so that British sailors would honestly prefer the looks of British ships, the Scandinavians Scandinavian etc?

I remember that some sailors took pride in recognising the nationality of far away ships, but all i remember of details was the claim that you could recognise a Yank by the "forest" on deck.
 
#12 ·
It
Some part of the appreciation of beauty is a preference for own culture i think, so that British sailors would honestly prefer the looks of British ships, the Scandinavians Scandinavian etc?

QUOTE]

Stein, Very true but a few years ago there was a survey on which was the most beautiful passenger liner every built. The one ship that was voted for... far more than any other was the 1938 Holland America NIEUW AMSTERDAM.

Of course sailors mostly prefer their own but don't forget that a century most of the best looking ships in the world, regardless of the flag they wore, came from British yards.... English, Scottish and Irish!

Stephen
 
#13 ·
Yes, clean and harmonious: http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/227376/title/nieuw-amsterdam-1957/cat/533

Yes of course the British were shipbuilders to the world at one time. Picking the most beautiful sailing ships built, you’d get mainly British vessels of course. Many of the later ones from J. Reid & Co in Glasgow,

Many would like to have seen a bit more sheer on British ships though, there is a bit too much of horizontality, and I might add, verticality. The Americans perhaps overdid it the other way, the Germans stuck to functionality and produced results you could measure, the French individualists did not want to avail themselves too much of other people successes, and produced some really odd shapes. But there have been good looking vessels built nearly everywhere.
 
#14 ·
Stein, I believe it was the speed and passenger carrying element which made the design of Reefer's so "Yacht" like. Mar F had some superb vessel's but they did have some "utility" type's built where the passenger's did not have to pay for the voyage.
 
#17 ·
I think that there is a thread on this subject started about 18 months ago but can't remember where?

Indeed there was - do a search in "Mess Deck" for the thread "Best Lookers", started in September 2010 by Dickyboy and you will find many of the same names there too.

Although I have a distinct bias towards Grey Funnel Line ships, I always thought that the CARONIA was a real beauty - certainly compared with present day cruise ships! - and that the Port Line ships had wonderful lines.

Jack
 
#18 ·
Savannah has beautiful lines as has the Canberra
The Modern day vessel, although functional, are ugly to the extreme.
Others include the most beautiful, ship of all Queen Mary 1. Any Blue Flu vessel that were Beautiful in their Elegance.....pete
 
#19 ·
Years ago each company's ships were easily recognisible from a distance. In fact individual vessels were readily spotted. Can one remember spotting a couple of masts and a funnel (invariably spouting great plumes of smoke) on the horizon, and identifying the actual vessel. Not today though. Every company had 'good lookers' from Blueys to the Clans and Cities. Perhaps I'm sad but nostalgia is a wonderful thing. Oh, and I almost forgot, Stricks, my own company, had some 'good lookers' !
 
#20 ·
We used to be able to identify many ships, especially our own Clan Line vessels by their lights at night.
Many of the Clans had 4 hatches forward of the bridge and one aft and that gave a distinctive gap between the lights.
The older Clan vessels from the 50's were beautiful ships such as my favourite the Argyllshire.
 
#29 ·

Attachments

#30 ·
Very Interesting Threads I Often Wondered If Ships Profiles Evolved Through The Particular Areas Of Trading Which The Different Companies Had Involvement.in My Time At Sea As Said By Previous Comments Most D/hands Could Indentify Ships By Thier Profile On The Horizon Is This Why When Ships Were Off There Normal Run They Looked Like Ducks Out Of Water. Kypros
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top