THE ICONOGRAPHY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING HISTORY IS dominated by three images: the Western riverboat, all gingerbread and flying sparks, churning down the Mississippi; the classic square-rigger, taut canvas everywhere, on a reach somewhere beyond Cape Horn; and the rakish luxury liner, with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, surrounded by fire-boats saluting the capture of the Blue Riband of the Atlantic—the mythic reward for the fastest crossing, usually between the Scilly Isles or Cherbourg and Ambrose Lightship off the coast of New Jersey. The power of these images has evoked countless episodes of historical romance.

There is an essential difference, however, between the first two and the third. We assume the riverboat and the square-rigger to have been made in the United States and to be flying the Stars and Stripes. This is less likely for the transatlantic liner, which was usually launched abroad and most often flew the Union Jack, or perhaps a German, French, or Italian flag. While a New York berth seems necessary to their proper context, such storied liners as the Mauretania, the Normandie, and the Queen Mary were foreign to these shores.

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