342 : The Atlantic 



vania in the early 20's. Captain David Bone of that vessel enjoyed a 

 distinguished reputation not only as a commander but also as an 

 author. It was for this reason that Joseph Conrad and many other 

 distinguished figures chose his ship for ocean travel. It was natural also 

 that Miss Ilah Niehof of New York should have found a place for the 

 first floating bookshop on the Transylvania. 



A de luxe restaurant under Ritz Carlton management was operating 

 on a liner before the commencement of the First World War. The 

 French liner, lie de France, appears to be the first ship to have pro- 

 vided a complete guignol or marionette theater for children. The 

 Normandie, also of the French Line, included in her equipment a per- 

 manent regular theater. 



Naturally, luxury services required the payment of luxury prices. 

 As the size of ships and extent and quality of services increased, the 

 price of ocean transportation rose to keep pace with them. By the 

 time of the First World War, the luxury liners had already enjoyed a 

 very extensive development but they had also encountered serious 

 problems in operation and in costs of maintenance. The big ships 

 could usually attract enough passengers to fill their sailing lists in all 

 classes only during the height of the summer season. In winter and 

 other "off seasons," they often operated with a fair to poor comple- 

 ment of passengers. 



In order partly to meet this situation, rates were reduced and it also 

 became customary for the lines to retire their larger ships for drydock 

 or repairs during some portion of the off season. Even in the summer 

 season it was another kind of problem that the ships did not fully 

 meet. There were many families on both sides of the Atlantic that 

 could ill afford the expenses of a first-class passage on one of the big 

 ships and that still disliked the idea of traveling second class. 



The answer to this situation was the development of the single 

 class or cabin class liner. This was a smaller type of ship, being sea- 

 worthy, well built, reasonably fast and with good general appoint- 

 ments and services. It admitted only one class of passengers. The first 

 cabin class liners were built in 1914. Owing to the war, they did not 

 come into general recognition and use for a number of years. In the 

 20 's, following the First World War, the cabin class liners came into 

 their own and had a very general and prosperous development and 

 still provide important and popular services. 



Another development that took place during these years and that 

 solved the economic problems of a number of the Atlantic liners and 



