There is a story behind the evocative and luxurious French ocean liners for the last 100 years, both past and present.
France produced some of the finest, most luxurious and beautifully decorated passenger ships of the twentieth-century. Starting with the four-funnel France in 1912 and then with the great and grand trans-Atlantic liners of the French Line, the CGT, including the Ile De France, Normandie, Liberte & France of 1962. There are also the lesser passenger ships of the French Line. We then go away from the North Atlantic and look at Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, Transports Maritimes and Chargeurs Reunis operating important South American routes and to Messageries Maritimes operating in Africa, the East & South Pacific. Most importantly it is fun to reminisce about great ships, liners, mail boats to Africa and colonial steamers to Saigon.
I have over 150 pictures of French Passenger Ships, both colour and in B&W and am an acknowledged world expert in my field. I received the National Maritime History Award in the US and the Silver Riband Award and created the passenger Ships database for the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Having featured in numerous documentaries and news broadcasts I am now a frequent guest lecturer aboard cruise ships.
2012 was the 80th anniversary of the launching of the Normandie and in 2015 is the 80th anniversary of her record-breaking maiden voyage.
William H. Miller is the author of Great French Passenger Ships, packed full of nostalgic reminiscence of great ship days gone by, the book explores majestic liners, mail boats to Africa and colonial steamers to Saigon. Presenting many previously unpublished images alongside insightful text and anecdotes, William H. Miller brings the reader on board France’s greatest transatlantic liners.