Cargo Liners and Tramps

Even in the post-war era, there was still a demand for ocean-going travel, not just on the glamorous large liners and mail ships, but also on much smaller ships. Many of these could be just as well appointed and comfortable and doubtless provided an intimacy that may have been missing from the larger and faster ships. If time was not a vital consideration, and money possibly was, then travel by cargo liner was an ideal option. The pictures presented here represent souvenirs of an era that air travel and the onset of the fast container ship have totally obliterated.Two other maritime changes are also presented. First, there were coasting companies, operating services around the British and near European coast. They too have either disappeared or changed beyond recognition. Secondly, there were and still are still oil tankers. Here the big change has been size. The standard oil tanker of the immediate post-war era was about 10,000 tons dwt. The 1950s saw substantial increases, with 100,000 tons dwt being passed in the early 1960s. Through the media of company pictures and postcards this growth in size is also presented.Here, Mark Lee Inman collects some of the most interesting and beautiful pictures and postcards of this era.