Search Passenger Ship Photographs

This record set contains over 5,000 photographs, prints, and paintings of passenger ships from 1870s-1960s. Ships in this set include Maurentania, Aquitania, Titanic, Athenia, Olympic, and Britannic.

<h>Passenger ships</h>

In the early days, ocean crossings were slow, rough, and dangerous. Immigrants packed onto creaking sailing ships in hopes of a new life in the Americas, enduring weeks at sea. But everything changed in the 19th century with the arrival of steam power. Ships like Brunel’s Great Britain and Great Eastern rewrote the rules: bigger, faster, and more reliable, they turned voyages of hardship into something closer to adventure.

By the early 20th century, liners were no longer just transport—they were floating cities and status symbols. The "Big Three" British liners—Mauretania, Lusitania, and Aquitania—set new standards in speed and luxury. Then came the Titanic, whose tragic end in 1912 only deepened public fascination with ocean travel.

During the interwar years, ocean liners reached their peak. France gave us the Art Deco masterpiece Normandie, while Britain responded with the mighty Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. These were ships that captured imaginations, hosted royalty, movie stars, and thousands of everyday travelers chasing new worlds.

But the golden age didn’t last. After World War II, the arrival of commercial air travel changed everything. What took days by ship now took hours by plane. By the 1960s, the great liners were being retired, scrapped, or turned into floating hotels.

Yet passenger ships never truly died—they evolved. Today’s cruise ships owe their lineage to those ocean liners: less about crossing oceans, more about the journey itself. Floating resorts with theatres, pools, and even roller coasters, they still carry that same spark of adventure.

Launched in 1913 and entering service just before the First World War, RMS Aquitania was the epitome of Edwardian luxury and engineering prowess. Built by John Brown & Company on the River Clyde for the Cunard Line, she was intended to rival the grand liners of her age, combining speed, size, and style in a way that made her a legend of the Atlantic.

At over 900 feet long and with four towering funnels, Aquitania was a sight to behold. She was a floating palace, with interiors designed by the man behind the Ritz hotels, blending opulence with comfort. Passengers sipped champagne beneath glittering chandeliers while crossing the ocean in style.

But glamour wasn’t her only legacy. Aquitania served in both World Wars, first as an armed merchant cruiser and later as a hospital ship and troop transport. Nicknamed the "Ship Beautiful," she carried thousands of wounded soldiers and war brides, surviving torpedoes, U-boats, and the wear of decades at sea.

What truly set her apart was her longevity. She was the only major liner to serve in World War I, World War II, and the interwar golden age of ocean travel. Retired in 1950 after 36 years of service and nearly three million miles at sea, she was the last of the great four-funnel liners to sail.

Aquitania wasn’t just a ship; she was a witness to history — a bridge between eras of peace and war, steam and steel, old world and new.