ocean liners, a race for luxury and gigantism

ARTE – SATURDAY AUGUST 13 AT 8:50 P.M. – DOCUMENTARY

On July 19, 1843, about 80,000 curious people gathered in the port of Bristol, in the south-west of England. The reason for this popular enthusiasm? The launching of the SS Great Britain, the first true giant of the seas. A colossus of steel, which abandons sails for steam, has equipped itself with a powerful 500 horsepower engine and is preparing to make the dreaded crossing of the North Atlantic, destination New York.

On board, there is a huge kitchen, a sumptuous living room, luxury cabins. And to satisfy a wealthy clientele wishing to embark on an adventure, the modern liner will continue, for nearly a century, to offer ever more comfortable travel conditions.

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For four centuries, the only means of transport between Europe and the Americas was the boat. Sailing. Migrants from old Europe driven out by persecution and in search of a better life, the candidates for this long journey have always been numerous. For the less fortunate, crammed in by the hundreds in the dark steerage, this journey was made in trying conditions.

With the arrival of the steam engine and the development of the naval industry, crossings are less dangerous, more comfortable and much faster. It took about two months to get from an English, German or French port to New York aboard a sailing boat, now it takes two weeks. A few decades later, New York will be only five days and a few hours, or even less, from the Old Continent.

A healthy history lesson

Divided into two parts of fifty-two minutes each (The Race of Nations then The Golden Age of Ocean Liners), this amazing documentary is full of never-before-seen filmed archives from the period. Sometimes dating from the beginning of the XX^e century, they offer a complete panorama of what constitutes a formidable maritime adventure.

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We also receive a salutary lesson in history. Because, as the historians remind us, developing giants of the seas is, at the end of the 19th^e century, a way to impose its force, to mark its territory. Imperial Germany does not hide it: “Germany’s future is on the water! », declares William II, who adores the navy. And to overshadow England, the world’s leading maritime power, the Kaiser is ready for anything.

The major shipping companies, such as Hapag (Hamburg), Norddeutscher Lloyd (Bremen) or the White Star Line (America, an Ican crossing but also established in Belfast), are in a merciless race for gigantism. On the French side, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique distinguished itself in the 1930s by a debauchery of luxury aboard its ships. Symbol of this “Frenchline” ? the Normandywhich, from 1935, will transport its passengers (a third of whom travel in first class) in Art Deco cabins.

Transatlantic, by Mathias Haentjes (German, 2019, 2 × 52 min).

Alain Constant