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Books - Liner scale drawings the story of a long journey to LINERS

Dr. Tamás Balogh told me his long journey with his new book `LINERS´ of scaled liner drawings.
Dr. Tamás Balogh, president of the Hungarian Association of Maritime History (sorry only in Hungarian), Modeling and Tradition, member of the R.M.S. TITANIC Hungarian Research Group start to prepare a graphical presentation of the history of transoceanic passenger liners by scale drawings in 2002. The author leads us through the story from 1838 to the present day using more than 500 profile drawings of 280 liners from 40 shipping companies, with descriptions of the individual liners and the operating companies (FaceBook LINERS), which made the collection exceptionally abundant. The collection represents such rarely discussed topics as the history of the late Austro-Hungarian ocean liners or the planned, but ultimately cancelled giant passenger steamers.
Earl of Cruise talked with the author, Dr. Tamás Balogh
Koan Maru - Dr. Tamás Balogh
From info to digital art work, here shown for the KOAN MARU - digital drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©

Earl of Cruise : The last ship portrait collection - which represented just a few liners or shipping companies and still made by hand - were published in the 1960s and 1970s from painters like Karl-Heinz Schwadtke, Gert Uwe Detlefsen, Karsten-Kunibert Kroeger-Kopiske and his MARAD vessels drawings, David Macauly´s wonderful explosion drawings of UNITED STATES, which is not the same, and others (i.e. Benjamin Franklin Isherwood, LaurenceDunn (Amazon), etc.). Such book made by digital technology is not published yet. Where did the idea came from?
Karl-Heinz Schwadtke - Deutschlands Handelsflotte
Karl-Heinz Schwadtke´s yearly published book with drawings of the German civilian vessels - own collection

Tamás Balogh: The ocean-going passenger steamers arouse enthusiasm in me since I first saw the famous graphic from the sinking TITANIC made by the German painter, Willy Stöwer. The shape and dimensions of the ship standing in an impossible angle raised immediate interest which reinforced further by her tragedy. The entire collection of my profile-drawings is the fruit of this love which started with the first glance and is still feeling. The building of this collection originally began by a single drawing made by me when I worked in Brussels during the 2002-2003 period. While initially I had not friends in the foreign milieu, I spent my free time with the exploration of the town, visiting museums, traveling and - as nice entertainment - drawing of course. I made the profile drawings of the OLYMPIC-class liners then. First I made the profile of the TITANIC, in order to test the technical capabilities of digital drawing and because of the curiosity for the ship. Originally I did not want any more. But when I finished the first drawing, I thought that I could have drawn the profiles of her sister ships also; if the TITANIC had done, not left alone. The first series was followed by a few profiles of the contemporary German liners, just for the sake of comparability ... Everything would have remained so, if the R.M.S. TITANIC Hungarian Research Group have not invited me among its members in 2013, and if I have not found inspiring companion for my creative work in this group. Over the past three years I made ca. hundred profile-drawings annually at first just because of shared joy, but when I looked back at the quantity in November of 2014, it became clear: the collection is too large for only a few people to know. Then the idea of publishing was born. The huge set of drawings does not fit in one volume as the 500 profile contains all rebuilding and other modification of the represented 280 liners, so only the original appearance of the liners will be published in the book, the rest of the drawings will be available in an DVD annex of the book.
Dr. Tamás Balogh
The world´s most famous liners - digital drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©

Earl of Cruise: So what is the working stage now, and when can we expect the release of the book?
Tamás Balogh: I recently finished those drawing which represents the planned, but ultimately never built ocean liners. In parallel with the preparation of the drawings I write the text: 71 description made out of 280 so far and in these cases the English translation is ready as well. The preparatory work of the book will completed by mid-2017 and the release is expected by the end of 2017.
Earl of Cruise: Never-built liners ?! This is for perfection or a kind of `perversion´?
Dr. Tamás Balogh
Canceld liners "doomed by destiny" - digital drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©

Tamás Balogh: My interest in the story of cancelled liners is similar to my enthusiasm for the famous ocean liners. The cause behind that was another iconic image similar to those what led me to start the process of the publishing, namely the image of a six-stacker (!) transatlantic liner. The plans of cancelled ocean liners placed the history of the transoceanic passenger traffic into a different light and added more nuanced details than publically known. These plans are interesting primarily because shed light in many cases on the antecedents of a building of some famous ocean liners, so you may understand what preconceptions and design considerations played role in the background of the decisions about their building. By seeing these plans we have a possibility to understand better the way of thinking of those people who lived in different eras and life situations as well. The plan of the six-funneled liner - mentioned in my book and came from November 1900 - for example, shows that the engineers in America wondering how to build a giant steamer, which has a speed of 30 knots (55.5 km/h) in order to shorten the time of the Atlantic crossing from 5 to 4 days (the idea was realized only thirty years later, 1936, when the British liner, QUEEN MARY reached this speed first). NORMANDIE did reach this 4 day barrier in the previous year, 1935, did beat the QUEEN MARY, which had beaten NORMANDIE again. Great contrast: while engineers living on east coast of the United States tried to perfect the shipbuilding, on the other side of the World, Far Eastern people who living in medieval conditions in China, tried to destroy all results of this engineering perfectionism - like trains for example what prohibited the work of previous livelihoods - during the Boxer Rebellion in China (from this point of view, even if one of the last Luddite movement) ended just two months earlier.

Earl of Cruise: Pardon for interrupting! This `Boxer Rebellion´ was indeed in first place an uprising against the European, no Western influence, including massive interests from the USA, in China and not being wiped out by this rebellion, the Chinese Empress used them against the colonial powers on her own behalf. The result was a more than devasting `peace treaty´, with more influence, and disgrace to China, and the seed for the Kuomintang and their Revolution in 1911.
Norddeutscher Lloyd - NDL - LLOYD
Proposed NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD four day Transatlantic liner "doomed by destiny" - digital coloured by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©, originally published in b/w at SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, 1900

Tamás Balogh: Of course. But, the story of the six-stacker liner is also interesting from another point of view. Because reading the article which reported about it, we realize what was imaginable for the people who had advanced engineering knowledge around the turn of the century and what was not, which imaginations failed and which approved by the time. Funny, for example, that a steamship with the speed of 30 knots was reliable for the engineers, who were able to anticipate all necessary technical solutions for a ship of this kind, while the shape and general appearance of the ship could only imagine after analogies of contemporary vessels built few years earlier however.
Earl of Cruise: As for William Francis Gibbs design of the BOSTON, which displayed the funnel and boiler arrangement of the German KAISER class vessels.
William Francis Gibbs four day Transatlantic liner "doomed by destiny" - digital drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©
William Francis Gibbs
William Francis Gibbs four day Transatlantic liner "doomed by destiny" - Source: NEW YORK TIMES Aug 3rd 1919

Tamás Balogh: Yes! If we compare the picture made after this initial idea of the six-stacker, or the Mentioned Gibbs liner, to the picture of the first steamship which was faster than 30 knots built 36 years later, we can understand somewhat from the strange dynamics of development. This is a true adventure in the history of epistemology and intellectuality. Lots of similar research lies behind of my book which collects the results of them and share with all those readers who are interested in this kind of knowledge.
Dr. Tamás Balogh
Nearly 4 decades of development for a four day Transatlantic liner - digital drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©

Earl of Cruise: During your research, Tamás, did you come across the common misunderstanding of which countries did subsidise their civil fleets or which not? I am referring to that very misunderstanding, that as Austria-Hungary and Germany had been ruled by emperors, that they would have bested their and their countries egos with massive subsidies, which in fact had never been given, except of minor paid mail contracts.
Tamás Balogh: Yes and surprisingly, as we both know for sure, the German Reichsregierung (government) did not provide any subsidies to the lines to built their vessels. The only thing they got, have been state guaranteed credits in the last years of peace.
Earl of Cruise: An exception has been the colononial civialian shipping. Here, in total - to all lines, mail subsidies had been given, but not in that amount as it has been done by e.g. France, Italy or UK. These German subsidies hardly covered all costs of the lines, especially those with less trade. And as we know, Albert Ballin was never a friend of the `race horses´ at sea. So logically he started developing the biggest liners ever built in Germany till that date - the IMPERATOR class vessels. They had been the German answer to the British massively subsidised MAURETANIA and LUSITANIA. The French, even if massively subsidised by the government, never had the ambition to build the fastest North Atlantic vessels. They swam in the `sharks basin´ with fast but more luxurious vessels. When it came to the colonial liners of France and UK, these ships depended on the subsidies for the maintenance, running costs and construction.
Tamás Balogh: And taking the 20s and 30s liners, BREMEN and EUROPA had built with loans from the USA, while CUNARD and COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLATIQUE and SUD ATLANTIQUE got their ships financed by the state.
Dr. Tamás Balogh
Les bateaux d´Etat de France - digital drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©

Earl of Cruise: Thank you Tamás, for your time for the interview. You are a real aficionado! And the books sound promising! I got hooked for. Until the final chapters will appear, we share the article on the often mentioned six-funnelled oceanliner:

Earl of Cruise: While we had been talking, I have got an idea ... a few days ago I made an interview with Benjamin Fentens of HMV / FENTENSPRODUCTIONS about their models and novelties ... what about a cooperation with them for an accompaning cardbord model with the books?
Tamás Balogh:  I heard they plan new transatlantic liners as cardboard models. I can imagine, of course, that could be a win-win situation, helping both sides in the end if we find an opportunity to cooperate in synchronized publishing, marketing and sale of the cardboard models and the book.



More infos about the book:
Illustrated encyclopedia of the ocean liners:
From technical drawings to paintings, physical mock-ups to virtual models, there just so many modes of ship portrayal. Including cardbord models. However, one specific form is the profile. Ship profiles had been made in varying details and for rather different purposes. During warfare at sea, recognition silhouette illustrations from booklets served marines by helping to identify enemy ships and assess speed and firepower in time. In peacetime, line drawings, elevation plans and longitudinal sections were produced for ship constructions. More often than not, coloured versions of these fine profile drawings ended up on posters and brochures as advertisement, while framed and hung on the wall they became spectacular ornaments both in homes, travel agencies and offices.
Regarding resource, effort and cost that went into manufacturing these ships, liners are indoubtably one of mankind’s greatest technical achievements. Before the dawn of aviation, ocean liners represented the sole mean of commuting between continents. In the beginnings, this type of travelling, like many other, was rather dangerous than comfortable. Over time though, as mankind’s technical and aesthetics abilities further refined, and the 5-6 days long journey between Europe and America on board of a great ship carrying thousands, was inevitably a memorable experience for passengers. The best ships were elegant and comfortable, equipped with splendid furniture and powerful machines that were designed to break records for fastest transoceanic trip. It’s no surprise these liners frequently elevated to the level of national symbols, especially in the late 20s and 30s. The experience of today’s giant cruise ships is somewhat akin to this, though the magic of a timetabled, week-long transoceanic voyage on board had vanished forever in the sixties. Nowadays only objects - like well made ship profiles - remind us of these times.
Each vessel is carfully researched, here depicting the differences between LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA - digital drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh ©

Ship profiles are too a popular feature of nautical books. In anthological series published in the last few decades, however, these profiles are typically appear small scale and rough thus providing ship lovers with merely a superficial glimpse into the rich and visual world of ship portraying. The last great ship portrait collection book - containing large scale, colour plates which could be removed from the book for decoration purposes - had been published back in 1965, and only featured 12 ships. With the exponential growth taking place in digital imaging industries and the availability of original shipyard documents, builder’s models, and photo archives, ship portraying is now more accurate and spectacular than ever before.
As myself, Earl of Cruise, Tamás Balogh is a lover of ocean liners. According to his plans, a 280 large scale, coloured ship profiles will be created, covering the most famous liners of the 19th and 20th century. These profiles will appear in two representative volumes, making a commemorative gesture to the golden ages of transoceanic liners.
Thanks to the vast research the author undertook from photo archives, plans and blueprints, to surviving original shipyard mock-ups, Tamás’s profiles are realistic down to the minute detail. As a result of his previous work and research, the author will realise highly detailed ship profiles which are visually pleasing yet - together with the short history of each ship collected in two comperative volumes, in English language - offer a rare experience for liner lovers too.
Two volumes of the encyclopedia, described above, will be ready by December, 2017. The first volume contains profile drawings (including all alterations and modifications) and history of the most famous ocean liners from 1838 to 2003. The second volume contains the delicate topics for example the intended, but ultimately cancelled ocean liners, and famous vessels of the minor fleets. The two volumes contains a total of more than 280 full-page drawings.

A brief summary of the significance of the publication:

The book is special because:
·        provides the complete history of trans-oceanic passenger traffic from the beginning to the present by technically accurate, aesthetically appealing profile drawings which made by following the centuries-old historical tradition of ship portrayal process
·        presents ocean liners from 1838 to 2003, a total of more than 250 pieces, including all alterations, sister ships of each vessels, and the intended but ultimately not built ocean liners also
·        provides information about a) technical specification and service career of individual liners, b) the work of designers and developers c) business strategy of the customer shipping companies
·        offers a unique opportunity to get to know a) evolution some of the well-known ship type (how it evolved, how draw inspiration their designers to them, and how the vessels influenced each other), b) what role played by individual ocean liners in the history of mankind and the trans-oceanic transportation, and c) how this way of long-distance transport has shaped our lives over
·        last similar volumes in the world was made in 1965 and 1972, but they are either a) only focused on liners of one shipping company, or b) only a few - less than a dozen - ship is selected for display, by contrast, our book tells the entire story

Technical parameters:
·        Size: 410x160 mm
·        Length: 512 pages (256 pages per volume)
·        Pressure: 4 + 4 colors
·        Binding: hardcover
·        Book distributors price: The two volumes of 160 pounds

We are delighted to serve you would work together with us in spreading the book. If you are interested in, or have further questions, please contact with the author, who will be at your disposal.



Dr. Tamás Balogh, president
Association of Maritime History,
Modelling and Tradition, Hungary

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