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| Slow boat to America | Slow boat to America |
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| A POINT OF VIEW By David Cannadine | A POINT OF VIEW By David Cannadine |
| Terror alerts at UK airports forced travellers to cancel trips to the United States and elsewhere. But few still reach American shores by the traditional method - by ship. | Terror alerts at UK airports forced travellers to cancel trips to the United States and elsewhere. But few still reach American shores by the traditional method - by ship. |
| During the two weeks of chaos at our airports, when Britain was on a high security alert, becalmed and harassed passengers were urged to make alternative travelling arrangements if they possibly could. | During the two weeks of chaos at our airports, when Britain was on a high security alert, becalmed and harassed passengers were urged to make alternative travelling arrangements if they possibly could. |
| Many booked on the Eurostar, the trains from London to Paris promptly sold out, tickets in either direction were virtually unobtainable, and the precarious finances of the Channel Tunnel Company received an un-expected and much-needed boost. | Many booked on the Eurostar, the trains from London to Paris promptly sold out, tickets in either direction were virtually unobtainable, and the precarious finances of the Channel Tunnel Company received an un-expected and much-needed boost. |
| BBC NEWS: AUDIO Hear A Point of View in the BBC Radio Player | BBC NEWS: AUDIO Hear A Point of View in the BBC Radio Player |
| But for anyone journeying beyond the confines of Europe, alternative transport to air travel scarcely exists now. For the days are long gone when the Royal Mail Lines plied from Britain to South America, or the Union Castle to South Africa, or the P&O to Singapore and Hong Kong. | But for anyone journeying beyond the confines of Europe, alternative transport to air travel scarcely exists now. For the days are long gone when the Royal Mail Lines plied from Britain to South America, or the Union Castle to South Africa, or the P&O to Singapore and Hong Kong. |
| And even if they could be magically summoned back, it wouldn't help those who needed to reach their destination on the other side of the word in twenty four hours or less.Quite by chance, my wife and I had already made arrangements to travel to the United States over the August Bank Holiday weekend which anticipated the official injunction; and we'd done so by the traditional means, which was by ship rather than by plane. | And even if they could be magically summoned back, it wouldn't help those who needed to reach their destination on the other side of the word in twenty four hours or less.Quite by chance, my wife and I had already made arrangements to travel to the United States over the August Bank Holiday weekend which anticipated the official injunction; and we'd done so by the traditional means, which was by ship rather than by plane. |
| For just over one hundred years, from the 1840s to the 1950s, this was how most people crossed the Atlantic - a century roughly defined by Sir Samuel Cunard's paddle steamer, the Britannia, at the beginning, and by the Britannia's lineal descendants, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, at the end. | For just over one hundred years, from the 1840s to the 1950s, this was how most people crossed the Atlantic - a century roughly defined by Sir Samuel Cunard's paddle steamer, the Britannia, at the beginning, and by the Britannia's lineal descendants, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, at the end. |
| Anxiety and repose | Anxiety and repose |
| Today, by contrast, there is only one great ship that regularly plies the Atlantic: it's still a Cunarder, and it's still an ocean queen, and it is also the largest vessel ever built for this purpose. But there the resemblances end. | Today, by contrast, there is only one great ship that regularly plies the Atlantic: it's still a Cunarder, and it's still an ocean queen, and it is also the largest vessel ever built for this purpose. But there the resemblances end. |
| Unlike its regal predecessors, it is not called a liner but a cruise ship. Although it is still a Cunarder, that iconically British company now has its headquarters in America. And although called Queen Mary 2, it was not built in Scotland on the Clyde, as the earlier queens had been, but at St Nazaire in France.Despite these changes, crossing the Atlantic by sea remains an unforgettable experience, provided you have a week to spare to enjoy it. | Unlike its regal predecessors, it is not called a liner but a cruise ship. Although it is still a Cunarder, that iconically British company now has its headquarters in America. And although called Queen Mary 2, it was not built in Scotland on the Clyde, as the earlier queens had been, but at St Nazaire in France.Despite these changes, crossing the Atlantic by sea remains an unforgettable experience, provided you have a week to spare to enjoy it. |
| For me, it is a particularly challenging amalgam of anxiety and repose: anxiety because I'm a hopeless sailor, and the merest hint of cresting waves or a moving horizon induce in me feelings of queasiness which those blessed with hardier constitutions contemptuously scorn; but also repose, because a week away from dry land is therapeutic like nothing else I know, and you finish the voyage rested, refreshed and without a trace of jet lag. | For me, it is a particularly challenging amalgam of anxiety and repose: anxiety because I'm a hopeless sailor, and the merest hint of cresting waves or a moving horizon induce in me feelings of queasiness which those blessed with hardier constitutions contemptuously scorn; but also repose, because a week away from dry land is therapeutic like nothing else I know, and you finish the voyage rested, refreshed and without a trace of jet lag. |
| In some ways, the view hasn't changed, but a great deal else undoubtedly has David Cannadine | In some ways, the view hasn't changed, but a great deal else undoubtedly has David Cannadine |
| Such a journey also brings home, in a way that plane travel never can, the enormity of our oceans, and is a salutary reminder that more of our planet is covered by sea than by land. | Such a journey also brings home, in a way that plane travel never can, the enormity of our oceans, and is a salutary reminder that more of our planet is covered by sea than by land. |
| And for anyone with an historical cast of mind, the associations come tumbling out: the early explorers heading west with no notion of what they might find; the Pilgrim Fathers setting out to make their lives in a new-found-land; the agonies and abominations of the middle passage of the slave trade; the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania; and the long drawn out Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.But the greatest thrill of crossing the Atlantic by ship can only be enjoyed if you make the journey, as I have just done, from east to west. | And for anyone with an historical cast of mind, the associations come tumbling out: the early explorers heading west with no notion of what they might find; the Pilgrim Fathers setting out to make their lives in a new-found-land; the agonies and abominations of the middle passage of the slave trade; the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania; and the long drawn out Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.But the greatest thrill of crossing the Atlantic by ship can only be enjoyed if you make the journey, as I have just done, from east to west. |
| Southampton may be a remarkable port, with its double tides every twenty four hours, but as a visual experience, it cannot compete with the first sight of New York. | Southampton may be a remarkable port, with its double tides every twenty four hours, but as a visual experience, it cannot compete with the first sight of New York. |
| But then, I am not sure anything can. | But then, I am not sure anything can. |
| Unsurpassed view | Unsurpassed view |
| Steaming in, by the early morning light, beneath the Verazzano suspension bridge, past Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty, and with the Manhattan skyline directly in front, can leave only the most cold-hearted (or sea-sick) of passengers un-moved and un-exhilarated. | Steaming in, by the early morning light, beneath the Verazzano suspension bridge, past Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty, and with the Manhattan skyline directly in front, can leave only the most cold-hearted (or sea-sick) of passengers un-moved and un-exhilarated. |
| It may be one of the most photographed views in the world: a sight-seeing cliché if ever there was one. But no picture can possibly prepare you for the vista that is the real thing, or do it remotely adequate justice.Yet although it is a sublime and spectacular panorama, it is not quite what it used to be in what now seem the innocent and carefree years before 9/11 happened just half a decade ago. In some ways, the view hasn't changed, but a great deal else undoubtedly has. | It may be one of the most photographed views in the world: a sight-seeing cliché if ever there was one. But no picture can possibly prepare you for the vista that is the real thing, or do it remotely adequate justice.Yet although it is a sublime and spectacular panorama, it is not quite what it used to be in what now seem the innocent and carefree years before 9/11 happened just half a decade ago. In some ways, the view hasn't changed, but a great deal else undoubtedly has. |
| Boat crossings took early immigrants to Ellis Island | Boat crossings took early immigrants to Ellis Island |
| In the old days, you could climb right to the top of the Statue of Liberty; but not anymore. | In the old days, you could climb right to the top of the Statue of Liberty; but not anymore. |
| In earlier times, the moving inscription at the base was an open invitation to all immigrants to share in the great American dream: 'give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to be free.' But, again, not any more: at present, the two houses of Congress are locked in a bitter battle over what to do about the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States, and over how to stop many millions more from entering in the first place. | In earlier times, the moving inscription at the base was an open invitation to all immigrants to share in the great American dream: 'give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to be free.' But, again, not any more: at present, the two houses of Congress are locked in a bitter battle over what to do about the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States, and over how to stop many millions more from entering in the first place. |
| And since 9/11, the view of the south end of Manhattan has been irretrievably altered by the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They weren't great architecture, and they were out of scale with the neighbouring buildings; but it's still hard to contemplate that view without them there. | And since 9/11, the view of the south end of Manhattan has been irretrievably altered by the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They weren't great architecture, and they were out of scale with the neighbouring buildings; but it's still hard to contemplate that view without them there. |
| From the mid seventeenth to the mid twentieth century, this Atlantic crossing was the route by which most immigrants came to America. | From the mid seventeenth to the mid twentieth century, this Atlantic crossing was the route by which most immigrants came to America. |
| For much of that time, they were English, Welsh, Scottish and Protestant Irish, but they were also German and Dutch. | For much of that time, they were English, Welsh, Scottish and Protestant Irish, but they were also German and Dutch. |
| New York was originally New Amsterdam, Harlem took its name from a town in the Netherlands, and the Roosevelt family was Dutch by origin. From American independence until the Second World War, the United States was dominated by the descendants of these early Protestant settlers. | New York was originally New Amsterdam, Harlem took its name from a town in the Netherlands, and the Roosevelt family was Dutch by origin. From American independence until the Second World War, the United States was dominated by the descendants of these early Protestant settlers. |
| Political dynasties | Political dynasties |
| It may have been a nation 'conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal', but from the outset its politics were as much oligarchic as they were democratic. | It may have been a nation 'conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal', but from the outset its politics were as much oligarchic as they were democratic. |
| There were presidential dynasties such as the Adamses and the Roosevelts. Some states were dominated by single families, among them the Byrds in West Virginia and the du Ponts in Delaware. | There were presidential dynasties such as the Adamses and the Roosevelts. Some states were dominated by single families, among them the Byrds in West Virginia and the du Ponts in Delaware. |
| And in Boston, it was famously observed that the Cabots spoke only to the Lowells, and that the Lowells spoke only to God. | And in Boston, it was famously observed that the Cabots spoke only to the Lowells, and that the Lowells spoke only to God. |
| Yet while the ruling elite of the United States remained largely unchanged, the composition of its population altered dramatically from the mid nineteenth century. | Yet while the ruling elite of the United States remained largely unchanged, the composition of its population altered dramatically from the mid nineteenth century. |
| Mobility frozen | Mobility frozen |
| This was partly because improvements in transatlantic travel made it possible for unprecedented numbers of people to make the crossing. But it was also that unprecedented numbers of people wanted to do so, beginning with the Catholic Irish, who emigrated to America in their millions in the aftermath of the potato famine of the mid 1840s. | This was partly because improvements in transatlantic travel made it possible for unprecedented numbers of people to make the crossing. But it was also that unprecedented numbers of people wanted to do so, beginning with the Catholic Irish, who emigrated to America in their millions in the aftermath of the potato famine of the mid 1840s. |
| They were later followed by Poles, Italians, Hungarians and Jews, fleeing the poverty and persecution of the old world, and seeking a better life in the new. | They were later followed by Poles, Italians, Hungarians and Jews, fleeing the poverty and persecution of the old world, and seeking a better life in the new. |
| Some of them certainly secured it; but for all the myth of 'log cabin to White House', there were serious limits to social mobility in the land of the free. | Some of them certainly secured it; but for all the myth of 'log cabin to White House', there were serious limits to social mobility in the land of the free. |
| It was not easy for Jews to gain admission to Ivy League universities or exclusive New York clubs, and it was only in 1952, when John F. Kennedy beat Henry Cabot Lodge to become a Massachusetts senator, that the grip of the old families on the state was broken, and that the Catholic Irish took their place - more than one hundred years after they had begun to arrive in large numbers. | It was not easy for Jews to gain admission to Ivy League universities or exclusive New York clubs, and it was only in 1952, when John F. Kennedy beat Henry Cabot Lodge to become a Massachusetts senator, that the grip of the old families on the state was broken, and that the Catholic Irish took their place - more than one hundred years after they had begun to arrive in large numbers. |
| Now people come across land borders or the Pacific Ocean | Now people come across land borders or the Pacific Ocean |
| This is, in all conscience, a complicated enough story. But it leaves out two significant constituencies in America's current ethnic mix. | This is, in all conscience, a complicated enough story. But it leaves out two significant constituencies in America's current ethnic mix. |
| The first are the African Americans, originally imported into the southern British colonies as slaves. They were emancipated by Lincoln, but they remained second-class citizens until the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, and many of their leaders claim that they are still unfairly disadvantaged today. | The first are the African Americans, originally imported into the southern British colonies as slaves. They were emancipated by Lincoln, but they remained second-class citizens until the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, and many of their leaders claim that they are still unfairly disadvantaged today. |
| The second are the new-wave immigrants, who no longer enter the United States by New York, but across the border with Mexico if they are Hispanic, or via the west coast if they are Chinese, Vietnamese or from South Asia. | The second are the new-wave immigrants, who no longer enter the United States by New York, but across the border with Mexico if they are Hispanic, or via the west coast if they are Chinese, Vietnamese or from South Asia. |
| But while American society has become ever more diverse in recent decades, its politics remain in many ways stubbornly oligarchic. Elections are not always decided by the electorate, as when Mayor Daley delivered Chicago to the Democrats in 1960, or when the Supreme Court awarded Florida to the Republicans in 2000. | But while American society has become ever more diverse in recent decades, its politics remain in many ways stubbornly oligarchic. Elections are not always decided by the electorate, as when Mayor Daley delivered Chicago to the Democrats in 1960, or when the Supreme Court awarded Florida to the Republicans in 2000. |
| And dynasties still dominate politics much more than they now do in Britain: among them the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Gores and the Rockefellers. | And dynasties still dominate politics much more than they now do in Britain: among them the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Gores and the Rockefellers. |
| America may remain the most alluring and appealing destination for the poor, the tired, the huddled masses, yearning to be free. But those with presidential aspirations would be well advised to make alternative travelling arrangements. | America may remain the most alluring and appealing destination for the poor, the tired, the huddled masses, yearning to be free. But those with presidential aspirations would be well advised to make alternative travelling arrangements. |
Add your comments on this story, using the form below. | Add your comments on this story, using the form below. |
| I would rather be less uncomfortable than a sardine in a tin for 8-11 hours than be bored on a ferry for a week.Helen , Wakefield | |
| You forgot to mention the Clinton dynasty.P Riggins, Columbia, MD - USA | |
| David Cannadine's piece on the USA mentions all the people that travelled there, but completely ignores the people who were there first. Once again, the native Americans are ignored and marginalised.Alan, Medway, Kent | |