For 100 years, between 1850 and 1950, the cargo liner grew to dominate the world’s trade routes, providing regular services that merchants, shippers and importers could rely on; they carried much of the world’s higher value manufactured goods and raw materials and their services spread to most corners of the world. They were the tool of the world’s first phase of globalization.

This new book, evocatively illustrated with a magnificent collection of more than 300 photographs, begins with the establishment of routes around Europe and across the North Atlantic in the 1850s. Not until the Liverpool ship owner and engineer, Alfred Holt, developed high-pressure compound engines were coal-powered vessels able to steam further afield, to the Far East and Australia. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cemented the dominance of the cargo liner and only with the appearance of the first container ship in the 1950s was that dominance finally overthrown.

With its informative introductory texts and abundant photographs, this book will appeal to ship enthusiasts around the world and to all those who mourn the passing of the golden age of the steamship.