午夜剧场

The era of 17th-century clipper sailing ships, which primarily transported Chinese tea, Australian wool, and whale oil, came to an end. When the Cunard Line began regular transatlantic service in 1840, steamships (steamers) began carrying travelers.

Since then, European nations opened routes via steamships to transport settlers and entered the competition to secure colonies. Following the birth of the United States, immigrants flooded in from Western Europe for domestic development. It was steamships that transported these travelers.

The foundation for my decision to tackle this theme is as follows. While working in the shipping industry for over 40 years, I developed an interest in world maritime history, particularly in passenger ships as a means of intercontinental human movement. As a member of The World Ship Society in the UK, I have conducted research while collecting overseas books and interacting with fellow enthusiasts abroad.

Although numerous books on passenger ships have been published in the UK and Germany, they are limited to the histories of shipping companies or individual vessels; I could find none that systematically dealt with the transition of global transportation (the flow of people and goods). Feeling that this was insufficient, I decided to take on the challenge.

This book begins with the people who devoted themselves to applying the steam engine to ships, highlights the figures who dedicated their lives to the improvement and development of steamships, and introduces the shipping executives who sent these completed steamers racing across the vast oceans. In the process of writing, the image emerged of these individuals loving ships from the bottom of their hearts and being captivated by the act of building and operating them.

In that sense, this book describes how the ships and people who wove history played a role in creating the world map. I believe it will serve as a suitable reference for researchers interested in this dramatic theme. Furthermore, I hope that readers will not view steamships merely as objects of interest, but that it will help them consider the awareness that our country cannot survive without maritime transport.

In addition to the routes starting from Europe and Japan to North America, the Far East, Africa, and the South American continent, this book also touches upon the devoted service of steamships during the World Wars. It is also easy to read as it includes an abundance of photographs.

Hisashi Noma (Author)

Ushio Shobo Kojinsha

456 pages, 3,000 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.