Captain of the line: An interview with Captain John S. Tucker

摘要

On July 7, 1952, the American luxury liner United States sailed into nautical history by decisively winning the "Blue Riband", the coveted prize for speed on the North Atlantic. A beautiful, sleek luxury liner with destroyer-like speed, she sailed with 1,660 passengers from New York to Bishops Rock, England in three days, ten hours and forty minutes, cutting the Queen Mary's fourteen-year-old record by nine hours and 36 minutes. The new liner was the pride and joy of her owners, the United States Lines Company, and evidence of that was very visible in the bold type at the bottom of the souvenir abstract of the ship's log provided to passengers: "These passages are world records. It is the first time in a century that an American ship has captured the blue Ribbon of the North Atlantic. The United States Lines is rightfully proud of the achievement. We believe you are too".