The route between Britain and New York has been the world's most heavily travelled for more than a century, so it is no mystery that England would be a dominant player in the transatlantic passenger trade. The Cunard Line, White Star and others had ships departing almost daily from ports like Southampton and Liverpool to not only New York but Boston, Philadelphia and Montreal.

This traffic, first of immigrants and later upwardly-mobile tourists, peaked once before the great wars, then again in the 1950's. The advent of the jet airplane began the inexorable tide airborne, and after the early 1960's the traffic dropped sharply.

Today only one great liner, the Queen Mary 2, crosses the Atlantic on a regular basis. Though modern in appearance and design, life aboard is much the same as it has been for over a century.

Click one of the links below to visit the great British steamship lines.