All aboard for the first cruise
QUESTION What was the first ship built exclusively for the purpose of luxury cruising? IN 1886, Hamburg-born Albert Ballin joined the Hamburg-Am erik an isch ePacket fahr t-Ac tie n-Ge sells cha ft( HA PA G or the Hamburg- American line) as manager of its passenger department and realised HAPAG’s flagship, the Augusta Victoria, lay unused during the winter.
Despite opposition from fellow directors and ridicule from other lines, in 1891, he sent the Augusta Victoria on a 58- day ‘pleasure voyage’ from Cuxhaven, Germany, to the Mediterranean and Orient. Like a modern cruise, the itinerary included onshore excursions from its ports-of-call. The project was an immediate success and other HAPAG ships were soon included.
These early cruises, called ‘excursions’, were difficult to plan with existing ships. Constructed as ocean liners, they offered few amenities. Deck space was mostly sheltered, designed to survive the rigours of the North Atlantic, rather than gentler southern routes.
In 1899, Ballin became director at HAPAG, and in 1900 he commissioned Blohm & Voss to construct a luxury ship designed specifically for year- round cruising. The Prinzessin Victoria Luise — named after Kaiser Wilhelm II’s daughter — was launched on June 29, 1900.
Targeted at wealthy travellers, it was designed to look more like a private yacht than any of her commercial counterparts. She had a trim hull 52.2ft wide by 407.5ft long and was painted all white, with two masts and two tall funnels amidships.
She had a rounded stern, a decorated clipper bow, with bowsprit, ending in a figurehead of the princess. All her 120 cabins were first- class. Staterooms were luxuriously appointed. There was a library, gym and a photographic darkroom.
Prinzessin Victoria Luise left on her maiden voyage on January 5, 1901, from Hamburg, stopping at Boulogne and Plymouth, reaching New York on January 17. She left New York on January 26 to the West Indies for her first cruise. Her second cruise, to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, commenced from New York on March 9. Other cruises took the ship to the Baltic.
The ship’s career came to an end on a West Indian cruise in 1906. On the night of December 16, as she left Kingston, Jamaica, her commander, Captain Brunswig, mistook the lighthouse at Plumb Point for that at the westernmost point of Port Royal. At about 9pm in the evening, and heading north at 14 knots, the ship hit and climbed on to the rocks bow first.
The captain remained on the vessel after the evacuation, retreated to his cabin, and shot himself. A German Admiralty court found him negligent in May 1907. Salvage proved impossible, and she was declared a total loss on December 19, 1906.
Max Clemmence, Belfast.
QUESTION Can you see through a glass eye? THE earliest known use of a ‘ glass eye’, properly called an ocular prosthesis, was by a woman in Shahr-I Sokhta, Iran, and is thought to date back to around 2,800 BC.
It had a hemispherical form, a diameter of just over 2.5cm and was made of a very light material, possibly bitumen paste. The surface of the artificial eye was covered with a thin layer of gold.
The first in- socket artificial eyes were made of gold with coloured enamel by the Venetians in the latter part of the 16th century. By the 19th century, optical prosthetics were made of glass and, today, from durable plastic.
In modern times, in cases where the eyeball is completely removed, a ball made of some inert material, such as plastic, glass or silicone, is surgically implanted into the eye socket and attached to the muscles to allow natural movement. The prosthetic, a hollow half-sphere, made of medical-grade acrylic, is then fitted over a ball.
The eye isn’t connected to the optic nerve and the patient can’t see with it.
Dr A. J Singh, Luton, Beds. THROUGHOUT the Seventies, I had the pleasure of working with a gentleman called Cyril Darton, who’d lost an eye in an industrial accident. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the wound, he couldn’t wear an artificial eye, and as a result he had a small collection of these items.
We were training mechanical engineering apprentices to use machine tools, which made wearing eye protection mandatory. When an apprentice would forget to wear protection, Cyril would tick him off.
Out would come his collection of ‘glass eyes’, and he’d demonstrate to the apprentice that the item was definitely just for show and emphasised why they should wear eye protection.
Many people have the misconception that these items are like a glass marble, but in fact their shape is best described as half of a hollow sphere coloured to match the recipient’s remaining eye. Their use is for cosmetic reasons only.
There was a lighter side to Cyril Darton’s instructional techniques. The apprentices (mostly male) loved to talk about their latest girlfriend. ‘Ah! I have a distinct advantage over you,’ Cyril would say to anyone bragging about his girlfriend. ‘Why is that, Mr Darton?’ ‘Well, when I see a pretty girl, I am allowed to look at her for twice as long.’
David Marks, Orpington, Kent.
QUESTION In the late Fifties, a new method of throwing the javelin was proposed. What were the details and why was it not adopted? THE earlier answer mentioned the athletic exploits of Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo y Gayarre, but not his second career, which made him nationally famous.
The nine-times champion of Spain in the javelin, hammer and discus competed at the 1960 Rome Olympics at the discus and was champion of a regional event called the Basque Bar.
In 1963, he a joined Spanish Television (TVE) to work as a reporter, and on his first assignment he covered the crisis in the Congo. There he survived being sentenced to death for having filmed the shooting of 300 prisoners.
He later reported on the Vietnam War and General Pinochet’s coup of September 11, 1973 in Chile. He interviewed many leading 20th-century figures, such as the Dalai Lama, Salvador Allende, Indira Gandhi and Pablo Neruda.
Now 83 and famed for his large handlebar moustache, he is a regular commentator on environmental issues and matters concerning Catalan independence.
Silvia Aucejo, Aberystwyth.