Handling Cargo: Freighters of the 1950s and '60s

Freighters of the 1950s and ’60s – with masts, booms & hatches – were the last of their generation. It was the end of an era, just before the massive transition to faster, more efficient containerized shipping and on larger and larger vessels. These were ‘working ships’, but many would be retired prematurely and finish-up under flags of convenience, for virtually unknown owners, before going off to the scrappers in the 1970s and ’80s. For some ships, their life’s work was cut and their decommissioning was quick. In this new book, William Miller remembers the likes of Cunard, Holland America & United States Lines on the North Atlantic, Moore McCormack Lines to South America, Farrell Lines to Africa and P&O out East.