Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-21
NAMING OCEAN LINERS
.FAMILYn AFFILIATIONS DIS
TINGUIsH THE FLEETS. -.
Vessel of Any Transatlantic Company
Easily Recognized by the
System.
From the New York Times.

practice which, quite unknown proba-
| bly, to most people, has been pursued by the
managers of ocean steamship companies is
one that insures for the ships of the differ
ent lines distinctive, or what may be called
family, names-namcs intended to suggest
at once the particular line to which this
or that steamship or group of steamships
| belongs.
| AS may readily be seen, names selected
| at random and applied Unfortunately to
ocean liners would be likely to prove ex-
tlemely confusing to the casual student of
marine nomenclature seeking to determine
| the ships identity at sea. To avoid the
| perpleXlty of such a selection the steam
| snip companies have adopted what must be
| Called ingenious plan. By adherfng
| sulctly to certain pretixes or suffixes Origl-
| n.Ily hit upon in naming their ships, most
| OF the companies have developed series of
! names whose significance can scarcely be
| mistaken even by the ver1eSt landlubber. No
| matter what flag a ship flies what its
| physical characteristics may be, by its name
one may know in what fleet it sails.
Attention has been drawn to this system
| by the transfer to take place on December
| l next, of the Boston-Liverpool and Boston,
Mediterranean services of the Dominion
| hne to the White Star line. With the
proposed change in management the Com
monwealth VIII become the Canoptic the
recently launched Columbus will become the
| Repubiic, the New England the Romantic
| and the Mayf1ower the Cretic In other
| words. the two final letters &c" in each of
| the adopted names will appear throughout
| the entire fleet.
Cling to Old Names.
| AT first no doubt, this change of appella-
| ton will seem strange and mystifying. Peo-
pie Who for example. have been accustom-
| ed to associate in their minds the steam
ship New England with the hills and dales
| OF the picturesque region for which the Ro-
Tanic-to-be was first called will very likely
| ma the cid name clinging to their lips for
! months to come. Columbus, likewise which
| thousands In identifying that ship have
hhkeu with the name of the ancient dis
coVefeI Will probably remain impressed on
| the Seafarers memory long after the steam
| snip Columbus becomes the Republic But
IN mucn the same way as one learns to call
the former Miss Jones Mrs. Galloway, he
| will be able to grasp the new order of things
| in the maritime sphere
On some railroads the locomotives bear
! names as well as numbers, but on most
| systems these iron steeds are obviously too
| numerous to render this means of identiti-
! cation of much value there. With reference
| to steamships the case is different AL
| though the fleets of many of the coastwise
ana transatlantic lines are large, they are
by no means large enough, or likely to In
crease sufficiently In size. to exhaust the
| vocabulary required by this modern ar
rangement.
People familiar with the arrangement Of
colors adjoining ships smokestack or
with the nag on her mainmast are able
by day to tell instantly whether the vessel
is a White Star liner. a Cunarder. or some
other craft They know that a black fun
mel. with white band denotes invariably
an American Liner; that a red swallow tail
flag marked by a single white star charac-
! teriZes a member of the White Star fleet
by day, while two green lights displayed
FiGfi r1Cr oh Ia
company from all others at night WHY
therefore, should not the names of the diff
ferent vessels of given company be as
distinctive and uniform as their establ shed
signals or as their uniformly painted smoke
Stacks?
Seas and Cities.
When what has become known as the
White Star line was formed 1t was called
the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company,
probably because of the fact that it's ves-
sells were to ply on any ocean where duty
might call Them and its first ships were
called, very naturally. the Pacific, the Bal
tic and the Adr.atic. Now to this list is to
be added the Republic---a name selected in
honor of the United States Since the nam
ing of the first Celtic-for there is now a
second Celtic-every vessel of the White
Star line has been given a title ending in
that one clicking little syllable &c" and
wherever one sees a liner Il cargo steam
ship having that termination he may know
10 what special division of the interna tional
mercantile marine IT belongs.
The American line follows the custom of
naming its ships in honor of the prime pal
American cities. as In the case of the St
Paul and the St. Louis which snce their
notable service in the Spanish war have
become the New York and the Philadelphia
The lnman line, which preceded the
American line, followed the pract ce of Civ
ing to its vessels the names of important
cities on both sides of the water In the
case of the Cunard company the final ia
takes the place of the White Star liners
"ic.''
OF a given line has suggested a name for its
successors. Years ago when the Atlantic
Transport Company opened u service from
Baltimore to London, its first vessel was
the Maryland, so named in honor of the
native state of the company's promoters
Subsequently the Marylands sister sh DIS
Were named after IT'S, states ties in the Union
of states whose names begin with that let
ter was, however too small to meet the
demands, and the godparents of the newer
steamships had to look elsewhere. Today
| the largest ships of the Atlantic Transport
line, the l3,UO-ton monsters plying between
New York and London, the Minnehaha
Minnetonka and Minneapolis.
Names That End in Land
The vessels of the Red Star line an
other of the great Atlantic companies which
has lately combined with the White Star,
American Dominion and Leyland lines to
form the International Mercantile Marine
Company, d.stinguishable by the final
syllable in their names. One of the earlier
Red Star liners, which formerly a:led I'M
der the Belgian flag, the Belgenland
In the NoOrdland and the Westernland 1t
will be seen that the final land again
made it's appearance and 1t has been fur
Their retained in the names of the two
American-bu.lt ships of comparatively re-
cent construction, the Finland and Kroon-
la nd