The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-08
FAMILY NAMES OF THE
 BIG OCEAN STEAMERS

should be practically as distinctive as their established signals, or as their uni-
 formly- painted smokestacks, is partly q matter of chance and partly, in all proba- bility, direct outcome of the habit of system that becomes inseparabe from
 the management of every detail of mod ern ocean navigation.
 When what has become known as the White Star Line was formed 1t was named the Oceanic Steam Navigation company. probably in recognition of the
 fact that it's steamers were to ply on
 any ocean, and the first few of its ships
 were called, naturally enough. the Pa.
 cifc, the Baltic, and the Adriatic, in
 honor of the oceans, and the Republic, in honor of the United States-the latter
 appellatlon now, in case of the newest
 Atlantic liner, to be substituted for Co.,
 lumbus with particular propriety. With
 out any special intention on the part of
 the company the four names established
 precedent. and in seeking a fifth title
 the final syllable of the first were joined
 to the word Celt and the naming of the new vessel paid honor to the inhabitants of early Britain. Since the christening of the first Celtic-for there is now second Celtic that floats among the very
 largest of the modern passenger steam 1 shlps-eVery vessel of the White Star 1 Line has been given a title ending in
 that one clicking little syllable, so that
 wherever you see liner or cargo
 steamship with name ending in ic, ' you may recognize 1t as belonging to that particular divsionsof the lnterna- tional Mercantile Marine.
 How They are Named.
 Every one of the conspicuous ocean
 steamship lines has the habit of naming it's vessels in a similarly distinctive fash ion. The American Line, for example
 follows the custom of naming it's ships in honor of the larger American cities. as in the case of St. Paul and St. Louis
 which have now resumed peaceful nay igation after their more exciting services
 in the Spanish war under the names of
 the two oldest American universities
 the New York and the Philadelphia. the last a vessel that will long be famous
 for its part in the development of wire less teegraphy The Inman Line. which was the predecessor of the American,
 followed somewhat similar policy, ex- | cept that it named it's ships for im- | portant cities on both sides of the water. | And the Cunarders, like the White Star i liners are recognizable by two distnct-
 i've final letters. ia" instead of 'ic'' 1 Usually the first vessel In a squadron
 of a given company has been responsl- | ble for the christening of all later addi- i tions, again suggesting a certain simi- 1 larty between q family of steamships and
 q family of humans. The ships of the i. Dominion Line, which began it's service from Liverpool to Boston at a compara- | lively recent date. having been previous ly engaged mainly in trade with Cana dian ports and with New Orleans.-the field in which 1t will continue when it gives over it's Boston services next
 month-have at first glance much less similarity that either the White Star or American liners These vessels-the Can ada New England. Mayflower, Common wealth and others-had, however, an ob- vious similarity to each other that made them almost as immediately recogniza-
 be to the initiated as If, like the White i Star liners, they all ended in 'ic," or like the vessels of the Atlantic Trans port service, all began with M The first vessel of this fleet was the Canada, and all that have followed bear names inn | medately suggestive either of Canada
 or New England.
 Years ago when the Atlantic Transport company opened a service from Balti- more to London its first vessel was the Maryland, so named in honor of the na- tive state of the promoters. The sister ships that followed were named after other states in the Union that began with
 the same letter. These states, however,