Edwardian Ocean Liner Travel, 1907–1910

In the years before the First World War, British, German and American shipping companies competed through speed, size, comfort and prestige. Liners carried first-class tourists, business travellers, migrants, mail and valuable cargo across the Atlantic and along imperial routes.

The same vessel could contain luxurious public rooms, cramped steerage accommodation, extensive crew quarters and secure spaces for bullion or mail. Class divisions and the temporary confinement of a voyage created distinctive social conditions in which crime, surveillance and reputation were difficult to escape.

The Ocean Liner Mysteries use named ships and documented routes as closed settings for fictional crimes. Dillman and Masefield move between passenger classes and crew departments, allowing the novels to examine both the glamour and the practical vulnerabilities of Edwardian travel.