A Warm Welcome Aboard

The Caronia Timeline mainly charts where in the World the Caronia was on any particular day during her 20 year career with Cunard. At least that was the original starting point. As more information has been gathered, the Timeline has grown to over 1,200 pages.

Don't let that put you off! Even with such a large site, my primary purpose is that you enjoy your visits and that you don't miss anything. This page is dedicated to providing help and advice about how the Timeline is arranged, the range of topics covered, and how to get around.

Getting the Most from Your Visits

Providing simple access to all the information has been given high priority. By offering a logical sequence and multiple access methods to all the various site sections, hopefully most needs will be met. A full explanation of this is set out below.

How the Timeline is Arranged

The Year Indexes

The Timeline itself is neatly divided into individual Daily Activity pages which can be selected from their relevant Year Index pages, linked in the Navigation Bar at the bottom of every page.

The Year Index page headers usually show a summary of that year's activities, or describe a key event which affected the Caronia's career. Further down are details of all the brochures, itineraries and maps issued for each voyage or cruise.

Links to the Daily Activity pages are placed in the left column within each Year Index. Every page carries links back to the previous, or forward to the next Year Index.

The Daily Activity Pages

Like the Year Indexes, the Daily Activity page headers carry various topics about the history of the “Green Goddess”. Being a floating community, events ashore that shaped her career at sea are also recorded there.

These headers deliberately carry an eclectic mix of information, be it historical detail or short stories about life aboard. Events linked with a specific date usually appear on a relevant page, or on another close by.

Day-to-Day Position

Lower down these pages, details of Caronia's day-to-day position is supplemented by all kinds of detailed information. For example, there are many images of the actual printed materials used on board for particular days, such as daily programmes or luncheon and dinner menus, etc.

Because many of these are images of text, they become a bit of an accessibility barrier. To address this, a selection of these items have been fully transcribed. A full list of these can be found on the Text Transcripts page which forms part of the Glossary Section.

Again, every page carries links back to the previous, or forward to the Next month, as well as links back to its parent Year Index. It's within these Daily Activity pages where most of the meat of the site is, so please don't overlook them!

Dedicated Topic Links

You'll also find assorted links to many other dedicated topics as they occur on Caronia's travels around the globe, like for example, “Crossing the Line”. As further research is added, links to news report pages will also be found. Most of these make interesting reading, so it's really worth taking the time to explore.

Other Index Pages

In addition to the Year / Daily Activity pages, there are several indexes to other topics that recall Caronia's glittering career. These include…

• The Crew Quarters section which provides a wide and fascinating selection of photographs provided by various former crew members and their relatives. Also included are a growing number of early crew manifests
• The Folio Section that mostly depicts examples of the card stock used by the on-board print shop, along with many other ephemeral items. Key information comes from the Caronia's passenger lists where the folio not only presents the wide variety of list covers, but also several indexes with links to over 220 fully transcribed lists
• The Digest pages carry a comprehensive list of ship-board terms. Links are also provided to various compendium topics. Also included is an abridged Culinary Translator that describes in detail a wide selection of the wonderful “Haute Cuisine” served to passengers

The Virtual Tours

The most popular pages on the Timeline are the Virtual Tours which give a pictorial view of the Caronia within several different topics. These illustrate the building of the “Green Goddess”, how she was perceived by the press at the time and her marketing.

You will also find a selection of Virtual Cruises, allowing you to simulate a whole year or more on board with a range of cruises chosen from different periods. Each cruise has a different style approach.

Key Events and Special Features

Two closely related index pages bring together links to the key events in Caronia's career with Cunard, along with special Timeline features that focus in more detail on various traditions both on board and ashore.

• The Key Events Index carries a list of various events that shaped Caronia's career. It also links to an alphabetical list of Caronia's port visits and a chronological index of her Captains and voyages
• The Special Features Summary provides links to many dedicated topics usually added to the Timeline to commemorate or recall a key event. Links to several slide shows can be found here too - well worth a look because they show pictures of places taken at the time when Caronia was visiting

Movie Quizzes

On pages where there are daily programmes, the film (movie) title shown on that day is also displayed. What's unusual is that when you hover your mouse over the film text, the names of the main stars will be revealed. This acts like a quiz specially for those with an interest in movies of the 1950s and ’60s.

MURDER AHOYFeaturing: Margaret Rutherford | Henry Longhurst 

Above is the film shown on 02 September 1965, clicking on the text will take you to the September 1965 page, where several more films will be found. Clicking on the film text in the Daily Activity pages will take that film title to the top of the page, thereby probably revealing others in the sequence, without having to use the scrollbar to move the page downward.

Image Quality

I am aware that several images here are not of the best quality. However, please do bear in mind that these probably came to me as very poor originals. Therefore, despite my best efforts, getting a decent scan has not always been possible. This also extends to scanned text where either the original was poorly printed or the scanned result can only show very tiny print.

Either way, the result is an inevitable compromise, so for example, where getting reasonable detail of the ship to show has resulted in getting some “jaggies” in the sky, I believe is better than having no image at all. This is particularly so if the original belongs to a specific date. Of course, if you happen to have access to a better original, then do please let me know if you'd like to submit it for inclusion here. Thanks!

Inventory Button

Near the top of each page there is an [Inventory] button (seen left) which will take you to a dedicated page where links to every index page of the Timeline are shown, not just the substantive pages as on the NavBar. Another of these buttons is sited just below the Navigation Bar at the bottom of most pages.

Timeline Accessibility

Accessibility issues have their own dedicated descriptions page.

Site Navigation

Near the top of every page is a “You are here” indicator, which will allow you to retrace your steps if you click a link by mistake. On many pages there will also be “Go to…” or “Quick links” that follow.

At the bottom of every page is a Navigation Bar [NavBar] - which is a set of links to the substantive index pages. Just above this are “Next pages to view” options that can take you forward or back in a current index sequence.

If you use the [Space-Bar] to scroll down the page, press it again once you reach the bottom and you'll automatically be taken to the next page in the topic sequence, or back to its main index.

The Fixed Navigation Box

Because of the enormous size of the Timeline I have provided a fixed context-menu in the top right-hand corner which will assist in quickly taking you forward or back through a sequence of pages within an index.

However, if you are using a small screen and this menu annoys you, it can be made to disappear by slightly reducing the browser window width. When the width is reduced to less than 740 pixels, the box will disappear from view. Top & NavBar link buttons appear on the left instead.

Mouse Indicators (Tooltips)

Every image when attached to a link has it's own textual description that will be displayed when you hover your mouse over it. If you then move your mouse over any link text, whether attached to an image or not, an indicator of where that link will take you will then be displayed. This functionality does not occur with keyboard focus.

If an indicator begins with the term “Jump to…” it means that the link is on the current page. If it starts with: “See…”, “View…” or “Review…”, it will take you to another Timeline page in the same browser window.

All the links to bigger images from thumbnails, things like menus and daily programmes, are attached to new windows that are smaller than the main window. The indicator text for these is “View image in a new window.”

An indicator that begins with the term “Visit…”, means that the link will take you to a site away from the Timeline. These links will always open up a new window.

All other images have text descriptions too, except those that are purely decorative. If you are wondering where the frame shown at the top of most pages came from, it was chosen from the cover of the brochure for the 1957 Great World Cruise.

The “NavBar”

Regularly spaced as you progress through each page you will find [NavBar] links (as seen left). These drop you down to the Navigation Bar menu at the bottom of every page.

On pages with multiple “Jump to…” links at the top, page-top links are provided instead. These help you to quickly find and select other sections on that page. A page top link is placed just above the navigation bar on all pages.

Provision of all these links should mean that you don't need to use the scrollbar to quickly reach the bottom of the page for the menu, or the top to retrace your steps if you need to.

If all else fails, there is a full-text Site Map always available by clicking on the Timeline icon (the one seen left) placed at the bottom of most pages.

Having said all that, if you do get lost, please don't grumble - in my view the whole point of visiting the Timeline is to get yourself wholly immersed in an account of history that's not ever likely to be repeated. It's why I've constructed the Timeline, so… Enjoy your explorations!

Searching the Timeline

I want to point out that while doing a search can speed things up, it can also lead to some disappointment, to both visitors and to me! Searches are only matched in exact terms.

For example, looking for “Alan Smith” will not find you alternatives like “Allan” or “Allen” Smith. Yet, it could be either of those that yields results with the most value to you. Please be aware that to avoid problems I've been really careful in correctly spelling names.

On more than one occasion a search has been done for “characters” aboard Caronia. You know, the movers and shakers of their day, so there's bound to be something here about them. There probably is, but I mention it because the search words used would never find them. Visitor goes away disappointed and has wrong impression; I'm dismayed they miss out on great content that's here!

Using Site Search

A site search panel is placed at the bottom of all index pages. Visitor site-searches are closely monitored to look at patterns and ways that I can improve results. It really is important to me that you find any information that exists.

Do please remember that searches here are and can only be: exact matches of your text. I realise that the Timeline is a large site, but I don't have the resources to match global search engines.

Sometimes, I shrug because a visitor has not checked their spelling before hitting “Search”. However, the biggest stumbling block is in searching for names; there are plenty of those here! If you don't get the results that you expect, do please first check your spelling.

Once done, there is an advanced search option offered at the top of the results window. This allows you to expand or narrow your search at will. Below are some ideas on getting the best search results…

Basic Search Tips

• Common words and those shorter than 4 characters are not indexed
• Single keywords nearly always produce the best results, especially with names. Do avoid plurals!
• To find a person by name, e.g. Fred Smith, you should select the “Phrase Search” radio button option on the results page and repeat your search. More guidance is in the Advanced Search heading below
• To search for a port name, the usual format on the Timeline has been to use the actual port name like Funchal for Madeira, Valletta for Malta, or Piraeus for Athens in Greece. Other search types could be the job description or the Articles Number of a crew member
• To find gay, homosexual or queer references, relevant pages hold a hidden annotation of “LGBT”. It's part of the modern acronym but excludes +/- operators that do nothing but confuse the search engine
• All date formats used here are “99 MonthName 9999”
  e.g. 01 January 1950
  If you do a date search, simply select “Phrase Search” on the results page, then repeat the search to narrow down the responses
• To get back to this help section click the ? link in the Search Box heading

Site Search [ ? ]

Insert search text
Search
Enter words 4 characters & above

Advanced Site Search

This recently overhauled and enhanced option is only available from the Search Results page. Your entered search term is held in place, so any relevant repeat can be selected from the 3 radio-button options. Below are some points to bear in mind.

• On the Results page, activating the search term box will always clear its entire contents; otherwise it allows for alternative types of search without any need to re-enter a search term
• A word can be excluded by placing the minus character immediately before it. Therefore do not use hyphenated words in your search, simply place a space between them, or use just the first word
• “And” or “Or” searches require only two key search words. There is no need to enter the and/or operator within your text
• Results shown in a Phrase Search will present all pages that contain your exact phrase
• A Phrase search needs an exact match to words of 4 characters or more and must not contain punctuation
  • There is one exception. e.g. If John Fred Smith was a crewman, enter “Smith, John” with comma included, as your starting point…
  • The above applies to all Crew Lists where listings are shown with Family name first
  • Not every crew list carries all three identifiers, so start with only Family and First Name
  • On other pages, the First Name then Family Name convention usually applies
• If a Phrase Search produces nil or problem results, that will usually indicate a spelling mismatch…
  • You could try deleting a word first
  • When searching for a person, initially use only their Family Name
  • Names with various spellings e.g. Alan, Allan or Allen will give very different, maybe wrong, or nil results
  • If there are too many results, take a look at the list style on one of the result pages and be guided by the pattern used e.g. perhaps look for Family Name ahead of First Name

Hey, it's all in “British” English!

With my addition of a third Virtual Tour by an American author, two questions pop up: Why is everything written in British English? Can writing I submit not be “translated” away from American spelling? Unfortunately, the answers are not simple.

Let's deal with the “historical side” first. All of Caronia's brochures, produced in the USA for their domestic market carried local spelling. In my transfer of these texts to the Timeline, I have amended these on purpose as will become clear.

Everything printed on board the ship, no matter the nationality of the author, came out in British English. This may have irked some key people but bear in mind, the technology of the day demanded that every single letter, punctuation mark or other device was assembled from lead type, by hand!

A major skill of the typesetter was to be able to proof read texts, upside down and back-to-front, even before they were clamped in place ready for inking. Keeping that stage simple was key! The only exception to this was in poems or prose contributed for inclusion in leaflets such as the “Cruise News”. I have continued this tradition.

Step forward several decades and this “typesetter” relies on his eyes and, if I feel the need, upon a British English digital dictionary. Also, the Timeline relies upon both local and World search engines. Neither will do a proper substitution of one spelling for another.

From a technical point of view also, the first thing offered to every browser, from a page before it opens, is its language declaration. Where the word “color”, for example, is used, its place on the page is in backscene commands attributing colours to text or borders.

Today's technology is not about simplification as was once hoped. Put these things together, in view of the site being built and hosted in Britain, about a British ship and written by a British author, then it makes sense to use just a single language style.

Do Become a Regular Visitor

Which ever way you choose to browse this site, I do hope that you will enjoy visiting regularly and learning about this beautiful and historic ship. Please make a point of adding the Timeline to your Favourites / Bookmark list.

Your Feedback Matters!

If you have any information, whether large or small, that you'd like to feed back do please get in touch. It's always very exciting to be contacted by Timeline visitors, so I look forward to hearing from you!

Peter Stevens
(Webmaster and xCaronia 1st Class Steward)