Description
When completed, Providence and Bristol were amongst the largest and most lavishly outfitted American vessels of their time. Each ship had 240 staterooms and over 300 berths, capable of accommodating 1,200 passengers, 840 of them in sleeping quarters. Their freight capacity was estimated at 40 railroad freight cars each. Their wooden hulls and paddle-boxes were strengthened with iron cross-bracings, while for safety they were installed with watertight compartments. The ships had gas lighting, and later on, steam heating and steam-powered steering. The decks, which were built of white oak, included an extra "gallery tier" deck from which passengers could view their surroundings.
Contemporary American observers gushed over the size and sophistication of the ships, lauding them as "world renowned mammoth palace steamers", "so far in advance of the type of steamboats heretofore built that they were looked upon as marvels" and "the finest specimens of marine architecture of their day." Bristol and Providence began a tradition of luxury travel on Narragansett Bay that would remain a popular attraction to travellers for the next fifty years. For a modest price, an ordinary working person could gain a glimpse of the opulent lifestyles of the wealthy just by taking a cruise on such a vessel.
Read more about this topic: Providence (1866)
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“An intentional object is given by a word or a phrase which gives a description under which.”
—Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (b. 1919)
“The type of fig leaf which each culture employs to cover its social taboos offers a twofold description of its morality. It reveals that certain unacknowledged behavior exists and it suggests the form that such behavior takes.”
—Freda Adler (b. 1934)
“God damnit, why must all those journalists be such sticklers for detail? Why, they’d hold you to an accurate description of the first time you ever made love, expecting you to remember the color of the room and the shape of the windows.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)