Henrik
I was born in 1979, and I have lived all my life in the south part of Sweden. My interest in ocean liners and the sea awoke when in the early 1990s I saw the movie ‘S.O.S. Titanic’ on television. As with so many people before and since, I was fascinated with the dramatic story. I started reading books on the subject, and my interest started to expand into liners in general, and not just the Titanic. In 1998, the idea of making a website on the subject came to me, and having known Daniel for nearly all my life I suggested that we should do it together.
However, since we first launched this website back in 1999, a lot has happened in our lives. Personally I have studied to become a teacher, and my hobbies have shifted into other not-so-maritime ones. I am also a family man these days, which of course means that my time is better spent with my partner and three children.
As our lives changed, updates on TGOL became increasingly less common. Since 2005, the website has for all intents and purposes functioned as a static repository of all the hard work we once put into it. Nevertheless, I could never really let go of the idea of updating our old website and leave the old HTML-coded version behind, and when I familiarised myself with using WordPress, things fell into place. Once the basic framework was established, it was an easy – but time consuming – task to transfer all the content. Now that the move is completed, I hope you will enjoy your time here at the new and improved The Great Ocean Liners!
Daniel
I was born in 1977, and I presently live in the north of Sweden with my wife and daughters. I work as an upper secondary grade – or high school – History and English teacher.
My interest in ocean liners started in the early 90s, when I, as as thirteen-year-old boy read the book ‘Havets öga’ (‘The Eye of the Ocean’) by Swedish author Lennart Hagerfors. The book was about the Titanic-disaster and ever since I read it, I was hooked – first on Titanic but soon on all ocean liners.
The idea of creating a website about the great ocean liners came in 1998, and the idea was Henrik’s. I always find it amazing how much I have learned when I have been writing my articles. And although I’m not that productive in writing new articles today, I still hope you will all enjoy ‘The Great Ocean Liners’ as immensely as I have!
