Over the years, we have received many questions about ocean liners. But since this is a non-profit website and our time and resources are limited, we decided to put up this section of frequently asked questions. You may also want to visit our Facebook page. It’s an ever-growing community of ship enthusiasts, and a great source of knowledge!
About the Website
What is The Great Ocean Liners?
The Great Ocean Liners (sometimes abbreviated as TGOL) is a non-commercial website, created by two Swedish ocean liner enthusiasts – Henrik & Daniel – in 1999. The idea came from the simple fact that, at the time, we thought that there were no comprehensive websites on the subject of ocean liners available. Over the first years, the site grew to include articles on more than 100 individual ships. Although our website has been virtually static and unchanged since 2005, we have finally updated the entire experience to bring it more in line with modern web standards. The articles on the site were written by us, with information compiled from various sources, printed as well as electronic.
Can I advertise on your website?
No. From the very beginning, The Great Ocean Liners was created as a non-profit venture. We have never made any money from this website, and we pay for web hosting out of our own pockets. It may seem foolish financially, but we simply don’t want our readers’ experience marred by intrusive ads on every page.
Why have you not updated the site lately?
To begin with, there are only two people behind all the material published on this website. Naturally, that makes it hard for us to produce enough material to update the site regularly. Furthermore, and more importantly, a lot has happened since we first started this website back in 1999. Since then, our priorities in life have changed dramatically, and we do not have the time nor passion required to publish new articles all the time. That said, we do not rule out the possibility of the occasional update, but we cannot guarantee anything. We hope you understand this, and that you nevertheless find enjoyment in the material that is already published on TGOL. After all, it is a considerable handful.
I have found an error on your website. Can you correct it?
Of course. Although we have always tried to be thorough in our research as well as our writing, it is always possible for errors to slip through. Spelling errors and the like are hopefully very few, but we are of course grateful when they are pointed out to us and can be corrected. As for errors in information, they are usually the product of mistakes already established in other sources, which have propagated down the line in our articles as well as other material. Most commonly, such errors are brought to our attention by people who actually experienced the ships first-hand, such as old crew members, and we are happy to amend our texts to reflect their accounts.
Further Research
I am looking for information on a ship, and I can not find anything about it on The Great Ocean Liners. Can you help?
Unfortunately, we have no archive of records readily available, and it would require a lot of time and effort to do such research for you. Fortunately, there are many other good websites that have a lot of information about ships that we have not covered on The Great Ocean Liners. Before you contact us with a query, you should have a look at the following links:
I am trying to find a passenger- or crew manifest for a certain ship or voyage. Can you help?
Unfortunately, we have no possibility of searching for such records, let alone do we have any in our possession. However, there are a few websites that can help you in your quest!
I am researching my family history, and I need help locating one or several of my ancestors. Can you help?
No. The Great Ocean Liners is a website about ships and the history of shipping – not genealogy. For help on this subject, please visit the following websites instead!
I have in my possession an item from or related to an ocean liner. Can you tell me if it holds any value?
We are not very knowledgeable when it comes to ocean liner memorabilia, and therefore we can not estimate the value of such items. But there are plenty of good dealers of memorabilia on the Internet that can help you.
Copyright
Can I reprint or quote your articles?
Yes, you may, but please include a reference to our website. By no means do we have the exclusive rights to the information on our website, but our articles were compiled and written as original texts. Therefore, we would appreciate if credit is given when our texts are referenced elsewhere.
Can I use the photos on your website?
Full disclaimer: The Great Ocean Liners contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorised by the copyright owner. In accord with our nonprofit mission, we are making such material available for educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, however, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.