Models of Passenger Vessels
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of ship models representing passenger ships from the late 18th century to the 20th century. People have always crossed rivers, seas and oceans as the available technology allowed. Travel by sea was often easier than moving on land and coastal transport has been a feature of life in Scotland for millennia. Coastal, channel and deep water crossings became more common in the nineteenth century, to cater for increased population densities in city and countryside, travel for work and leisure and, most importantly for passenger transport, to carry the enormous numbers of emigrants who were drawn by the opportunities offered in the USA, Canada and Australasia. The collection contains 235 models of vessels which carried passengers. Eleven of these are harbour and river-crossing ferries while 119, such as St Tudno, were intended for coastal and cross-channel use. Clyde shipyards excelled in building powerful and elegant vessels for ocean trading, particularly those for transatlantic routes and 105 models, such as those representing Acadia and Aquitania, were designed as deep water passenger liners and passenger-cargo vessels.
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