Page 17: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2022)

y father was on the new construction team of monstrously ugly passenger vessel with all cabins ? lled with the 1958 SS Rotterdam V, a visually iconic paying passengers has got to be the most beautiful thing in passenger liner that is presently a static hotel the world to the vessel owner, and in that regard he was right.

M and event space in Rotterdam Harbor. When But I had a hard time looking past all that disproportion- she entered service, her looks were much discussed and gener- ate ugliness and for that I speci? cally blame two gentlemen ally compared to her very graceful older running partner, the I never met.

1936 SS Nieuw Amsterdam II. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was interning for a defense

I have pictures of both vessels in my of? ce and I think the contractor with a nice technical library and during lunch I older vessel is the prettier vessel. Beauty is in the eye of the would poke around and take out stuff to read later. I ended up beholder, but, regardless, the SS Rotterdam is a beautifully skimming through quite a number of years of USNI Proceed- proportioned and almost timeless vessel. ings and Naval Engineers Journal.

When the SS Rotterdam was completed, my father received In skimming through the December 1979 Naval Engineers a commemorative book about her construction and at some Journal, a paper called “Visual Effectiveness in Modern War- stage I got my hands on it. I remember reading that after the ship Design” by Lt. John Charles Roach and Herbert Meier foremast had been installed the designers and owners felt the contains a single page illustration that struck me, because it rake was not correct. very succinctly laid out what I had been feeling since I read

They went into boats and studied the vessel from afar and about the SS Rotterdam foremast rake adjustments.

at various angles and decided to change the rake by just a few It also explained why I thought those West Coast tuna sein- degrees. Not an inexpensive proposition, but the leadership ers were so sexy. Those boats ticked all the boxes as outlined felt it should be right, rather than good enough. I must have in the illustration. And it is so simple; just a few things to keep been 12 or so when I read this and remember thinking how in mind. With just a little additional energy, a designer can im- does one know it is right? prove a concept from blah to quite nice with just a few strokes

Boat prettiness was a continuous family discussion whether of the pen or the mouse. related to traditional Dutch sailing vessels (bulky but with I returned the journal to the library without making a copy massive amounts of presence and balance), S&S yachts (I paid an internet publisher to retrieve a copy for this article), (sleek), or being struck by the incredible sexiness of West but the illustration never left my mind. That also meant that,

Coast tuna seiners such as built by Campbell and Martinac in thanks to Roach and Meier, I became Esthetic Design Sensi- the 70’s and, remarkably, as late as the early 90’s. tized. I became infected with EDS and would look at a vessel

However, our family also discussed the almost overnight and think: “What is the matter with these people? With just a disappearance of commercial ship prettiness best expressed few minor adjustments this design could have gone from blah by the uncomely 1984 Nieuw Amsterdam III as the harbinger to beautiful.” of cruise ship ugliness. So having drawn attention to this illustration, and Roach

Still, these ugly vessels made money, and what is pretty and Meier’s work, I now hope that those who see it will also anyway? Lester Rosenblatt, who loved pretty ships, once be infected with EDS and join me in the “let’s make things a told me it is all in the eye of the beholder. He observed that a little prettier” movement.

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