RMS Caronia Timeline

Webmaster Resources

Introduction

Over the several years that I have been developing Web sites, I have relied quite heavily on the willingness of others who freely share their knowledge. It's within this spirit that I've compiled this page which brings together all the different resources upon which I rely to build and operate the Caronia Timeline.

Everything listed below has helped in some way to develop the design, content and interactivity of the Timeline and I'm happy to recommend them. Most resources are listed alphabetically. I hope that, by my listing these, you will also find benefits from access to them.

Where this has been required, all software and on-line resources have, at some point, had their personal registration requirements met.

Software Sources

TopStyle

The basics of the Timeline were originally developed in AOLPress Version 2, however, with my adoption of XHTML and later HTML5, the site has been entirely rewritten with Topstyle. This software has now been retired though the upgrade to Version 5 is still available from the HTML Validator site

UltraEdit

Visit the UltraEdit Site

Often, for block editing, regular expression searches and other multiple text functions I use a registered version 16 of UltraEdit-32. This is another programme that I would not be without! Click on the banner to visit the IDM site.

PHP Elements

Adopting PHP in 2006 was the beginning of another interactivity provision adventure. These are the sources of code for doing particular tasks.

Bad-Robots Trap

Due to the large number of attacks the Timeline had suffered by rogue web robots, the Kloth.Net SPAM-Bot exclusion method is employed to trap them. I've not looked back since!

Display Options Swap

Following the transition to PHP, and thanks to the help of people like Tedd Sperling who publish helpful code for beginners like me, I've been able to make the display change options browser independent. This is the code that works that magic

Webmasters, the “switch.php” code may need to be changed as shown in the box below. Note that these changes require that it's called from its own dedicated page!

<?php
$cancel   = 1;
$expiry   = time()+(86400 * 366) ;
$callpage = (!isset($_COOKIE['callpage'])? '':$_COOKIE['callpage']);
$callpage = (!empty($callpage) ? $callpage:"/swapsize.php");
$set = (!empty($_GET['set']) ? htmlspecialchars($_GET['set']):"caronia" );
if ($set == "caronia") {
    setcookie('thestyle', '', $cancel);
    setcookie('callpage', '', $cancel);
}else{
    setcookie('callpage', $callpage, time()+3600, '/');
    setcookie('thestyle', $set, $expiry, '/', '', 0);
}
header('Location: '.$callpage);
?>

Site Searching

The Timeline Site search is handled entirely by a modified Sphider Routine with fully accessible features

Site Search [ ? ]

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Enter words 4 characters & above

Other Site Resources

Crosswords

Visit Green Eclipse site

The two crossword puzzles added to the timeline were built by using free software available from EclipseCrossword

JavaScript

JavaScript elements supplied by JavaScript Source

Information Sources

Ancestry.com

Another resource is Ancestry.com with access to huge amounts of immigration information. This has enabled me to verify such things as definitive arrival and departure dates from New York in the 1950s.

Normally, this is a genealogy research site, however, my policy in its use is that only information relevant to Caronia's history is to be transcribed here. Therefore, any lists presented here relating to the Caronia's crew do not carry anything beyond the rating title and the occupant's name. Also, with any passenger lists only limited information is transcribed.

The transcripts here do nothing to undermine the benefits of joining. Please do not contact me asking for extra information. Anyone seeking further details of a rating or passenger listed here can access Ancestry.com and take out either a monthly or yearly subscription.

IMDb - Internet Movie Database

Movie Star information for Movie Quizzes, where missing from Daily programmes sourced at Internet Movie Database

Lloyds Register Voyage Cards

A source of definitive port arrivals and departures are the official Lloyds Register Voyage Record Cards. When I first compiled this page these were available to order online. That has since ceased.

Now it's a question of visiting the Guildhall Library in person.

New York Times Database

A lot of gaps, particularly in the early years of transatlantic crossings, have been filled by using purchased archives from the New York Times. For those of us not able to visit a library in the USA where the NYT archive may be available on microfilm, this online alternative could be the only other option…

The New York Times Archive

Newspaper Archive

An alternative on-line source for US based newspapers is…
NewspaperArchivewhich provides visitors with a free two-day preview period. Monthly and yearly memberships are available.

SCRAN - Scottish Records

With Caronia having been built on the Clyde, one source of early pictures was “SCRAN, a learning resource” which is in the process of migration to a new platform called: Trove.scot. (Completion: June 2026?)

SCRAN resources included well over 333,000 images, movies and sounds from museums, galleries, archives and the media. Some images are Copyright free, others need a licence for use on the Web in other than a thumbnail format.

Schoonover, Thomas

“Africa India Cruise on SS Caronia 1952” Booklet privately published by the Author and fully transcribed here by kind permission of his grand-daughter

Hutchings, David

“Caronia - Legacy of a Pretty Sister” Shipping Books Press 2000
ISBN 1 900867 03 6 hardcover edition

Morel, Julian

“Pullman”
David & Charles 1983
ISBN 0 7153 8382 5

Cunard Line

“Sailings to and from Europe” Various Editions Printed in USA