Cudahy. Fordam University Press.

*** The New York to Bermuda run -- From Ambrose Light to Five Fathom Hole takes up around a sixth of Mr. Cudahy's cruise through Manhattan Harbour's long history.

And he begins his passage through time with the first regular line to service the route -- ironically the Quebec Steamship Company, seeking to branch out into other business after railroads took off -- and with thanks to Nan Godell and Karen Ashbury of the Bermuda Maritime Museum, who provided a "treasure trove'' of information.

From the QSC's 1000 ton Canima , which made its inaugural trip in 1874, the line continued to ply the waters between New York and Hamilton for more than 40 years -- providing a major boost for the embryonic tourist trade on the Island.

Interestingly, ships on the route in the early part of this century were noted for a high percentage of first-class cabins -- just the sort of upmarket visitor Bermuda is currently trying to seduce into trips to the Island.

But the classic era of luxury liner travel came post-World War I with the advent of services by the massive Furness Withy line from the UK, an association which lasted for almost half a century.

And the line -- popularly known as the Furness Bermuda Line -- didn't stop its operations at Hamilton Harbour.

They provided an impetus for the development of resort properties on the Island to boost business, creating associations with the Bermudiana Hotel, the Mid-Ocean Club and the Castle Harbour Hotel, among others.

A 20s advertisement for Bermuda -- "Gem of Winter Playgrounds'' -- describes the St. George Hotel as a "unique location commanding wonderful views.

Unsurpassed service. Magnificent, tiled, heated and covered swimming pool.

Golf on adjoining course.'' And all that for the princely sum of US$6 a day -- a price that would make today's visitors fall to the ground and weep, one would imagine.

The loss of the Furness Bermuda liner Bermuda after not one but two fires in 1931, once in Bermuda and a second while being refitted in a Belfast shipyard meant it would never be a running mate of the the newly-built $8 million Monarch of Bermuda .

But Furness Bermuda ordered the Queen of Bermuda -- to become a sea-going legend, built in Vicker's Barrow yard.

But the rise of air travel meant the end of classic ocean travel and Furness Withy pulled out of Bermuda in 1966.

And The Royal Gazette carried stories on the death of Queen of Bermuda only a year after the final trip to the Island, reduced to scrap in a breaker's yard on the west coast of Scotland.

He comes bang up to date with a 1995 cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line's Dreamward .

The section on Bermuda has some local interest -- but Mr. Cudahy's interest in cruise liners sometimes borders on the sort of obsessiveness normally associated with train-spotting.

And his constant use of technical details and specifications can become a little wearing for the average technophobe.

He also writes in a slightly stilted style which grates a little -- for example his own parents, who took a honeymoon cruise to Bermuda in the 30s weren't just married, they were "joined in matrimony.'' But as a thumbnail sketch of what many regard as the golden age of Bermudian tourism, the book works well -- even if the reader comes away a little baffled by talk of triple expansion steam engines and `father and son' powerplants.

RAYMOND HAINEY BOOK REVIEW REV