Ocean Liner Lapel Pins

My name is James R. Ducker and I am the designer of the ocean liner lapel pins featured on this site. I reside in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I call Tacoma Washington my home, which is located 30 miles south of Seattle. The following personal background information and what inspired me to make my lapel pins will hopefully interest you to explore my site.

When I was about 14 years old I first became interested in ocean liners after reading the book "A Night to Remember" by Walter Lord. After that I was hooked and fell in love with all the great liners. My first cruise was onboard the MV ISLAND PRINCESS in 1984, and since then I have been on 51other cruises on 43 different ships and 14 different lines to date. My collection of ocean liner memorabilia has grown over the years and I am very happy with the items I have collected from around the world.

I had been thinking about doing an ocean liner lapel pin for many years but never found the right subject or the time. In mid 2001 with the approaching 50th Anniversary of the S.S. UNITED STATES I thought, "What a perfect ship for my first pin". I am very pleased and appreciative of the response I have received from ocean liner enthusiasts from around the world. Having had such a great success with the S.S. UNITED STATES pin I decided to do another. This time I chose the illustrious S.S. NORMANDIE for my second pin. Her red shield with two lion coat-of-arms is the backdrop to her majestic profile. From S.S. NORMANDIE I then created pins for the S.S. FRANCE and S.S. NORWAY these two pins are a fitting tribute to this great ship.

I designed a special pin commemorating the historic meeting and the duel transatlantic crossing between the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 and QUEEN MARY 2. This once-in-a-lifetime event took place April 25 - May 1, 2004 from New York to Southampton. I was overwhelmed by the response this pin received.

The S.S. CANBERRA, with her sleek design-breaking profile depicted against the P & O raising sun and the "Grande Dame" S.S. ROTTERDAM, shown with her original gray livery, set against a dark blue background are great additions to my other pins.

To help and support the restoration and preservation of the QUEEN MARY I designed a special pin showing the QUEEN at speed from her port side. Half the proceeds from the sale of this pin will be donated to the RMS QUEEN MARY FOUNDATION.

I was honored when asked by the ss UNITED STATES Conservancy to design a lapel pin for their group. $5.00 from the sale of each pin will be donated to the ss UNITED STATES Conservancy. I have also designed a special tee-shirt for the S.S. UNITED STATES and am offering a special “COMBO” package with an ss UNITED STATES Conservancy lapel pin and S.S. UNITED STATES tee-shirt with $10.00 from the “Combo” going to the Conservancy. You save $5.00 on the combination.
I have designed special lapel pins for three groups to remember their cruises.

I also have plans to create pins for some of the other great liners such as, the lovely RMS EMPRESS OF BRITAIN, the German express liners BREMEN and EUROPA, the Cunard Queens, .RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, QUEEN ELIZABETH 2, and the new QUEEN MARY 2.

I have many ideas as to what ships I would like to do, but I would appreciate any ideas and feedback of what ships you would like to see having its own custom lapel pins.

I love to share my passion of the great liners with others; this site and my lapel pins are in my way helping to keep the history and memories alive for future generations. I hope you enjoy it.

Email me your comments!

Site last updated January, 2009

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