Ocean Liner

More than 200 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean, diver John Moyer swam into the wreck of the famed ocean liner, the Andrea Doria, past barnicle-encrusted light fixtures and through silt-filled corridors and dark, corroded stairways. With air bubbles streaming behind him, he glided into the first-class "Wintergarden" lounge and looked down at a huge mosaic frieze that he remembered seeing in old photographs, before the ship sank in 1956 after colliding with another liner. Carefully, Moyer retrieved the Italian mosaic and sent it to the surface, where the crew of his salvage vessel broke out in cheers.

A CHANCE TO SINK FUNDS INTO A REAL PIECE OF HISTORY Eighty years after it went down, the Titanic is coming back up. Bits and pieces of it, at least. It seems that the French government has offered 1,800 salvaged objects to survivors or their families. Of course, a centime or two is expected in return. The French government yesterday said that the items could be acquired by qualified claimants as long as they helped pay for the cost of the salvage operation. A Franco-American expedition in 1987 recovered the relics 2 1/2 miles under the Atlantic, where the ocean liner - on its maiden voyage from Southhampton, England, to New York - sank after hitting an iceberg on April 14, 1912.

Walter Faber is a middle-aged bachelor whose job as an engineer for UNESCO allows him to travel and thus avoid what he obviously fears most - emotional entanglements. "We're trained to see things as they are without dreaming," insists this pragmatic man of science in "Voyager," a riveting character study by German director Volker Schlondorff. Faber is so cool and detached that he displays not the slightest bit of fear when the pilot of his Mexico-bound plane announces that two engines have failed.

The Park Avenue Ultra is primarily a dignified luxury liner that calms the choppiest of macadam seas and provides its passengers with a quiet, comfortable, well-appointed stateroom. And that's as it should be. After all, the ultimate Buick's 50-something clientele expects relentless coddling, not to mention copious intimations of affluence. But there is also a frisky, speedboat side to the Ultra's split personality. This is a very ballistic Buick, thanks to the hefty, supercharged V-6 that sublets space in the engine bay. And when the car is equipped with the sport suspension, as the test car was, the big Ultra is also surprisingly agile.

This screenwriter business is really getting out of hand. First they start pulling down million-dollar writing gigs (Joe Eszterhas holds the record: $3 million for the erotic thriller Basic Instinct, due out this winter). Then their agents wangle them producer credits. And then they start clamoring to direct. And now these hyphenate progenitors have gone way over the edge: They're writing movies about themselves. Consider The Player, Michael Tolkin's black comedy about a rejected, vengeful scenarist.

Even if the age of the grand ocean liners is just a memory for those lucky enough to have savored the experience, there are compensations . . . bits and pieces known these days as ocean liner collectibles. Those who never set foot on an ocean liner may collect ships' silver, luggage labels or tags, adorned with nostalgic names like The Normandie, Ile de France and The Breman. The items can be as elegant as a glass panel from the Normandie designed by Lalique or as functional as a wood deck chair from the Europa.

It was a planner's dream. The year was 1968, and a group of investors had proposed docking the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner at the foot of Philadelphia International Airport, in Tinicum Township. There, it would be converted into a luxurious floating hotel and attraction. That's all county planners needed to get them going. Within the year, they had cranked out a visionary plan for the Tinicum of the future that included several other tourist attractions, such as a menagerie and stables inside the Tincium National Environmental Center.

To anyone who has taken the time to ponder the meanderings of mankind, Philadelphia stands as the birthplace of contemporary freedom. Somehow, unbelievably, the inheritance of this most cherished landmark has become lost by those who know not of her majesty nor breeding. For this reason, and for the future of Philadelphians yet unborn, the location of the new Convention Center is of paramount importance. Philadelphia is one of the great cultural centers of the world. It was here that men of unswerving courage decided to proclaim, for the first time in the history of the world, that all men were created equal.