Cunard Line – Old Steam Ships

Every ship has a soul, but the Mauretania had one you could talk to. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In 1935, President Roosevelt donated his own large-scale model of the RMS Mauretania to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains part of the maritime collection. And now another one of Max’s love letters to these wonderful ships.

Her sister was Lusitania; the minute she sank, she became a legend. After her sister sank, Mauretania just kept working and working. There is a parallel to the RMS Olympic, which became a runner-up to her sister, Titanic. Both the Olympic and Mauretania were great ships and worked for decades, unlike their more famous sisters. The ship’s interior is incredible. There are many pictures of this one because she sailed into the 1930s after being launched in 1906. The Edwardian period had great tastes in decor.

The RMS Mauretania was the fastest passenger liner in her era, bar none. She and her sister, RMS Lusitania, would swap out as the fastest ships, but Mauretania would take the record, as we will see. She was built for the Cunard Line during a time when ocean liners were becoming symbols of national pride. Launched in 1906 and entering service in 1907, she was designed to compete with the great German liners that were dominating the Atlantic. Along with her sister ship, she represented the latest in shipbuilding technology. She was powered by steam turbines, an innovation at the time, and quickly proved herself to be one of the fastest ships in the world.

After Cunard came out with Lusitania and Mauretania, White Star Line came out with Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. The Cunard Line and White Star were something like the Apple and Microsoft of North Atlantic travel. They were enormous rivals, and every new ship was measured against what the other company had built. Beautiful ships came out of this competition.

Not long after entering service, Mauretania captured the Blue Riband (unofficial accolade given to the passenger ocean liner that achieved the fastest average speed on a regular crossing of the North Atlantic) for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic. She held the record for more than twenty years! That is an achievement that has never been matched. Passengers were impressed not only by her speed but also by her comfort. Her interiors featured grand public rooms, elegant dining areas, and luxurious accommodations. For many travelers, sailing on Mauretania was just as much about the experience as it was about reaching New York. At the time, she was just as famous as her sister.

When World War I began, Mauretania’s career changed dramatically. Like many large liners, she was called into government service. She served as a troopship and later as a hospital ship. During the Gallipoli campaign and other military operations, she transported thousands of soldiers and wounded personnel. Mauretania survived the war and returned to civilian service.

After the war, Mauretania returned to carrying passengers across the Atlantic and remained popular with travelers. In 1927, she carried Leonard and Phil Chess, two Polish immigrant boys who later built Chess Records. Four years later, Charlie Chaplin sailed aboard her alongside Malcolm Campbell, who had just set a new land-speed record in his Blue Bird automobile. When Mauretania reached Southampton, Campbell learned that King George V had approved his knighthood.

In June 1922, the Marx Brothers crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mauretania on their way to their first British tour. Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo were aboard, years before Hollywood made them household names. They returned to New York aboard White Star’s Cedric the following month.

However, newer ships were beginning to appear. Vessels such as the German Bremen and Europa were faster and more modern. By the early 1930s, Mauretania was showing her age. Although still admired, she could no longer compete with the newer generation of liners entering service.

In 1935, after nearly three decades on the Atlantic, Mauretania was retired and sold for scrap. Many people were saddened by the news. Crowds gathered to see her one last time as she made her final voyage. Today, she is remembered as one of the greatest ocean liners ever built. She combined speed, reliability, and elegance in a way few ships ever have. For many maritime historians, the Mauretania represents the high point of the great Edwardian liners and a time when crossing the Atlantic by ship was an adventure in itself.

Among the small group aboard for Mauretania’s final voyage was an unnamed couple who reportedly had spent their honeymoon on her maiden voyage in 1907. Nearly 28 years later, they returned to say goodbye to the ship that had helped begin their married life.

Olympic was the reliable old friend.

Mauretania was the reliable old friend who raced you home.

A very sad picture. The two were fierce rivals for 24 years, Olympic and Mauretania, heading toward the scrapyard. Olympic is on the left and Mauretania on the right. I’ve come to hate this picture because they should be hotels/museums today, not scrapped and lost to history.

I first heard of the Lusitania on an episode of The Twilight Zone. Long before I knew the details of her story, I knew the name. That’s probably true for a lot of people. Along with the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Lusitania has become one of the few ships recognized far beyond maritime history. The sinking of this ship changed the world. It wasn’t the reason America got into WWI, but it helped by changing attitudes at the time. This ship was known for its speed and comfort. This was the Cunard Line’s flagship, just as the Olympic was the White Star Line’s. I think of some of these ships as works of art. I hate that she gets remembered for sinking. She was a glorious ship and probably the most famous of her day. She and her sister, RMS Mauretania were household names.

I wanted to post this ship’s story much earlier, but it’s so complex that I ended up reading a book for more information: Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age by Penny Wilson and Greg King (I would highly recommend). I’m going to have a companion page with this post and others. I wanted a place where I could list some very interesting stories and not make this post a novel. So you, the readers, could have a choice if you wanted to read more or not.

The RMS Lusitania was one of the great ocean liners of the early 1900s and of all time. She entered service in 1907 and quickly became famous for her speed and luxury. At the time, she was one of the fastest ships in the world. Wealthy passengers loved her grand dining rooms and first-class accommodations, but she also carried immigrants and regular travelers crossing the Atlantic. When World War I began in 1914, Britain started using large passenger liners to help the war effort.

She was a tough ship. In January 1910, Lusitania showed just how tough she was. While crossing the Atlantic in a violent storm, an enormous wave struck the ship head-on and swept over her bow. The water reached the bridge, smashing windows and damaging the wheelhouse and other parts of the ship. For passengers watching the bow disappear beneath the sea, it must have been terrifying. Lusitania came back up, however, and after temporary repairs she continued to New York at reduced speed. Five years before her sinking, the Atlantic had already given the ship one enormous test, and she survived it.

Germany warned that ships sailing into British waters could be attacked because Britain was blockading Germany with its navy. On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania left New York for Liverpool with nearly 2,000 passengers and crew aboard. Many Americans were nervous because Germany had printed warnings in many newspapers that British ships could be targeted by submarines. Still, most passengers believed a civilian liner would never be attacked. On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, near the southern coast of Ireland, the German submarine U-20 (companion page with info on the U-20) fired a torpedo into the Lusitania. A second explosion followed inside the ship, still debated by historians today. The liner began to list heavily and sank in only about 18 minutes. Lifeboats were difficult to launch because of the sharp angle of the deck. 1198 people died, and only 762 survived. Only 289 bodies were ever recovered from the sea, and a large portion of them were never identified. It has been reported that the British government carried approximately 4.2 million rounds of rifle ammunition, 5,000 cases of shrapnel artillery shells, and non-explosive military fuses in the Lusitania’s cargo hold. While officially registered as a passenger liner, the ship was also legally classified as an armed auxiliary cruiser and received government construction subsidies

The notice in the newspapers.

The sinking shocked the world. Newspapers were filled with stories about families lost at sea and survivors struggling in the freezing water. Germany argued that the Lusitania was carrying war supplies, which later investigations showed was partly true because rifle cartridges and other military materials were aboard. Still, much of the public viewed the attack as the destruction of a civilian passenger ship filled with innocent people. The sinking created enormous anger in the United States. At first, America did not enter the war, but anti-German feeling grew stronger after the disaster. The Lusitania quickly became a symbol on posters and in newspapers to encourage support for the Allied side.

The ramifications of the sinking lasted for years. Germany temporarily reduced unrestricted submarine warfare because of worldwide outrage. But by 1917, Germany resumed attacking ships without warning, helping push America into World War I. Many historians believe the sinking of the Lusitania changed American public opinion and slowly moved the country closer to entering the war.

In her 8-year career, she traveled around 650,000 to 700,000 miles. She completed 101 round-trip Atlantic crossings. One tragic, interesting story involved Canadian Frances Stephens (Companion Page). Please read this brief story if you can. The year before, the U-boat would have stopped the ship, inspected the cargo, let people off the ship, and then sunk her. It was called “prize rules” or “cruiser rules.” On a dive this century, the divers found Remington .303 caliber bullets. As many as 2.4 million rounds were on the ship’s manifest.

Now I want to recognize some of the people who were, in my eyes, heroes.

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt: A wealthy American businessman who gave his life jacket to a mother with an infant and helped others into lifeboats. Alfred could not swim and died in the icy water, and his body was never recovered. Leslie Noel Morton & Joseph Parry: Two young British seamen showed immense bravery. They jumped into the ocean to reach a drifting lifeboat, ripped off its cover to rescue dozens, and went on to save around 50 people from the water. Both survived and were awarded the Silver Board of Trade Medal for Gallantry. Ian Holbourn: A Scottish author who took a young passenger, Avis Dolphin, under his wing when the ship was struck. He guided her to safety, giving up his own life belt for her. Ian and Avis survived and remained lifelong friends. Lindon Bates, Jr.: An American passenger who selflessly gave his life jacket to a frightened female passenger and stayed on the sinking deck to search for lost children before going down with the ship. Thomas Woods: A brave Manx fisherman from the Isle of Man who was fishing nearby on his small boat. Seeing the disaster unfold, he and his crew were the first to arrive on the scene and successfully pulled about 150 survivors from the water.

Every great ship is a product of the knowledge available when she was built. Engineers don’t know what future disasters will be. Almost every major maritime tragedy has taught the next generation of designers something new.

The sinking of the Lusitania inspired writers and musicians for decades. One of the most interesting was Woody Guthrie, who later sang ‘When That Great Ship Went Down,’ telling the story through the eyes of those aboard. If you’re interested in the song, I’ve written about it on Power Pop.