Category: Ocean Liners

RMS Mauretania: Queen of the Atlantic

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.

RMS Olympic: Old Reliable

If I could snap my fingers and have any ship alive and well today? The RMS Olympic would be it! There was a reason my first real post was The Three Sisters. The ship survived and served passengers and the WWI effort for 24 years.

Before the Titanic’s maiden voyage, it was actually the RMS Olympic that was White Star Line’s best-known and most celebrated liner. She had already established her reputation with passengers and the public. Only after the Titanic disaster did history forever shift the spotlight to her younger sister. While Titanic became the legend, Olympic became the ship that proved the design could succeed.

I’ve grown to love this ship even more than her almost twin younger sister, Titanic. Olympic never sank. She survived World War I and returned to passenger service afterward, sailing for nearly twenty-four years. In many ways, she became everything the Olympic-class ships were meant to be. She carried thousands of American and Canadian troops during the war and quietly earned the nickname “Old Reliable.” The press had called Titanic “unsinkable,” but Olympic was the ship that truly lived up to that reputation.

She didn’t become famous because she sank. She became famous because she didn’t. To me, she is the most beautiful ocean liner ever built. She isn’t flashy. She is simply regal and timeless. Others like the Normandie and the SS United States were beautiful, but Olympic’s outward appearance was hard to beat.

The White Star Line built the RMS Olympic because they were locked in a battle with the Cunard Line in the early 1900s. Cunard had shocked the shipping world with the fast and luxurious RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania. Those ships held the speed records of the Atlantic and became symbols of British pride. White Star knew they could not win by building the fastest ships. They would create huge liners built around comfort, size, and luxury instead of outright speed. That idea became the Olympic-class ships, Olympic, Titanic, and later Britannic.

When Olympic entered service in 1911, people were stunned by her size. She had grand staircases, elevators, electric lights, Turkish baths, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, and first-class rooms that looked more like expensive hotels. Even second-class accommodations were considered better than first-class on many older ships. White Star advertised her as a steady and comfortable ship for wealthy travelers and immigrants alike. She was not designed to break speed records. She was designed to make passengers feel safe and relaxed crossing the Atlantic. That was her selling point. While Lusitania and Mauretania were faster, they were also known for rolling in rough seas. Olympic was built for comfort, and passengers appreciated the smoother ride. She had quite a few captains in her career. Captain Edward John Smith was the first captain and later would go to captain the Titanic.

After the loss of the RMS Titanic in 1912, Olympic suddenly carried a heavy burden. Many people feared that the Olympic-class ships were cursed or unsafe. But Olympic slowly rebuilt public confidence. She returned to service with major safety improvements, including more lifeboats and a strengthened double hull. She then became a war hero. Olympic was converted into a troopship during World War I. If you’d like to learn how passenger liners were transformed for military service, see our companion page: From Luxury to War: How Ocean Liners Became Troopships.

During World War I, she served as a troopship and carried thousands of soldiers across dangerous waters. In 1914, she spotted HMS Audacious, a battleship that was sinking. She stopped and risked being hit by a U-boat to rescue over 200 sailors. For a more complete story, go to the companion page. She even rammed and sank a German U-boat in 1918, something almost unheard of for a passenger liner. A reconstructed animation of this event is at the bottom of the page. She was also dressed up in her Dazzle Paint (She looked like a sixties rock band logo).

She kept sailing while many famous ships disappeared through war, accidents, or financial trouble. Passengers trusted her. Crews respected her. She crossed the Atlantic hundreds of times and carried everyone from immigrants to celebrities. In many ways, Olympic became the ship White Star had hoped for from the beginning: dependable, elegant, and respected. She even became something of a movie star, appearing in several films that can still be seen today. Among her passengers were Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Prince Edward, Cary Grant, Marie Curie, and many others. The Olympic ended up completing 257 round trips across the Atlantic (not counting the war) and traveled over 1.8 million miles.

On November 18, 1929, while crossing the North Atlantic near the resting place of her sister, the Titanic, Olympic experienced an unusual vibration that ran through the entire ship. At the time, no one knew why. The answer came later: she had been near one of the largest undersea earthquakes ever recorded in the North Atlantic. It was a strange coincidence that forever linked the two sisters once again, not through tragedy this time, but through one of nature’s most powerful events.

Among Olympic’s crew was stewardess Violet Jessop, who was aboard during the 1911 collision with HMS Hawke. She later survived the sinking of Titanic as a stewardess and Britannic as a wartime nurse. Depending on how you look at it, Jessop was either the unluckiest woman ever to work at sea, or the luckiest.

By the mid-1930s, Olympic was still a wonderful ship, but the world around her had changed. The Great Depression hurt the shipping business badly. Fewer people could afford ocean travel. Newer ships were also coming along that were faster and more modern. White Star Line was struggling for money and merged with Cunard in 1934. Olympic was already over 20 years old by then. Even though she was still running well, she cost a lot to operate and still had steam engines. In the end, the company decided to scrap her in 1935. It shocked many people because she had survived collisions, wartime service, bad storms, and decades at sea. To many, she still seemed full of life. Even in retirement, Olympic continued to serve. Her dismantling at Thomas W. Ward’s scrapyard in Jarrow provided nearly two years of employment during the depths of the Great Depression.

It’s easy to imagine what might have been. Had Olympic been preserved like the Queen Mary, millions of people could have walked her decks and experienced the closest thing to sailing on the Titanic. But forget the Titanic; it’s the friggin Olympic! But those were the years of the Great Depression, and preserving a ship wasn’t a realistic option. You cannot look at things like that with presentism. Even so, Olympic still lives on. Parts of her survive today! She is in the White Swan Hotel, where her beautiful wood paneling, windows, and fixtures continue to be admired. In a small way, the ship still welcomes guests and is not a museum piece. Parts of her are still working after over 100 years.

If I could travel back in time and sail on any ocean liner, Olympic would be my choice. Others were faster. Some were even more luxurious. But I would choose the ship that quietly did her job for nearly a quarter of a century and earned the nickname Old Reliable. I can’t think of a finer legacy than that.

Olympic wearing her World War I DAZZLE paint camouflage. The bold geometric patterns weren’t meant to hide the ship. They were designed to make it more difficult for German U-boat commanders to judge her speed, course, and heading through a submarine periscope.

A 30-minute short documentary of Olympic

SS Andrea Doria: The Last Great Ocean Liner Disaster

This is one ocean liner I had heard of long before I started this blog. She was another beauty that didn’t last as long as she should have. She had all the latest innovations of her day, including radar, a double hull, and watertight compartments. Yet, like the Titanic before her, one night in 1956 changed everything. The crash was eerily close to what happened to the Empress of Ireland except it took a lot longer to sink. There are so many stories connected to this ship. The “miracle girl,” the concept car that was in the cargo hold, the hero ship, Ile de France, and many more.

I also want to recommend the book The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria: The Sinking of the World’s Most Glamorous Ship by Greg King and Penny Wilson. It helped me immensely while writing this post. The same authors wrote one I read on the Lusitania.

Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember (about the Titanic) had been published the previous year, and several passengers were reading the bestselling account of the Titanic during the crossing from 44 years before. For at least one passenger, the story offered reassurance rather than fear. Remembering how the Carpathia had answered Titanic’s distress calls, she believed that other ships would come for them as well. She was right. Before the night was over, the Andrea Doria would have her own rescue fleet, most famously the brightly lit Île de France.

She was built by the Italian Line as a symbol of Italy’s recovery after World War II. Named for the famous sixteenth-century admiral Andrea Doria, she was launched in 1951 and entered service in January 1953. Elegant inside and out, she quickly earned a reputation as one of the most beautiful ocean liners in the world.

The Andrea Doria was also considered one of the safest ships in the world at the time, thanks to an advanced system of watertight compartments and double hull construction. She was built to remain afloat even if two of her compartments flooded, a design that gave her operators and passengers great confidence in her seaworthiness. For several years she sailed the transatlantic route between Genoa and New York.

On the night of July 25, 1956, her fate would change. She was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, in dense fog. Traveling in the opposite direction was the Swedish ocean liner MS Stockholm. Through a combination of navigational misjudgments, radar misinterpretation, and the fog, the two ships collided. The reinforced icebreaker bow of the Stockholm struck the starboard side of the Andrea Doria, tearing a huge gash into her hull and opening several compartments to the sea. The Stockholm’s bow didn’t merely puncture the Andrea Doria’s outer hull. It drove roughly 30 feet into the ship, cutting through passenger cabins (as we will tragically see) and tanks before the two vessels separated.

Linda Morgan was fourteen years old, traveling on the Andrea Doria’s final crossing with her mother, stepfather, and younger half-sister, eight-year-old Joan Cianfarra. Linda and Joan shared cabin 52, while their mother and stepfather were next door in cabin 54. Both cabins sat almost directly in the path of the Stockholm’s bow.

When the two ships collided just after 11 p.m. on July 25, 1956, the Stockholm’s reinforced bow tore through the area where Linda was sleeping. What happened next remains one of the most incredible survival stories in maritime history. Somehow, the collision carried Linda from her bed and deposited her among the wreckage on the crushed bow of the Stockholm. She had literally gone from one ship to the other during the collision.

In the darkness and fog, a Stockholm crewman heard a voice calling from the bow wreckage in Spanish, crying for her mother. A Spanish-speaking crew member went to investigate and found Linda there, confused but alive. She reportedly asked him, “I was on the Andrea Doria. Where am I now?” Linda suffered a broken arm and other injuries but had survived something almost impossible to imagine. Sadly, her stepfather and younger stepsister did not survive. Her mother was badly injured but lived. The newspapers soon gave Linda a name that would follow her afterward: “the Miracle Girl.” Read more about this incredible girl. Read about the other heroes here.

The collision caused the Andrea Doria to list severely to starboard almost immediately, which tragically rendered many of her lifeboats on the port side unusable. Among the ships that answered the distress call was the French ocean liner SS Île de France. Her captain immediately turned his ship around and raced toward the scene. The Île de France would take hundreds of survivors aboard and become one of the heroes of the disaster. The disaster claimed 46 lives, most of whom died in the initial impact rather than in the sinking itself.

A severe list is more than just a ship leaning to one side. As the angle increases, openings that normally sit safely above the waterline can become submerged, allowing even more water inside. Lifeboats can also become difficult or impossible to launch, and simply moving through corridors and stairways becomes dangerous. Most frightening of all, if a ship loses enough stability, the list can continue until she capsizes. For most of the 11 hours she was listing, that was a constant worry.

For about eleven hours after the collision, the Andrea Doria remained afloat, slowly listing further as spectators, journalists, and rescue vessels gathered nearby, and photographs and film footage of her final hours became iconic images of the era. Early on the morning of July 26, 1956, she finally capsized and sank beneath the waters off Nantucket, coming to rest on her starboard side at a depth of roughly 240 feet. For three years, she represented Italy’s return to the world’s oceans after the devastation of World War II. It was caught on film for national television at the time.

The wreck of the Andrea Doria remains a very popular, though very dangerous, site for experienced scuba divers. It is sometimes referred to as the “Mount Everest of diving” due to strong currents and deteriorating structure that have claimed the lives of several divers over the decades. The disaster also prompted significant changes in maritime safety regulations, particularly regarding radar use and navigational protocols in low-visibility conditions. Even today, the Andrea Doria is remembered as a symbol of the golden age of ocean liner travel. She was a ship whose beauty and promise were cut short by one foggy night off the New England coast.

There was one remarkable survivor of the Andrea Doria disaster that remained with us until very recently: the MS Stockholm herself. Repaired after the collision, she went on to have an extraordinary career under several owners and names, eventually sailing as the cruise ship Astoria. Her final passenger service came in 2020, an incredible 72 years after she entered service. After several years laid up in Rotterdam, the former Stockholm was finally sold for recycling in 2025. The ship whose bow had disappeared deep inside the Andrea Doria had survived her by nearly seventy years.

For all of you CAR FANS…the Andrea Doria was carrying a cool concept car, and it is still down there, part of the Doria now.

SS Île de France: The Saint Bernard of the Seas

My kind of ship! She earned this title due to her numerous rescue operations at sea. This was one beautiful ship and is remembered for all the right reasons. What a time for ocean travel. It was effectively the “jet-set” before the jet. The ocean liners took people across the ocean in style. Celebrities would ride them back and forth, much like seventies rock stars did on jets, to be with their famous friends and have new adventures. So today we will take a look at a great ocean liner that was a hero to many.

The SS Île de France was one of the great French ocean liners of the 20th century. Built for the French Line, she entered service in 1927 and quickly became known for something other than speed records. While ships like the White Star liners and Cunard’s express liners competed for the Blue Riband (an unofficial award for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic), SS Île de France became famous for her elegance, Art Deco interiors, and later, her remarkable rescue work at sea. Passengers loved her modern style, and she helped establish France as a major player in transatlantic travel during the years between the World Wars.

When World War II began, her civilian career was interrupted. Like many liners of the era, she was converted into a troopship and carried thousands of soldiers during the conflict and traveled over 400,000 miles. After the war, she was extensively rebuilt and returned to passenger service in 1949. The postwar years were among her most successful. She once again carried travelers between Europe and North America and became one of the most recognizable ships on the Atlantic.

In 1953, she rescued the crew of the Liberian freighter Greenville, getting 25 out of the 26 crewmen. Her finest hour came in July 1956 after the collision between the Italian liner SS Andrea Doria and the Swedish liner MS Stockholm. Upon receiving the distress calls, Île de France altered course and rushed through the night toward the disaster scene. Her crew worked tirelessly to take hundreds (over 750) of survivors aboard from lifeboats. In total, she rescued more people than any other ship involved in the operation. The sight of her brightly illuminated sign arriving out of the darkness brought hope to frightened survivors who had spent hours waiting on the cold Atlantic.

Because of that rescue, Île de France earned the nickname The Saint Bernard of the Seas; it was a fitting title. Long after her days as a luxury liner were forgotten, people remembered how she answered the call when it mattered most. She remained in service until 1959, when she was retired and eventually scrapped, but her legacy lives on as one of the great rescue ships in maritime history. Celebrities also loved this ship. Bogart and Bacall, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Alan Ladd, Lena Horne, Rita Hayworth, Ernest Hemingway, Marlene Dietrich, and more. One more I will add selfishly because he is my favorite filmmaker…Buster Keaton.

In November 1934, comedian Buster Keaton returned from Europe aboard the Île de France. Keaton had traveled overseas to make the French film Le Roi des Champs-Élysées at a time when Hollywood had nearly discarded him. He reportedly crossed to Europe aboard a freighter to save money, but he came home in considerably better style. During the return crossing, Keaton even demonstrated his famous ability to escape from a straitjacket.

After she retired from passenger service, part of her final career was in the 1960 film The Last Voyage. The producers needed a large ocean liner that was about to be scrapped so they could stage realistic scenes of a ship in distress. The Île de France fit the bill.

However, there was one catch. The owners did not want the famous French liner portrayed as sinking on screen. So the filmmakers changed the ship’s identity for the movie. They painted over her name and transformed her into the fictional liner Claridon. During filming, they flooded compartments, smashed interiors, and staged explosions and damage to the once great ship.

If you see some pictures of her with 3 funnels and then two, there is a reason. After the war, when she was restored to an ocean liner, she went from 3 funnels to two shorter ones.

France, ca. 1927. Ocean liner ¿le-de-France. Stateroom by Ren¿ Prou (1889-1947). Twin beds in palissandre with bedspread in beaver velvet. Woodwork in gray and white sycamore. Curtains of red taffeta. Inverted pyramid ceiling lights in sculptured alabaster. Pierre Patout (1879-1965), chief architect.
France, ca. 1927. Ocean liner ¿le-de-France. Stateroom by Ren¿ Prou (1889-1947). Twin beds in palissandre with bedspread in beaver velvet. Woodwork in gray and white sycamore. Curtains of red taffeta. Inverted pyramid ceiling lights in sculptured alabaster. Pierre Patout (1879-1965), chief architect.

RMS Lusitania: The Sinking Felt Around the World

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.

When you REALLY have time…it’s worth a watch!

RMS Empress of Ireland: Canada’s Titanic

There have been bad shipwrecks, but this is one of the most horrific ones I’ve read about. If you read my Titanic posts, I said that she gave her crew and passengers two hours and forty minutes before she sank. The Empress of Ireland sank in 14 minutes and in the worst, most heartbreaking way. It didn’t have to happen; in a deep fog on the Saint Lawrence River, another ship rammed into her, and she only had 14 minutes of life left, as did most of her passengers. There were 1477 souls on board; only 465 survived. More passengers (crew not included) died on the Empress than on the Titanic. The Empress could hold 1,542 passengers and up to 420 crew, so this was not a small ship. This tragedy was given the name “Canada’s Titanic” by the press, not me. It was/is the worst peacetime disaster in Canada’s history.

The RMS Empress of Ireland was launched in 1906 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. She was built to carry passengers between Quebec and Liverpool. She was a beauty! The ship was not as large as the great liners from White Star or Cunard, but she had a strong reputation. Many people considered her one of the safest ships on the North Atlantic route. She carried immigrants, businessmen, tourists, and mail across the ocean for years without major trouble. Her interiors were elegant for the time. Rich wood paneling, wide staircases, and comfortable cabins gave her a first-class feel. Captain Henry Kendall commanded the ship during her final voyage. By 1914, she had already completed hundreds of crossings and was known as a dependable liner. Personally, it’s one of my favorite ships; it was a stunning and beautiful ship.

On May 28, 1914, she left Quebec City for Liverpool with 1,477 people aboard. The weather turned foggy as she traveled down the Saint Lawrence River near Rimouski. Around 2:10 am on May 29, the Norwegian coal ship SS Storstad appeared through the fog. Both ships tried to maneuver safely, but confusion over signals and visibility caused disaster. The Storstad slammed into the Empress on her starboard side and tore a huge hole in the hull. Water rushed in immediately. The Empress of Ireland listed heavily and sank in only about 14 minutes. Many passengers were asleep and had little chance to escape. It also seems that the watertight doors were not shut. They were not automatic like a few other ships and the crew didn’t have time.

One of the interesting tragic historical parts is that the Empress was full of Salvation Army members who were traveling to England for Congress. There were about 160 members on board, of whom about 130 died. The sinking decimated the Salvation Army in Canada. Nearly the entire Canadian Staff Band was wiped out, as was much of the Salvation Army leadership. It took decades to rebuild. Most people were in bed and woke up to water, listing to the port side, and to a complete darkness nightmare. It was hard, if not impossible, to use the stairs, if you could find them in the dark, because the ship was sideways. People tried to escape through the 14- to 19-inch portholes on the port side; many didn’t make it.

The tragedy shocked Canada and the world, but it was soon overshadowed by World War I and later by the sinking of the Lusitania. The wreck site is now strictly protected by both provincial and federal Canadian law. In 2009, the Canadian government designated the ship as a National Historic Site of Canada. I won’t go into the harrowing details of what happened to many of the passengers, but it’s worth watching a documentary or reading about.

Why did it sink so fast? The Storstad punched a massive hole roughly 14 feet wide and 25 feet deep into the ship. This gaping 350-square-foot breach (for comparison… the Titanic was a 12-square-foot breach) flooded the boiler rooms and then sank her. What made it worse was that the Storstad was built with a reinforced bow for icebreaking. She tore through the Empress easily. I have a picture of the Storstad below after the accident in the pictures. The Storstad was fine afterward and sailed again after this.

Remember, when it was hit, people had to act instantly to survive. The crew did all they could do, and many passengers, crew, and rescuers died while trying to save passengers.

William Clarke: A fireman (a person who shoveled coal in the burners) who also claimed to have survived the sinking of the Titanic, managed to get into a lifeboat and actively pulled around 60 freezing passengers out of the water. The Salvation Army Members: Several witnesses noted that when the chaos ensued, many of them gave their own life jackets to struggling people in the water who did not have them, choosing to drown so others could live. Robert Crellin: A passenger recognized for his bravery in saving a trapped 8-year-old girl named Grace Hanagan (who went on to become the last surviving passenger of the disaster, living until 1995)

BTW…on the videos. I try to find short ones, but many of the short ones just don’t tell the story. I will always try to give you a choice depending on what time you have. Many of these videos are by ship nerds (I mean that in the best way), so to speak. They use graphic tools to recreate the ships, not AI, in most cases.

This post is longer than what I plan on being the norm…but I felt more needed to be said about this tragic event.

Grace Hanagan tells her story and it’s beyond moving.

@abbie.cheeseman

Traveling by ocean liner back then probably felt so insane. Here’s the story of the RMS Empress of Ireland, which sank in 1914 and was less famous than the Titanic despite being similarly catastrophic #forgottenhistory #history #historytok #empressofireland #shipwreck

♬ Curious – Healing And Spirit Health & DJ Hoobidibbie

Three Sisters: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic

Welcome to the introductory post of this site! I run a pop culture site called powerpop.blog. I didn’t feel like what I’m going to be talking about really belonged there. I have a huge passion for these ships and would love to learn and grow more in this area. I want to start out with the big 3 Olympic-class ships of the White Star Line in the early 20th Century. That is not to say we won’t be talking about other non-steam ships like the Edmund Fitzgerald and bounce between the two like the RMS Empress of Ireland (often called Canada’s Titanic). There is room for all, but I would like to center it around the old steam ships. This won’t be a blog where I post every day. At first, I will try to make it consistent but not overbearing because I don’t have that kind of time.

My love of old steam ships started with the Titanic when I was a kid in the seventies and eighties. I would also read about the Olympic and Britannic, and how luxurious they were. They were not a huge party boat on water like modern cruise ships. They were refined and a way to get to the New World in style. They were elegant, beautiful, and regal. White Star Line didn’t make most of its money from the rich; it made it with 3rd-class passengers traveling to different countries. It was said that the Titanic’s third class were widely considered to be the equivalent of, or even superior to, second class other ships, it’s second class was like first class on other ships, and its 1st class was magnificent.

We will dive into all three ships, The White Star Line, The Cunard Line, and other ships at that time. What made me love these ships was the classic look that never gets old to me. Also, the interior that they used. Below I’ll drop some pics of the interior the Olympic. When you see the main grand staircase, yes, it’s the Olympic. No known picture exists of Titanic’s grand staircase, but it was said to be nearly identical. There were differences, though, in the ships, and we will get into that as well.

See you on the next post!

Here is something that The White Star Line would have LOVED to have seen but sadly it never happened. Of course this picture is not real.