Titanic into the Night by E. D.
Walker
Depicted on her last departure from Belfast on the
evening of 2nd April 1912 en route to Southampton and her tragic maiden
voyage.
RMS Mauretania (1907) off Point Lynas by E. D. Walker
Through the years the Mauretania was the most
popular and well-loved ship, in the eyes of the general public, to sail on
the North Atlantic route. In November 1907, she won the Blue Riband
from her sister ship Lusitania by making the run from Ambrose
Lighthouse to Queenstown in 4 days, 22 hours and 29 minutes at a speed of
23.69 knots. After losing the title back to her sister, she regained
it for a period of two decades in July 1909 with a crossing eastbound of 4
days, 17 hours and 20 minutes at a speed of 25.89 knots.
She had a busy and varied life, being commissioned as a troop transport
in August 1914, and later as a hospital ship. After being
de-commissioned, she resumed service on June 27th 1919 but was damaged by
fire in 1921 at Southampton. She was subsequently repaired and
fitted out for fuel oil. After her hull was painted white in 1931,
she was sent cruising and during the following year she made only five
transatlantic voyages.
The "Grand Old Lady" increased her speed with age, with a record
of 27.65 knots in 1929. She held the Blue Riband for 22 years, a
feat which deserved a more fitting end than being sold to Metal Industries
in April, 1935 for scrap.
RMS Acquitania (1914) Leaving the Mersey by E. D.
Walker After completing three round-trip voyages and arriving in Liverpool on
July 27th, 1914, the Aquitania was converted to an armed
merchant cruiser on the outbreak of World War I. In August of that
year, she was paid off by the Admiralty as she was considered too large
for operations. In 1915, however, she was used as a troop transporter to the
Dardanelles. Later she served as a hospital ship in the
Mediterranean until 1917. In that year she was laid up but was put back
into service again, transporting American troops to France. After the war
she resumed the Transatlantic service, leaving Southampton on June 14th,
1919. Between December 1919 and August 1920, Aquitania was converted
to oil-firing. At the beginning of the Second World War, she was
once again requisitioned for war service until 1948, when she re-entered
passenger service. She made her last passage for Cunard in November,
1949. She was the first liner to be equipped with a gyro-compass and also the
last of the four -stackers. She had served Cunard for 35 years when she
went to the breakers' yard at Gareloch, Scotland, in 1949.
RMS Britannia (1840) off the Angelsey Coast by E. D.
Walker Samuel Cunard's first steamship was a wooden paddle-steamer, built in
1840 by R. Duncan & Co. of Greenock, and launched on February 5th.
She was built for the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet
Co. which was popularly known as Cunard's Line. On her maiden voyage
she left Liverpool on Saturday, 4th July, 1840, at 2 o'clock,
and arrived in Halifax 12 days 10 hours later. Charles Dickens made
his first journey to America in the Britannia in 1842, and later
chronicled how un-impressed he had been with the accommodation. This
was largely because she ran into a series of westerly gales which caused
Dickens to suffer from severe sea-sickness. When he was well enough to
venture on deck, he found the lifeboats reduced to matchwood. Part
of the starboard paddle-box had been carried away and the naked paddles
churned spray over the heaving decks.
Britannia was sold to the North German Confederation Navy and
re-named Barbarossa in 1849. She was transferred to the
Prussian Navy in 1852, serving until 1880 when she was sunk while acting
as a target during experiments with early forms of torpedoes.
