Legend has it that ships, especially ocean liners; like people, have souls! Figuratively, they develop a personality, typically feminine in nature, and as a result, it becomes quite easy to develop a strong and intensely emotional connection, almost bordering on passion, with what is essentially, a material object, a combination of glass, paint and steel, countless working parts with something that borders on unrequited love!
One such ocean going ‘Grande Dame’ was the Mauretania and she will long be remembered as a legend. Indeed a legend among those who knew her renown and acclaim as the largest, the fastest, and the most opulent liner of her time, but history will record the Mauretania as one of the most enduring symbols of reliability on the North Atlantic .
From her launch to the end of her service career, the Mauretania was the comparison to which all contemporary liners of the day were made.
This magnificent manmade creation was certainly a ‘lady’ not soon forgotten and even close to eighty years after her demise; she still has the ‘magic’ to attract attention!
IN AMBROSE CHANNEL
Heavy Weather Met At This Port
Kept Cunard Liner From Breaking The Record
STAY IN THE MUD BRIEF
Vessel’s Average Of More Than 27 Knots
On Wednesday Not Kept Up
Brought 377 Saloon Passengers
The New York Times
November 4, 1910
The Cunard liner Mauretania, in from Liverpool , arrived at her pier at 10:30 o’clock last night. She completed what had been expected to be a record breaking voyage by encountering adverse winds and a heavy rainstorm, which delayed her. At the end of the voyage, which was made to the coast under favorable conditions, she pushed her nose into the mud at the edge of the Ambrose Channel, and was detained there some three-quarters of an hour.
Owing to the strong tide in the river last night caused by the heavy rains, the Mauretania collided with the end of the pier but did not do any great damage except to smash in the rails of the shed.
The Mauretania left Queenstown on Sunday at 8:20 o’clock in the morning. She had good weather until about noon yesterday, when, after passing Nantucket , she ran into the storm. The rain lashed by the strong, variable winds, struck the vessel with the force of hail. It became so thick that the Mauretania had to crawl through the mist to Ambrose Channel. The delay at the last part of the voyage was a disappointment to many of the passengers, for the vessel made an average of more than 27 knots in nine hours on Wednesday, and they looked forward to a new record. As it was, the great liner crossed in 4 days and 12 hours, as against her record time of 4 days 10 hours and 41 minutes.
The story of the delay which prevented her getting in at the time her officers expected is told in her time record. She passed Nantucket at 7:49 A.M. and was reported from Fire Island at 2:10 P.M. The Ambrose Channel was abeam at 3:20 P.M. The Mauretania got into Quarantine at 6:10 o’clock, and was released at 7:39 P.M. She began to land her passengers soon after 10:30 o’clock last night.
The officers of the vessel did not want to discuss the grounding of the steamship. She was slowly coming through the Ambrose Channel when, about 5 o’clock, she ran her nose into the bank at the edge of the waterway. The vessel was proceeding very slowly at the time, and there was no perceptible jar when she brought up. Hardly a passenger knew that she had grounded until the working of the propellers as she went astern apprised them that something had happened.
The incoming tide and the working of her own power got her free, and she started again on her way to port. One of the officers, in speaking of delay, said that he did not know the liner was aground, thinking the skipper had stopped for high tide.
The revenue cutter Hudson Mauretania had to come to her pier at a snail’s pace. There was a strong wind blowing, and in addition she had to buck an unusually strong tide before she could get to the pier. The tide also made it a long task to straighten her out and put her alongside her pier. The Mauretania brought 377 first, 410 second, and 813 third class passengers. Many of those in her cabins decided to stay on board all night rather than seek hotels in the pouring rain.
There was some excitement in the smoking room after the liner left Quarantine. As a result of a dispute which began the day before, one passenger struck another a blow behind the ear. For a minute there was a promise of a rough and tumble fight, but other passengers interfered. According to the story told onboard, one passenger had called the other a professional card player. The other resented this and sent word to his detractor to keep a guard on his tongue. They met for the first time after dinner last night, and the man accused of being a gambler assaulted the other.
Among the passengers arriving on the Mauretania was Benjamin Guggenheim, his wife, and daughters and his nephew Rudi Kahn and the latter’s wife.
Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Guggenheim
Mr. Guggenheim and his family returned from a four months trip abroad. He is President of the International Steam Pump Company and devoted much of his time to the foreign interests of the company. A factory has just been erected near Paris
‘The steadily growing foreign interest in American securities will continue, particularly now that the political situation abroad is so uncertain,’ said Mr. Guggenheim. ‘Our country has just had a long repose from the excesses arising from the tremendous strides with which we march forward whenever capital is placed at our disposal. In view of the length of time already elapsed since our last period of activity and as our crops have proved so abundant we should, after the elections are out of the way, start again on our forward march. In fact, there should be nothing to disturb our clear horizon, and we have every reason to hope for an improved future.’
J. Bruce Ismay
James Bruce Ismay, President of the International Mercantile Marine, who was a passenger on the Mauretania with Mrs. Ismay, said that he had come over to hold a conference on business matters of the company, and would stay in this city until Nov. 12, when he expected to return to Liverpool on the White Star liner Cedric.
When asked what he intended to do with regard to the docking of the two new lingers, the Olympic and Titanic, Mr. Ismay said the New York Harbor Chelsea
‘You do not intend to take the Olympic and Titanic to Montauk?’ was another question put to Mr. Ismay.
‘We do not want to go there, but the Olympic must go somewhere when she arrives here next June,’ he said.
‘Is it true that the ships will eventually have to go to South Brooklyn and dock at the new city piers, which are 1,600 feet long/” was asked.
‘It is possible’ replied Mr. Ismay, ‘but I hope that the War Department will relent and change its attitude toward the extension of the Chelsea
He added that the question of the docking of the Olympic and Titanic would be settled at the conferences he had come to attend with Vice President Franklin and other officials of the International Mercantile Marine Navigation Company at its offices at 9 Broadway. The whole matter would be definitely settled before he sails for Liverpool he said.
When asked who would command the new ships he replied that Capt. E. J. Smith, Commander R.N.R. of the Adriatic would probably have the Olympic, and Capt. H. J. Haddock, Commander R. N. R., of the Oceanic, would have the Titanic.
Another passenger was the Countess von Ostheim, who is accompanied by her attorney, Caesar Agrati of Milan, the birthplace of the Countess. Countess von Ostheim is the morganatic wife of the Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Duke of Saxony. She comes to this country to be treated for deafness. The Countess, who pierced an ear drum in an accident, has consulted many of the specialists in Europe . Mr. Agrati is legal advisor to the Mayor of Milan, and carries a letter of introduction to Mayor Gaynor.
Lord Decies
Lord Decies noted as a horseman, is here to act as judge at the Madison Square Garden Horse Show. He said that Col. Kenna, A. D. C. to the King; Lieuts. Brooke of the Sixteenth Lancers, Lieut. Walwyn of the Royal Horse Artillery, and Lieut. T. Thornton of the Seventh Hussars, who are to take part in the show, are on their way to this country on the steamship Adriatic .
Other arrivals were Mrs. F. Amsinck, M. A. Arnold, Reginald A. Barker, Constance Collier, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Beyle, Miss May Blayney, Lady Maxwell, wife of Gen. Sir John Maxwell, Commander in Chief of the British forces in Egypt, and her father, John Bonynge: Miss E. B. Grigsby. Ernest L. Harris, American Consul General at Smyrna: Mrs. Fowler, wife of the President of the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad; Baron N. Kuroda, who is returning to Japan after studying chemistry in Cambridge University; Prof. Joszi von Koppay of Austria, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Lever, Gen. Sir Hugh McCalmont, Mr. and Mrs. F. D. Pelton, Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Pratt, Mrs. B. V. de Martinez del Rio of Mexico City, Mrs. J. J. Townsend, Mr. and Mrs. George Young, Sir Swire Smith, and Robert Watchorn, former Immigration Commissioner at this port.
The RMS Mauretania, also affectionately known as the ‘Maury’ was an ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend, Tyne and Wear for the British steamship company, the Cunard Line, and launched on Thursday, September 20, 1906. At the time, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world. The Mauretania became a favorite among her passengers. After capturing the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing during her 1907 inaugural season, the Mauretania held the speed record for twenty-two years.
In naming the rakish new liner, the ship's name was taken from Mauretania, an ancient Roman province on the northwestern African coast, not related to the modern Mauritania
Mauretania during a speed trial off St Abbs , Scotland
In 1897 the German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became the largest and fastest ship in the world. With a speed of 22 knots (41 km/h), she captured the Blue Riband from Cunard Line's Campania
At around the same time American financier J. P. Morgan’s International Mercantile Marine Co. was attempting to monopolize the shipping trade, and had already acquired Britain's other major transatlantic line; the White Star. In the face of these threats the Cunard Line was determined to regain the prestige of ocean travel back not only to the company, but also to Great Britain
In 1903, the Cunard Line and the British government reached an agreement to build two super liners, the Lusitania and Mauretania, with a guaranteed service speed of no less than 24 knots, the British government was to loan £2,600,000 (£207 million as of 2011), for the construction of Mauretania and Lusitania at an interest rate of 2.75% to be paid back over twenty years with a stipulation that the ships could be converted to Armed Merchant Cruisers if needed; also to fund these ships further the Admiralty arranged for Cunard to be paid an additional £150,000 per year to their mail subsidy.
The Mauretania and her sister Lusitania were both designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett with Swan Hunter and John Brown working from the plans for an ocean greyhound with a stipulated service speed of twenty-four knots in moderate weather for her mail subsidy contract. Peskett's original configuration for the ships in 1903 was a three-funnel design when reciprocating engines were destined to be the power plant. A giant model of the ships in this configuration appeared in Shipbuilder's magazine. Cunard in 1904 decided to change power plants to Parson's new turbine technology and Peskett then implemented a fourth funnel to the ship's profile as the ships design was again modified before construction of the vessel finally began.
Workmen standing below Mauretania 's propellers in drydock
On Thursday, the 20th of September, 1906, the Mauretania was ready for launching. The ceremonies were presided over by Her Grace the Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe, aunt of Winston Churchill and in attendance it would seem, was all of Tyneside. It was on that fair September day in 1906 that the Mauretania was launched into the River Tyne, amid the cheer and jubilation of the Tyneside craftsmen whose skill and labor were borne into what was then the largest and most modern passenger vessel in the world.
At the time of her launch, she was the largest moving structure yet built, and slightly larger in gross tonnage than her sister Lusitania Lusitania were that the Mauretania was five feet longer and had different vents, the Mauretania had cowl vents and the Lusitania Lusitania Lusitania Mauretania 's usage of the steam turbine was the largest yet application of the then-new technology, developed by Charles Algernon Parsons. During speed trials, these engines caused significant vibration at high speeds; in response, Mauretania received strengthening members and redesigned propellers before entering service, which reduced vibration.
As the Mauretania left the ways and slipped into the waters of the Tyne , she was guided by six tugs to the nearby fitting-out basin where work would commence on the erection of her superstructure, funnels, and fitting-out of her luxurious interiors. The work would span a period of just over one year.
First Class Library
Color Representation Of The First Class Library
Upper Level Of The First Class Dining Saloon
First Class Smoking Room
Fireplace In The First Class Smoking Room
Alcove In The First Class Smoking Room
First Class Lounge
Tapestry In The First Class Lounge
Colored Representation Of The First Class Lounge
First Class Verandah Cafe
Color Representation Of The Verandah Cafe
First Class Children's Playroom
First Class Grand Entrance & Elevator
Sofa In The First Class Grand Entrance
Observation Room
Promenade Deck
En Suite First Class Staterooms, A Deck
First Class Parlour Suite, B Deck
Dining Room & Sitting Room Of The Regal Suite
First Class Bath
Second Class Dining Saloon
Second Class Drawing Room
Second Class Lounge
Second Class Smoking Room
Color Representation Of The Second Class Smoking Room
Second Class Special Stateroom
Third Class Dining Saloon
Third Class General Activity Room
Third Class Stateroom
Career Of An Ocean Greyhound
Name: RMS Mauretania 1906-1934 ~ HMS Tuberose (1918-1919)
Owner: Cunard Steamship Line
Port of registry: Liverpool , United Kingdom
Builder: Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear
Laid down: 1904
Launched: Thursday, September 20, 1906
Christened: September 20, 1906, by the Duchess of Roxburghe
Maiden voyage: Saturday, November 16, 1907
Out of service: 1934
Nickname: Maury
Fate: Retired from service September 1934, scrapped in 1935 at Rosyth , Scotland
General Characteristics
Tonnage: 31,938
Length: 790 ft (240.8 m)
Beam: 88 ft (26.8 m)
Installed power: Direct-action Parsons steam turbines (two high pressures, two low pressures) 68,000 SHP (shaft horsepower) nominal at launch, 76,000 SHP on record run, later increased to 90,000 SHP after conversion to oil burning.
Propulsion: Quadruple propeller installation triple bladed design at launch changed soon after to four bladed versions. Astern turbines available on inboard shafts only.
Speed: 24 knots (46 km/h) designed service speed
Capacity: 2165 passengers total: 563 first class; 464 second class; 1138 third class
Crew: 802
On Tuesday, October 22, 1907 the Mauretania departed the Tyne and headed for Liverpool for delivery to the Cunard Line and for official Sea Trials. The delivery voyage took the Mauretania around Scotland Mauretania reached a speed upwards of 26.75 knots, conclusively meeting the requirement of speed set forth in Cunard's agreement.
After flawless Sea Trials, the Mauretania left Liverpool on her maiden voyage on Saturday, the 16th of November 1907 under the command of Captain John Pritchard. With an inaugural send-off uninhibited by the damp weather, Mauretania sailed for New York Sandy Hook . The Mauretania made the trip between Liverpool and New York
On Saturday, the 30th of November; the Mauretania would again encounter fog, this time off of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but with men and machinery working to achieve a record, the ship managed to capture the eastbound record with an average speed of 23.69 knots.
On Saturday, the 2nd of May 1908; the Mauretania had left Liverpool when she was thought to have hit a submerged object. Despite the propeller blades being damaged, the Cunard Line took advantage of the situation and used the opportunity to replace both inner shafts with four bladed propellers. A refit was also carried out at Canada Graving Dock in Liverpool later that year. The subsequent voyage left Liverpool on Saturday, the 23rd of January 1909.
It was not until September of 1909 that the Mauretania would claim the record for the fastest westbound crossing, a record she would retain for over 20 years until July 1929. This figure is indeed a tribute to the engineering feat which was the Mauretania . During this period of constant service, the Mauretania would gain a reputation for reliability and consistent on-time performance. It would be a reputation she would own until the end of her career.
By 1909 the public was looking for faster crossings and once at their destination, a speedy land journey. As a result it was inevitable that ports closer to London than Liverpool were required, and soon Fishguard was developed as a port of call for Atlantic liners. The Mauretania was the first Cunard liner to use this port, on Monday, the 30th of August 1909. At the end of 1909 the ships first Captain, John T. Pritchard, retired and Captain William Turner assumed command.
The flawless reputation of the Mauretania attracted several prominent passengers. On a voyage during December 1910 HSH Prince Albert of Monaco
Later In the month of December 1910; the Mauretania broke loose from her moorings while in the River Mersey and sustained damage that caused the cancellation of her special speedy Christmas voyage to New York Lusitania under the command of Captain James Charles; she had just returned from New York Lusitania herself completed the Christmas crossings for her sister, carrying revelers back to New York
In June 1911 the ship brought thousands of visitors to Britain
In December 1913 the Mauretania returned to Liverpool for its annual overhaul, part of which involved work on the main propulsion turbines. On Monday, the 26th of January 1914, whilst men were working on the turbine blades, one of the gas cylinders exploded. Four men were killed and six were injured. The resulting fire was extinguished and the main damage was confined to the blades in the starboard turbine. Although the damage was minimal; she was not ready to rejoin the Atlantic service until March 1914!
When Britain declared war on Germany , on Tuesday, the 4th of August 1914, the ship was on its way to New York Halifax and the Admiralty sent out an order requisitioning the ship as an armed merchant cruiser, as soon as it returned to Liverpool . On the 11th August, however, the Mauretania and the Lusitania
However, reduced demand for transatlantic passages meant that the Mauretania was laid up at Liverpool on Wednesday, the 26th of August. After the loss of the Lusitania in May 1915 the Mauretania was required to return to service. Before she did, however, the Admiralty requisitioned the ship to transport troops during the Gallipoli campaign, later in May. As a troopship, Mauretania received dazzle camouflage, a form of abstract color scheming, in an effort to confuse enemy ships.
During this period she made several voyages to Mudros Bay island of Lemnos Mauretania was attacked by a submarine but managed to avoid the torpedo, largely due the ship's high speed. At the end of August, when combined forces from the British Empire and France began to suffer heavy casualties, Mauretania was ordered to serve as a hospital ship, she returned to Liverpool along with her fellow Cunarder Aquitania and White Star's Britannic, and was fitted out as a hospital ship. The dazzle painting was not used when the Mauretania served as a hospital ship. In medical service she was painted white with large medical cross emblems surrounding the vessel.
She then left Liverpool on Wednesday, the 21st of October to assist with the evacuation of the wounded from Gallipoli. The Mauretania made several further voyages as a hospital ship and completed her last voyage as such on Tuesday, the 25th of January 1916.
This, however, was not the end of the Mauretania ’s war service. On Friday, the 29th of September 1916 she was requisitioned again to carry Canadian troops. In October-November 1916 she made two voyages from Liverpool to Halifax carrying Canadian troops bound for France Clyde until 1918. In March 1918 she was again used as a troopship carrying over 30,000 American troops before the Armistice in November. She was known by the Admiralty as HMS Tuberose until the end of the war, but the vessel's name was never changed by Cunard.
After the end of the War, she was used in the repatriation of American and Canadian troops. On Thursday, the 12th of December it was decided that the Mauretania would now sail from Southampton and call at Cherbourg on its way to New York Southampton .
The Mauretania returned to civilian service on Friday, September 21, 1919 when she sailed from Southampton on her first commercial voyage since World War I began. The Cunard Line had altered its flagship transatlantic route to sail from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg instead of the previous Liverpool route. A much needed overhaul, planned for 1920, was delayed as the demand for passenger services to Europe from America
Whilst docked at Southampton , on Friday, the 22nd of July 1921, a fire broke out on board on E-deck. The fire spread quickly and required the efforts of both the fire brigade and crew to extinguish it. Fortunately, the major damage caused was confined to the first class cabin area. As a result of this near-miss, it was decided to send the Mauretania back to the builder's yard for an overhaul
She returned to the Tyne shipyard of her birth, where her boilers were converted to oil firing, and returned to service in March 1922. Cunard noticed that Mauretania struggled to maintain her regular Atlantic service speed. Although the ship's service speed had improved and it now burned only 750 short tons (680 t) of oil per 24 hours, compared to 1,000 short tons (910 t) of coal previously, it was not operating at her pre-war service speeds. On one crossing in 1922 she managed an average speed of only nineteen knots. It was at this time, that Cunard decided that the Mauetania's once revolutionary turbines were in desperate need of an overhaul.
On Monday, the 25th of July 1922 the Mauretania broke her pre-war Atlantic speed record; her average speed was now above 26 knots.
In January 1923 she was chartered by an American travel company and made a Mediterranean cruise. Later in November 1923, a major re-fitting was begun in Southampton . The Mauretania 's turbines were dismantled. Halfway through the overhaul, the shipyard workers went on strike and the work was halted, so Cunard had the ship towed to Cherbourg , France
In 1924 the Cowes Harbor Commission complained about the Mauretania’s speed as she left the Solent . The heavy wash created had flooded Cowes
In 1928 Mauretania was modernized with new interior design and in the next year her speed record was broken by a German liner, the Bremen Bremen Mauretania did not beat her German rival, the ship beat her own speed records both eastbound and westbound.
On Wednesday, the 27th of November 1929 the Mauretania collided with a train ferry near Robbins Reef, after leaving New York Mauretania ’s bows, was repaired within 24 hours.
The Mauretania 's Second Class Smoking Room.
In the 1930s in the final years of Mauretania's service, the liner would be increasingly deployed on cruises in the Mediterranean, the West Indies, and the Bahamas Mauretania to the dangers of becoming hopelessly outdated. So after a winter overhaul it returned to service in February 1930 and during the following years concentrated mainly on cruising.
In a decision which could not have been arrived at easily, Cunard withdrew the Mauretania from service and following her final passenger sailing from Southampton on Saturday, the 30th of June 1934, the day Cunard and White Star Lines merged. During this final voyage she averaged a speed of 24 knots, a remarkable speed for a liner now in her final years. After two cruises to the West Indies she returned to Southampton on Tuesday, the 2nd of October. She was then laid up at Southampton alongside the former White Star Line flagship Olympic, her twenty-eight years of service at a close.
The completion of the RMS Queen Mary and the merger with White Star meant that the fleet had to be reduced. Also the Mauretania ’s transatlantic role was being replaced by the new Queen Mary that entered service in 1936.
Sadly the venerable Mauretania was now outdated and she would be laid up in Southampton until the following summer when it was decided to sell the ship. The Mauretania was purchased on Wednesday, the 3rd of April 1935 by Metal Industries Ltd of Glasgow
Some of the furnishings from the Mauretania were installed in a bar/restaurant complex in Bristol Park Street Mauretania ,’ and her bow lettering was used above the entrance.
Additionally, fittings from the first class reading-writing room have been incorporated into the board room at Pinewood Studios, west of London Dame Street Dublin , Ireland was originally fitted on the Mauretania . Maple paneling from one of the staterooms can be found in the Nont Sarahs Pub, New Hey Road (A640), Scammonden, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire .
'Final Farewell'
On Monday, the 1st of July 1935 the Mauretania made her final departure from Southampton and left for the Tyne . En route to Rosyth; the Mauretania stopped at her birthplace the Tyne for half an hour, where she drew crowds of sightseers and was boarded by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle. The mayor bid her farewell from the people of Newcastle
On Wednesday, the 3rd of July she reached the Firth of Forth and passed under the Forth Rail Bridge
In order to prevent a rival company using the name and to keep it available for a future Cunard White Star liner, arrangements were made for the Red Funnel Paddle Steamer Queen to be renamed Mauretania in the interim.
The demise of the beloved Mauretania was protested by many of her loyal passengers. Among the great admirers of the Mauretania was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; who wrote a private letter arguing against the scrapping. The late President also said of her:
‘Every ship has a soul. But the Mauretania had one you could talk to. At times she could be wayward and contrary as a thoroughbred.’
One of her former captains, the retired commodore Sir Arthur Rostron, captain of the RMS Carpathia during the RMS Titanic rescue, came to see her on her final departure from Southampton . Rostron refused to go aboard Mauretania before her final journey, stating that he preferred to remember the ship as she was when he commanded her. However, on the Mauretania ’s retirement, he gave her the most fitting epitaph of them all; Captain Sir Arthur Rostron said:
‘She gave of her best, served Cunard well, was an honor and a credit to her builders, to her owners and to Britain, was loved by all who ever served in her and admired by all who crossed in her.’
The Mauretania is remembered in a song ‘Firing the Mauretania ’, with versions collected separately by Redd Sullivan and Hughie Jones. They both start ‘In 19 hundred and 24, I… got a job on the Mauretania’; but then go on to say ‘shoveling coal from morn till night’ (not possible in 1924 as she was oil-fired by then); the number of ‘fires’ is said to be either 64 or 34; but perversely the last verse on Hughie's version says ‘trimmers’ not ‘stokers’, so perhaps this is a reference to oil.
Cruel End To A Grand Lady
Few liners during their active service retained the affections lavished upon Mauretania by her loyal passengers. It was not without regret that the Mauretania disappeared from the Cunard roster. Those who had travelled aboard her in luxury and those who emigrated in steerage would find like ground on which to echo the nostalgic sentiment befitting the passing of a legend. Sadly after her long and illustrious career it was time to say farewell to the RMS Mauretania – the Grand Lady of the Seas.
NR
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