Mauretania 's official launch party, 20 September 1906 Mauretania after being launched, 20 September 1906 Her hull was painted black after her maiden voyage. By tradition, the hull was painted in a light grey colour for photographic purposes during her launch a common practice of the day for the first ship in a new class, as it made the lines of the ship clearer in the black-and-white photographs. Construction of the vessel finally began with the laying of the keel in August 1904. Cunard decided to change power plants to Parson's new turbine technology, and the ship's design was again modified when Peskett added a fourth funnel to the ship's profile. A giant model of the ships appeared in Shipbuilder's magazine in this configuration. Peskett's original configuration for the ships in 1902 was a three-funnel design, when reciprocating engines were destined to be the powerplant. Mauretania and Lusitania were both designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett, with Swan Hunter and John Brown working from plans for an ocean greyhound with a stipulated service speed of twenty-four knots in moderate weather, as per the terms of her mail subsidy contract. Design and construction Mauretania on her Tyneside builder's ways prior to launch in 1906 Further funding was acquired when the Admiralty arranged for Cunard to be paid an additional sum per year to their mail subsidy. The British government was to loan £2,600,000 (£252 million in 2015) for the construction of the ships, 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. By 1902, Cunard Line and the British government reached an agreement to build two superliners, Lusitania and Mauretania, with a guaranteed service speed of no less than 24 knots (44 km/h 28 mph). In the face of these threats the Cunard Line was determined to regain the prestige of dominance in ocean travel not only for the company, but also for the United Kingdom. was attempting to monopolise the shipping trade, and had already acquired Britain's other major transatlantic line, Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Co. Germany came to dominate the Atlantic, and by 1906 they had five four-funnel superliners in service, four of them owned by North German Lloyd.Īt around the same time the American financier J. With a speed of 22 knots (41 km/h 25 mph), she captured the Blue Riband from Cunard Line's Campania and Lucania.

In 1897 the German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became the largest and fastest ship in the world. Overview Workmen standing below Mauretania 's original three-bladed propellers in dry dock Mauretania remained in service until September 1934, when Cunard-White Star retired her scrapping commenced in Rosyth, in 1935. Similar nomenclature was also employed by Mauretania 's sister Lusitania, which was named after the Roman province directly north of Mauretania, across the Strait of Gibraltar in Portugal.

The ship's name was taken from the ancient Roman province of Mauretania on the northwest African coast, not the modern Mauritania to the south. She held both speed records for 20 years. Mauretania captured the eastbound Blue Riband on the maiden return voyage in December 1907, then claimed the westbound Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing during her 1909 season. She was the world's largest ship until the launch of RMS Olympic in 1910. Mauretania was an ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Wigham Richardson and Swan Hunter on the River Tyne, England for the British Cunard Line, launched on the afternoon of 20 September 1906. Running mate to RMS Lusitania and RMS Aquitania Largest ship in the world from 1907–1910.

Direct-action Parsons steam turbines (two high pressure, two low pressure).

Southampton- Cherbourg- New York (1919-1934)Ģ0 September 1906, by the Duchess of Roxburghe According to Linda Ellis, this dash represents our whole life.Liverpool– Queenstown– New York (1907-1919) However, between the time we are born and the time we die, there lies a dash of events that sum up our life. Questions of how and why pertaining to birth and death have stirred many and several are still in the quest for answers.

Would you be proud of the things they sayįor centuries, life and death have been philosophies explored by thinkers time and again. He noted that first came the date of birth He referred to the dates on the tombstone The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis I read of a man who stood to speak

The dash poem framed