VINTAGE RMS MAURETANIA LAUNCH BROCHURE 1938 CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE

Rare and original 

Large - 27cm x 33 appro

22 pages, 44 sided, some double

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK ON THE SUBJECT, WHICH WAS ISSUED TO AGENTS, PROSPECTIVE PASSENGERS AND MEMBERS ON THE MAIDEN VOYAGE.

RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner that was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England, and was completed in May 1939. She was one of the first ships built for the newly formed Cunard-White Star company following the merger in April 1934 of the Cunard and White Star Line. On the withdrawal of the first Mauretania in 1935, to prevent a rival company using the name and to keep it available for the new liner, arrangements were made for the Red Funnel paddle steamer Queen to be renamed Mauretania in the interim.

The new liner was assessed at 35,739 gross register tons, with an overall length of 772 feet (235 m) and a beam of 89 feet (27 m) and had an exterior design similar to Queen Elizabeth. The vessel was powered by two sets of Parsons single reduction-geared steam turbines giving 42,000 shaft horsepower (31,000 kW) and driving twin propellers. Her service speed was 23 knots (43 km/h) with a maximum speed of 26 knots (48 km/h).

The ship was named Mauretania to honour the previous record breaking ocean liner which had been retired in 1935. The ship was designed for the London to New York City service and was the largest vessel ever to navigate the River Thames and use the Royal Docks. She was also intended to stand in for one of the Cunard Queens when they were undergoing maintenance.

The new Mauretania's smart and stylish accommodation marked a further enhancement to the standards of cabins, public rooms and general facilities provided for passengers of all grades by Cunard White Star Line.

Mauretania sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 17 June 1939 under the command of Captain Arthur Tillotson Brown (who had delivered the previous Mauretania to the shipbreakers), after remaining in New York for a week she returned to Southampton via Cherbourg on Friday, 30 June 1939. Like RMS Aquitania, 25 years before, Mauretania was to experience only the briefest period of commercial operation before the outbreak of hostilities halted this work for over six years. Returning from the next voyage, Mauretania called at Southampton, Le Havre and finally London where she berthed in the King George V Dock. From August she was switched to the London- New York service for which she was intended. Here she supplemented Britannic and Georgic on the London to New York service.

Mauretania, in her grey paint scheme, docked at Newport News, Virginia, with 2,036 German prisoners of war on board, 16 September 1942On 11 August 1939 she left on her final prewar voyage to New York. She began her return voyage on September 30, and on October 2 the German English-language radio broadcast from Hamburg issued a veiled threat against her. On her return she was requisitioned by the government. Mauretania was armed with two 6-inch (152 mm) guns and some smaller weapons, painted in battle grey, and then despatched to America at the end of December 1939.

For three months the ship lay idle in New York, docked alongside RMS Queen Elizabeth, RMS Queen Mary, and the French Line's SS Normandie, until it was decided to use her as a troopship. On 20 March 1940 she sailed from New York to Sydney, via Panama, to be converted for her new role. This conversion work was carried out in April and in May she left Sydney as part of one of the greatest convoys ever mustered for the transport of troops. With her were Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and Aquitania, with 2,000 troops, bound for the River Clyde via South Africa. Other notable liners in this great convoy were RMS Empress of Britain, RMS Empress of Canada, RMS Empress of Asia, and SS Nieuw Amsterdam. During the early stages of the war the ship transported Australian troops to Suez, India and Singapore but later she mainly served in the North Atlantic. In addition she shuttled Italian prisoners of war from the Middle East to South Africa, for internment, after their defeat in North Africa. Like Aquitania, she amassed over 500,000 nautical miles (930,000 km) during the course of her war duties, first crossing of the Indian Ocean, then working the Atlantic with American and Canadian troops and finally serving in the Pacific. One of her wartime voyages, of 28,662 nautical miles (53,082 km), took her right around the world, taking 82 days to complete. During this epic voyage she established a speed record for the crossing time from Fremantle, Australia to Durban, South Africa. The 4,000-mile (6,400 km) distance was covered in 8 days and 19 hours at an average speed of 21.06 knots (39.00 km/h). Another wartime troop transport voyage began in New York on 10 May 1943 and ended in Bombay on 24 June 1943, with calls en-route at Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Diego-Suarez. On 8 January 1944 she was involved in a minor collision with the American tanker Hat Creek in New York harbour.

During World War II, she travelled 540,000 miles (870,000 km) and carried over 340,000 troops. Mauretania was not designed to be an exceptionally fast ship and during six years of war duty, her engines had received little attention but still achieved a turn of speed in 1945 making the passage from Bombay to the UK via the Cape at an average speed of 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h).

After the war's end, Mauretania made several further voyages for the government to repatriate troops. This mainly took the ship to Canada and Singapore. In addition, she made at least one voyage from New Zealand via Australia and South Africa to Liverpool. Women and children were crammed ten to a cabin in the bunks used by the troops, while the men were in "dormitories" for sixty, sleeping in hammocks. On that voyage she sailed from Cape Town on 10 September 1945. She was delayed for three days off Liverpool by strong winds, and finally docked on 25 September. Mauretania took the first dedicated sailing of British war brides and their children being patriated to Canada to join their husbands, landing at Pier 21 at Halifax, Nova Scotia in February 1946.

On 2 October 1946 she returned to Liverpool, was released from government service and immediately went into Gladstone Dock to be reconditioned by Cammell Laird & Co. for return to Cunard-White Star service.

Used condition, with the outer cover is particularly shabby, but the inter pages are reasonable for age, with some wear, marks, discolouration and edge / fold rips. 

Level Storage 7