White Star Line

Cunard’s chief British rival was the White Star Line.  White Star, formally the Oceanic Steamship Navigation Company, was founded some thirty years after Cunard by Thomas Ismay.  White Star pioneered the construction of larger and better ships and though a smaller line than Cunard, managed to keep pace in terms of tonnage and passenger popularity.  As Cunard built the fastest ships and then later lost the honor to the Germans, White Star sought to build the most comfortable and well-appointed vessels.  Indeed it was a White Star ship, Teutonic, that captured the Kasier’s attention at Spithead.  In the late 1890s White Star competed with Cunard, and the upstart Germans for size.  One of White Star's finest liners was built while it was still an independent company.  The liner Oceanic of 1899 was a record breaker- the first ship to exceed 700 feet in length.  She was larger than the German record breaker Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, then the world’s fastest ship.  Externally, Oceanic was a cross between the old and the new.  She had three masts to balance her profile and remind nostalgic travelers of age of sail.  She also had a graceful, but knife-like (then an ideal!) prow and rounded stern and two funnels.  The ship exuded reliability and comfort.  Steerage and Third Class passengers had more spacious accommodations than in other vessels of the day and, unlike “rolling Billy” and the fastest ships, Oceanic promised a stable ride. 

Oceanic's balanced profile.  1:1200 Scale model produced by Carlo Marquardt.

            

Her First Class accommodations were exquisite for the day.  Passengers dined beneath a twenty-one foot dome and oversized portholes flooding the space with natural light.   She had one of the finest libraries at sea and her public rooms featured the finest woods from the Empire.  The ship proved very popular from her debut and gained a loyal following among frequent travellers.  Her career ended rather abruptly when she ran aground while in Admiralty service in 1914.

Oceanic and her subsequent fleet mates of 1901-1907 Celtic, Cedric, Baltic, and Adriatic were each an improvement on a design for a large and comfortable vessel.  The capital available to White Star from J.P. Morgan's combine, IMM (International Mercantile Marine) from 1902 onward enabled director J. Bruce Ismay to push the envelope with ship design and comfort at sea.  To me, one can look at Oceanic and see how the basic shape of the Olympic class liners evolved from this design.  Just like Oceanic, the Olympic in many ways looked as much to the past as to the future.

R.M.S. Oceanic (1899-1914).  Built by Harland & Wolff, Ltd. Belfast, Ireland.  17,272 gross tons, 704 feet long, 63 feet wide.  Steam triple expansion engines geared to twin screw. Service speed 19 knots. Total capacity of 1,710 passengers (410 first class, 300 second class, 1,000 steerage).

The Empire Strikes Back

British shipping was in a fix.  The German superliners were the fastest and among the most splendidly appointed ships on the Atlantic.  The Cunard Line in particular worried about the future.  By the time the Kaiser-class ships were winning speed records, J.P. Morgan was on the warpath.  He sought efficiency—and monopoly in transportation.  By 1900 he controlled directly or held a major share in most American rail lines.  Now he sought to pair the rails with the waves.  He bought shipping line after shipping line. He made Albert Ballin managing director of HAPAG and J. Bruce Ismay nominal chief of White Star.  By 1903 Morgan controlled nearly every line- large or small- except the French Line (CGT) and Cunard.  Cunard worried desperately about business and succeeded in worrying the Admiralty about war.  What if war came?  Could ships owned by an American, even if they flew the British flag, be compelled to His Majesty’s service?  Could these vessels ultimately be used against the Empire?  Cunard and the Admiralty lobbied for protective legislation for Cunard and for a generous subsidy to build two new superliners—larger, faster, and more impressive than the German rivals.  They also would be designed for swift conversion into armed cruisers in the event of war.  These were to be the first turbine-driven superliners and a mechanical wonder of the Edwardian age.

Mauretania's near sister ship, Lusitania.  The ships entered service in 1907 and briefly competed to be the fastest ship.  Mauretania proved to be faster, but if her sister survived the war, she may have regained the Blue Ribband.  1:1250 Model by Albatros.

            The new ships, Lusitania and Mauretania emerged in 1907.  They were sister ships, similar in overall design, but they were distinct.  James Miller’s interiors for Lusitania were very airy and white plasterwork was commonplace.  By contrast, Harold Peto’s Mauretania was filled with hardwoods and darker colors (perhaps fitting since she was built in England).  Both vessels were equally magnificent and initially both vibrated terribly at high speeds.  The ships were quietly returned to the yards after their trials to remedy the problem before the travelling public was on board.  The vibration was so severe that the Mauretania’s captain was nearly shaken off the bridge as the four steam turbines drover her to 25 knots. 

My growing collection of models, books, and ephemera related to this great liner.

            Lusitania entered service first sailing for New York in September of 1907.  On her second voyage she captured the Blue Riband from the Germans.  Mauretania entered service in December and took the speed prize herself.  The two ships would share a friendly rivalry over the next few years.  While there has been much debate, the records of the vessels point to Mauretania as the faster of the two.  Unfortunately, Lusitania’s service was cut short in 1915 (a story for another day) and we will never know if she may have outpaced her sister in the long run.

Real Photo Postcard view of Mauretania.  Note the smoke and waves have been added to the photograph.

Mauretania, 1:600 kit by Airfix. I built this model in the summer of 2000.   The model rests on a 1924 brochure and behind is Humphrey Jordan's 1935 biography of the ship.

            Mauretania survived WWI performing stellar service as a hospital and troop ship.  In the 1920s, she remained a popular and fast ship.  Her accommodations were changed over the years to accommodate more budget tourists in “tourist class,” private suites were added, as were more bathrooms to first class cabins.  

Original snapshot of Mauretania in New York, ca 1930.

Dance floors, extended bars, and cinemas were installed to lure travelers away from some of the newer ships that emerged later in the decade. She also, like many of the other major liners was converted to oil fuel.   In 1929, North German Lloyd sought to bring Germany back to supremacy on the sea with two superliners, Bremen and Europa.  The Bremen outpaced the Mauretania on her maiden voyage.  Over the next few years she tried to regain her title but proved unable to beat the sleek new German liners.

This view shows her sleek and balanced profile.  She held the Atlantic speed record from 1909-1929. 1:1250 model by Albatros.

            The Great Depression hurt all of the shipping lines and all of the liners.  Cunard and White Star (released from the Morgan combine, IMM, after the war) were forced to merge and become Cunard-White Star, Ltd.  The new company was planning two new superliners for express service (and to beat the Germans) and one was under construction. Despite running older liners, Mauretania included, on cruises to exotic (tough for vessels without air conditioning) and on $1/day bank holiday excursions, the liners ran into the red.  The combined fleet sadly made Mauretania redundant.  She was withdrawn from service and sold for scrap in 1935.  A sad fate indeed for a liner with many years of reliable service behind her- and more ahead- especially in the war that was coming. 

R.M.S. Mauretania (1907-1935) Built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Newcastle on Tyne, England.  31,938 GRT; 790 feet long, 88 feet wide.  Steam turbines, quadruple screw.  Service speed 25 knots.  Passenger arrangement in 1907: 560 first class, 475 second class, 1,300 tourist; 2,335 passengers total.

German Record Breakers

If the Auguste Victoria was a prelude to fulfilling the Kaiser’s goal of maritime supremacy, the next generation of ships was Germany’s overture.  North German Lloyd (NDL) and HAPAG engaged on a quest to build the largest and fastest liners on the Atlantic.  In 1897, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse emerged as the first superliner.  She was the first ship with four funnels and a sleek, built-for-speed profile.  At 14,300 tons and a length of 655 feet, she was the largest ship in world.  Her mighty engines drover her (with much consternation to third class passengers housed above the propeller shafts) at a swift 22 knots and made crossings in just under six days.  For the first time, a German ship won the coveted Blue Riband from the Cunarder Lucania.  While built for speed, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was also built for luxury and included splendid first-class public rooms. 

Not to be outdone, NDL’s rival in Hamburg countered with the Deutschland, a strikingly similar vessel in outward appearance, but even more luxurious inside.  She proved to be a speed queen and handily bested her Bremerhaven predecessor.  Unfortunately, she suffered from terrible vibrations and noise that proved uncomfortable for most passengers.  While initially a disappointment for HAPAG, it proved fortuitous in the end.  The company focused on luxury and stability at sea rather than speed, and subsequently attracted many passengers to their line for just that reason.  People did not mind an extra day at sea if the ship was comfortable.  Despite attempts to solve the vibration problems, the Deutschland proved unsatisfactory was removed from service in 1910 and converted to a dedicated cruise ship (one of the first!) named Victoria Luise. 

Meanwhile, North German Lloyd completed a quartet of four funneled liners.  This was the first multi-ship express service.  The ships were similar, each a little larger than the previous one, but not exactly sister ships either.  Like the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse they combined speed and luxury, but unlike her, none of the subsequent vessels captured the speed record from Deutschland*. 

Kronprinz Wilhelm (1901) had two masts and four funnels, but her newer fleetmates, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1903) and Kronprinzessin Cecilie (1906) had three masts (for reasons I do not fully understand).  All four of these vessels served their owners well in peacetime, however none of them sailed after World War I.  

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1903).  Note: four funnels, arranged in pairs, and three masts.  German marine architects designed the first four funnel profiles and the paired funnels are distinctly German.

The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse saw brief action as an armed merchant cruiser and was sunk whilst coaling early in the war.  Kronprinz Wilhelm sailed nearly non-stop for a year as an armed merchant cruiser before fatigue, prisoners, and mechanical problems forced the ship to seek protection in then neutral America.  The Kronprinzessin Cecile and Kaiser Wilhelm II were already in American waters when war broke out and were interned there.  When the United States entered the war, the liners were seized and turned over to the U.S. Navy as troop ships.  The remaining three NDL ships survived the war but never sailed commercial voyages again.  Sadly, they languished in a navy yard until 1940, when refused by the British as part of the lend-lease program (due to age and disrepair).  The vessels were then scrapped.  

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1903) sailed for North German Lloyd 1903-1914.  Built by Vulkan Werke, Stettin, Germany.  19,361 GRT, 707 fee long, 72 feet wide.  Twin screw, 23 knots.  As outfitted in 1903, accommodation for 1,888 passengers (775 first class, 343 second class, 770 steerage).  Refitted as U.S.S. Agamemnon in 1917. Scrapped in Baltimore, 1940.  Model by Mercator.  1:1250 scale.

*Kaiser Wilhelm II proved faster on eastbound crossings than Deutschland, but did not break the westbound record.  There is some debate about the speeds.  I err on the side of caution and do not consider the vessel a Blue Riband winner.  In any event, both ships lose to the Lusitania in 1907.