The Pretty Sisters

Carmania and her sister ship, Caronia, entered service in 1905.   They were two of the most important ships on the Atlantic run at the turn of the century.  Dubbed the “pretty sisters,” they were noted for their beautiful interiors and fine profiles.  Their key contribution, however, was technical.

1:1250 model of Carmania by Gryzbowski

The ships were designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company for the Cunard Line.  When construction of these ships was underway, Cunard was planning Lusitania and Mauretania and chose to use Parson’s turbines to power the new ships.  As a pioneering technology, this was quite a gamble and made both shareholders and engineers anxious.  In order to give engineers practical experience with turbines, Cunard decided to fit Carmania with turbines and her sister with conventional reciprocating engines.  The company would make careful comparisons of fuel efficiency, speed, vibration, noise, and cleanliness between the two ships.

Hand colored postcard, ca. 1910.  One key difference between the sister ships  was the number of propellors.  Caronia had two, but Carmania had three.  Carmania also had large cowl vents on her forecastle.  

When launched, the sisters, were the largest ships in the Cunard fleet.  The Carmania’s turbines proved superior to the reciprocating engines fitted to the Caronia.

Carmania dockside.

The Carmania traveled the New York-Liverpool route from 1905 to 1910. In the spring of 1906, she carried H.G. Wells to America for the first time; he noted in a book about his travels that "This Carmania isn't the largest ship nor the finest, nor is to be the last. Greater ships are to follow and greater."  The sci-fi prophet was indeed correct, as Lusitania entered service a year later.

Postcard depicting the First Class Lounge on Carmania and Caronia.

Following the outbreak of World War I, the Carmania was converted into an armed merchant cruiser equipped with eight 4.7 inch guns. She sailed from Liverpool to Shell Bay in Bermuda. She subsequently engaged and sank the German merchant cruiser Cap Trafalgar, during the Battle of Trindad.  After a heavy exchange of fire, the Cap Trafalgar sank.  Carmania suffered extensive damage and suffered several casualties. After extensive repairs, she was summoned to assist in the Gallipoli campaign. From May 1916, she was used as a troop ship. After the war, she transported Canadian troops back from Europe.

Ephemera including a passenger list, concert program, and promotional booklet from a 1920s cruise to the Mediterranean.

Carmania was refitted in 1923 and converted to oil firing and her lower accommodations upgraded to tourist class.  She made crossings from Liverpool to Boston and New York but also began cruises to the Mediterranean and West Indies. 

1920s scene.  Carmania is docked behind Berengaria.  Scythia is on the left.

She remained a popular ship until the slump began in 1929.  Faced with falling numbers, Cunard retired the pretty sisters.  In 1932, she was sold to Hughes Bolckow & Co., and scrapped at Blyth.  The name was well remembered and a new Carmania was commissioned in the 1950s.

RMS Carmania (1905-1932).  Built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland for Cunard Line.  19,524 GRT.  675 feet long, 72 feet wide.  Steam turbines geared to triple screw.  Service speed 18 knots.  2,650 total passengers (300 First Class, 350 Second Class, 900 Third Class, 1,000 Steerage).

The Second Mauretania

When the first Mauretania was scrapped in 1935, Cunard arranged for a Red Funnel paddle steamer, the soon to be retired Queen to be renamed Mauretania in order to prevent a rival company using the name and to keep it available for a new liner.   The second RMS Mauretania was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England and was completed in May 1939. Mauretania was the first ship built for the newly formed Cunard White Star company following the merger in April 1934 of the Cunard and White Star lines.

1:1250 model of Mauretania by Carlo Marquardt.

Mauretania debuted in between the Queen Mary (1936) and Queen Elizabeth (1940) but her exterior was much like Elizabeth’s.  Her lines were study and rounded and she lacked the number of exposed ventilators and the open well deck of the Mary.  She cut a fine figure with two oval funnels, a slightly raked bow, and cruiser stern. 

Mauretania at Ocean Terminal.  

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.  Her interiors were a subdued art deco style and she was designed to take leisurely Atlantic crossings from Liverpool, to fill in for the Queens on the Southampton run, and to sail on extended cruises in the off-season. 

Mauretania was in service when the Second World War began.  She was armed, painted grey and spent time in limbo before conversion to a troop transport. 

Mauretania as a troop transport.  This is photograph FL 10026 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

After a complete overhaul and refurbishment of the interior, Mauretania made her first post-war Atlantic crossing to New York, departing on 26 April 1947. After using Liverpool as her home port for the first two voyages she was thereafter based at Southampton.

Docking the Mauretania.  

During the next decade she served on the Southampton to New York route during the summer months and operated on cruises from New York during the winter months. When Mauretania was taken in for her annual overhaul at Liverpool in December 1957 the opportunity was taken to fit air conditioning throughout the ship.

By 1962, however, she was facing competition from much more modern ships and was beginning to lose money for Cunard Line. In October 1962 the ship was painted pale green, like Caronia (the famed Green Goddess), but she could not compete with newer ships designed exclusively for cruising.  Like the Queens, she lost out to travelers who chose to fly rather than sail.

Souvenir "jolly boy" sailor doll, ca. 1960 and 1:1250 model of Mauretania.

In 1965 Mauretania was withdrawn from service and sold. She was scrapped at Ward's shipbreaking yard in Inverkeithing, Fife in Scotland. She was never as popular, profitable or as well remembered as the first Mauretania but was a fine ship in her own right.  She served proudly in war, carried thousands of passengers on pleasant voyages, but was lost to a changing economy. 

RMS Mauretania (1939-1965).  Built by Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead, England.  35, 665 GRT.  772 feet long, 89 feet wide.  Steam turbines geared to twin screw. Service speed 23 knots.  1,140 Total Passengers (470 first class, 370 cabin class, 300 tourist class).

The Magic Stick

The Majestic began her life as the Bismarck  and was launched by Countess Hanna von Bismarck on June 14, 1914.  She was intended to be the largest and grandest of HAPAG’s Big Three, coming on the heels of Imperator and Vaterland already in service on the Atlantic.  At a length of 956 feet and 100 feet wide she was the largest ship in the world. 

Majestic passes Bishop Rock lighthouse.  1:1250 model by Carlo Marquardt.  Lighthouse by Coastlines.

Like the Vaterland, she was built at Blohm & Voss and like her predecessors, her first class public rooms were designed by noted architects Charles Mewes and Arthur Davis.  Her two forward funnels had their uptakes moved from the center to the side.  This allowed for broad expanses of public rooms with uninterrupted vistas looking fore and aft.  Elaborate skylights capped the high ceilings of these rooms.  The third funnel was a dummy and was used to balance the ship’s profile. 

 The height of luxury.  The swimming pool on board the RMS Majestic.  From Popular Mechanics, July 1922.      

Bismarck was still being fitted out when the Great War began. Construction stopped as naval vessels took precedence.  As a result, the unfinished ship sat out the war.

Majestic in floating drydock, Southampton. January 1932. German Federal Archives, Aktuelle-Bilder-Centrale, Georg Pahl (Bild 102).  

After being ceded to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the incomplete uncompleted ship was purchased jointly by the White Star and Cunard Lines, together with Imperator.  Construction of the ship resumed, albeit slowly in 1919-1920.  Renamed, Majestic, she was was ostensibly a replacement for the pre-war 50,000-ton Olympic-class liner Britannic which was lost in the Aegean in 1916.

Majestic at sea.

When she finally emerged from the shipyard for trials in March 1922, she was painted in HAPAG colors and carried her intended name.  White Star officials accepted the liner in April and many locals stood silently at pier as the liner departed for Southampton.  It was, perhaps, the most visible mark of Germany’s maritime defeat.

The Majestic was the largest passenger liner afloat in the 1920s and would remain so until the Normandie.  Her size, elegance, and prestige made her one of the most popular ships of the period.  With Olympic and Homeric, she maintained White Star’s weekly express service to New York.  Sailors and stevedores dubbed her the “Magic Stick.”  She was in direct competition with her former fleetmates, Cunard’s Berengaria and United States Line’s Leviathan.

Majestic in harbor with Leviathan (left) and Berengaria (ahead).

In 1928, Majestic was extensively refitted enjoyed a boom year for passenger lists, but numbers fell slightly in 1929 and then the Great Depression set in during the 1930s.

During slack periods as Atlantic crossings fell during the Depression, Majestic, along with other liners, was employed in summer recreational cruises from New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  She was among the first ocean liners with a cinema capable of screening talkies.

Majestic alongside the Nova Scotian Hotel at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1934. Pier 20 is to the left and Pier 21 to the right.  1934.  National Harbours Board, Canada.

In 1934 in the North Atlantic an enormous wave smashed over the bridge of the Majestic, seriosuly injuring the first officer and White Star's final commodore, Edgar J. Trant.  That same year, Majestic became the first commercial vessel to use the newly constructed King George V Graving Dock.  Following the merger of White Star and Cunard in 1934, Majestic served the new company until 1936.

Left in her wake.

After being laid up at Southampton, she was sold to the Admiralty and converted into a training ship.  She was renamed HMS Caledonia.

Majestic in dock at Southampton, for conversion into HMS Caledonia, via martimequest.com Photographer unknown.  Ca. 1936.

In September 1939, Caledonia caught fire and burnt out, sinking at her moorings. The wreck was sold in March 1940 to Thomas W. Ward for scrap, but it was not until July 1943, that the remains of Caledonia were raised and towed to the scrapyard.  Such was the end of the last of Albert Ballin’s elegant trio.

RMS Majestic (1922-1936) Built by Blohm & Voss Shipbuilders, Hamburg, Germany.  56,551 GRT, 956 feet long, 100 feet wide.  Steam turbines geared to quadruple screw.  Service speed 23.5 knots.  As completed, 2,145 passengers (750 first class, 545 second class, 850 third class).