April 17, 2015

Finest Hour 121, Winter 2003-04

Page 21

(Includes all liners cited, listed alphabetically)

Berengaria (1912-1938, 52,226 tons, 883 feet, three funnels, quadruple screws, and top speed of 23.5 knots), served briefly as Hamburg American’s Impemtor, laid up in Germany during the war, became a Cunarder in 1919. See Les Streater, Berengaria: Cunard’s “Happy Ship” (Charleston, SC: Tempus, 2001). Paul Knapp, The Berengaria Exchange (New York: Dial, 1972) details the transatlantic trip immediately preceding the one on which Churchill sailed.

Britannia (1887-1909, 6,525 tons, 465 feet, two funnels, single screw). With Victoria and Oceania, part of the “Jubilee” class liners, then P&O s fastest and largest vessels, built to honor the Queens golden jubilee. This and other P&O ship information is found in Duncan Haws, Merchant Fleets in Profile 1: The Ships of the P&O, Orient and Blue Anchor Lines (Cambridge: Patrick Stephens, 1978).

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Carthage and Rome (1881-1903/12, 5,013 tons, 430 feet, two funnels, single screws). First P&O ships over 5,000 tons. Rome became the cruise ship Vectis, 1904-12.

Dunottar Castle (1890-1915, 5,625 tons, 420 feet, two funnels, single screw) is an earlier ship than that mistakenly shown on die second page of photographs in Celia Sandys’s Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive (1999) which is a 1936 vessel. Casde Line merged with the competing Union Line to create Union-Casde a few months after Churchill’s voyage. See also The Cruise of the Royal Mail Steamer Dunottar Castle Round Scotland on Her Trial Trip (Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, 1890) for more information on the vessel.

Empress of Canada (1914-52, 21,800 tons, 588 feet, three funnels, twin screws, 19 knots). Built as Hamburg America’s Tirpitz, but laid up unfinished during World War I, she became a part of postwar reparations. Completed for Canadian Pacific operation, she carried the King and Queen for their Royal Visit to Canada in 1939, and served as a troop ship during World War II.

Etruria (1885-1909, 8,120 tons, 500 feet, two funnels, single screw). One of a fast pair of Cunarders (the other was Umbrid), held the Blue Riband for several years, recording the fastest passage from Queenstown (now Cobh) Ireland to Sandy Hook (the mouth of New York harbor). These were the last Cunarders designed to use sails as auxiliary power.

Europa (1930-61, 49,746 tons, 890 feet, two funnels, quadruple screws, 28 knots) with her sister Bremen marked the German comeback on the Nordi Atlantic. The two ships briefly traded Blue Riband honors. Europa became the French Line’s smart Libert/faker the war.

Franconia (1923-57, 20,175 tons, 601 feet, one funnel, twin screws, 16.5 knots) sailed North Atlantic (with a I black hull) and warmer cruising routes (in a white hull to help cool her interior) for Cunard until 1939, when die , British government took her over for trooping duties. She | resumed her commercial career after full refurbishment in 1948-49, primarily on the run to Canadian ports.

Ganges (1881 -89, 4,168 tons, 390 feet, two funnels, single ; screw). Destroyed by fire in Bombay a year after Churchill sailed on her, luckily while few were on board. One of a | class of five vessels dubbed “The River Class.”

Lucania and her sister Campania (1893-1910, 12,950 tons, 600 feet, two funnels, twin screws, 22 knots) were handsome liners which for several years held the Blue Riband for the fastest Adantic crossing. For a wonderful sense (including photos and plans) of the public rooms and traveling in style at the turn of the century, see Mark D. Warren, The Cunard Royal Mail Twin-Screw Steamers ‘Campania’ and ‘Lucania’ (Patrick Stephens, 1993), reprinting a special issue of Engineering from 1893.

Majestic (1921-36, 56,551 tons, 915 feet, three funnels, quadruple screws, 24 knots). Designed as Hamburg America’s Bismarck, she never sailed under diat name. Through the 1920s and early 1930s she was advertised as the largest ship in the world. Began cruising in die ofF-season in an attempt to fill her huge passenger capacity. Withdrawn in 1936, she briefly became the Admiralty training ship Caledonian, but was gutted by fire in September 1939.

Queen Elizabeth (1940-68, 83,600 tons, 987 feet, two funnels, quadruple screws, 31 knots) was the world’s largest liner until the huge modern cruise ships of the 1990s. For a pictorial account of die Churchill 1946 voyage, see “Life Crosses the Atlantic on the ‘Queen Elizabeth’,” Life (11 February 1946), pp. 93-97.

Queen Mary (1936-67, 80,774 tons, 1,018 feet, three funnels, quadruple screws, 30 knots) was perhaps the most famous 20di century passenger vessel. She held the Blue Riband for most of the period 1936-52 (when the new United States entered service). There are many books on her design, furnishings and long career—among the most useful are Neil Potter & Jack Frost, The Mary: The Inevitable Ship (London: Harrap, 1961); and James Steele, Queen Mary (London: Phaidon, 1995).

Statendam (1929-40, 29,511 tons, 698 feet, three funnels, twin screws, 19 knots) was under construction for eight years with many stoppages, due in part to changes in American immigration laws, which forced design changes in her passenger spaces to eliminate steerage. As with many other Depression-weakened lines, she began off-season Caribbean cruises in 1930. She was destroyed by fire in the German invasion of Holland in May 1940.