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Further Reading about The "Mauretania"

The "Mauretania" Mauretania’s usual ports of call were, Liverpool, Southampton, Plymouth, Le Harve,  Queenstown (now Cobh) & New York. She restored the prestige of the British Merchant Marine & Cunard in particular.

Although much acclaimed, pictures of her as new are quite rare. This one started life as a commission. It took much longer to research than Gordon Frickers initially anticipated, which makes it all the more worth while both as a painting & as an historic document. Those of you with an eye for detail might like to notice the Pilot boat on the left still carried auxiliary sails (she was retired 2 years later), the Mersey Ferry overloaded with well wishers & the new tug to the right, all ships present on the night, faithfully portrayed, as is the shore line.

Today, a ship of that size is impressive, in an age when cars rare, buildings over 4 stories were unusual & few streets had electric light the presence of the huge steam powered ship was inspiring.

The picture shows her shortly after leaving the Princes landing Stage, Liverpool. An excited crowd of 50,000 and an armada of small craft had gathered on that wet Mersey night, to see the great ship depart. The last passenger had embarked. 2,750,000 of gold bullion was entrusted to her, the last cargo to be loaded that night.

The picture shows the magnificent spectacle of the great ship, a blaze of electric illumination, amidst the cheering & hooting, departing to make her first voyage, outbound for New York. To make what they hoped would be a great contribution to the history of the North Atlantic peoples, and of course a healthy profit !