Today is October 22, 201 - 104 years since the Cunard Express Liner Mauretania began her delivery trip "North About" - I have assembled some images and captions about this trip here for anyone interested - the full story and all images (almost all previously unpublished and all restored) can be seen here at Lusitania author Eric Sauder's wonderful site Northatlanticrun.com (which also has incredible transcriptions of the original Olympic auction catalogs and many related documents as well as his experiences diving on Lusitania): http://northatlanticrun.com/735/Tyne_Departure.html
Charles Parsons’ 100-foot Turbinia, star of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review of 1897 at Spithead where she astonished onlookers by racing at 34 knots, is dwarfed just 10 years later by the immense Mauretania in the early afternoon light on the morning of October 22, 1907, at Wallsend. (Detail from an unpublished, real-photograph postcard, by J. Taylor, 31 Carrick Street, Byker, Newcastle. Personal collection.)
This dynamic and rare candid snapshot of the Mauretania was taken October 22 from a tug tied to her immense stern just moments after parting from her gangway and mooring dolphins at the fitting-out basin. Lady Inverclyde rang the engine telegraph to start the Mauretania’s trip down the Tyne and the time was entered in the log as 2 p.m., much later than initially planned. The churning water of her wake gives an impression of the power of her four massive, seventeen-foot bolt-on three-bladed propellers. Signs on her stern rails warn of their strength. The men in the foreground and those on the aft docking bridge provide a sense of scale. After more than three years of construction, fitting out, and intricate decoration, she was finally leaving the Swan yards for Liverpool and Cunard. (Unique, anonymous private photograph. Personal collection.)
The Mauretania, surrounded by numerous small craft and thousands of spectators onshore, passing down the Tyne late in the afternoon of October 22, 1907. She arrived at Liverpool for the first time two days later on the morning of October 24. (Unique, anonymous private photograph. Personal collection.)
No longer being towed, the Mauretania completes a turn at speed on October 22 or 23 in the North Sea during her trip to Liverpool. Not yet provisioned for her first crossing, she is riding high. The performance of her boilers, turbines, and several other measurements were informally recorded. On October 23, it was entered into the log that she had reached a maximum of 21.9 knots. (Unique, anonymous private photograph. Personal collection.)
Having completed her delivery voyage and after her early-morning maiden arrival at the Liverpool Docks on October 24, the Mauretania awaits placement in the Canada Dry Dock. Her “B” Deck promenades are covered with canvas awnings, probably from coaling. The date of this postcard image was determined by comparison with an identical image from a personal keepsake photo album documenting this voyage and presented to Leonard Peskett By W. Earnest Lord after this “jolly trip” (so noted in the album) to Liverpool. (Anonymous, real-photograph postcard. Personal collection.)
I hope you enjoyed this information
Eric
