1931 CUNARD S.S. LANCASTRIA Brochure & 37" x 49" DECK PLAN -Sunk in WWII Dunkirk

Description

This listing is for a wonderful
promotional brochure / DECK PLAN for the S.S. LANCASTRIA.
The condition is very nice showing some minor signs of age. There is only minor wear on the folds / creases
It measures approximately 37 1/2" x 49" when fully opened.
The back side is blank.
The brochure was promoting:
THE SUMMER CRUISE TO ALL EUROPE
MEDITERRANEAN & NORWAY
JUNE 30th, 1931 - 51 Days - Visiting 12 Countries
CUNARD'S NEW TRANSATLANTIC S.S. LANCASTRIA
Shown on this brochure
Promenade Deck
Upper Deck
Shelter Deck
Saloon Deck
Lower Deck
Photograph - The Dining Room
Photograph - The Smoking Room
Schedule of Rates
Condensed Itinerary
Photograph - A Cabin for Two
The Lancastria was part of the Dunkirk evacuation:
RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Ariel. Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers,  modern estimates range between 3,000 and 5,800 fatalities—the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history
Survivors were taken aboard other British and US evacuation vessels, the trawler HMT Cambridgeshire rescuing 900.  Capt WG Euston recommended several of his crew for awards, including Stanley Kingett for "making repeated journeys in a lifeboat to pick up exhausted men from the water while under machine-gun fire from enemy planes", and William Perrin for "keeping up continuous machine-gun fire in an attempt to prevent enemy planes machine-gunning men in the water."  There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF); the death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the BEF in France. She sank around 5 nmi (9.3 km) south of Chémoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9 nmi (17 km) from St. Nazaire. Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. In 2005, Fenby wrote that estimates of the death toll vary from fewer than 3,000 to 5,800 people although it is also estimated that as many as 6,500 people perished, the largest loss of life in British maritime history
The immense loss of life was such that the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, immediately suppressed news of the disaster through the D-Notice system,  telling his staff that "The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today at least". In his memoirs, Churchill stated that he had intended to release the news a few days later, but that events in France "crowded upon us so black and so quickly that I forgot to lift the ban"
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