Cunard Line RMS LUSITANIA RMS MAURETANIA Art Nouveau Brochure - 1908

Description

32 pages (not including covers)
Powerfully evocative document with historic resonance promoting the size, speed and safety of the famous Cunard Line sister ships R.M.S. LUSITANIA and R.M.S. MAURETANIA both of which made their maiden voyages in 1907. The photogravure images in this brochure were captured aboard the LUSITANIA on an east-bound voyage in September, 1908 and aboard the MAURETANIA on a westbound voyage the following month.
LUSITANIA returned to Great Britain the Blue Riband as the fastest ship on the North Atlantic, taking the prize from Germany whose express steamers had held it for ten years.  LUSITANIA lost that distinction to her sister ship MAURETANIA who held it until the Germans reclaimed the prize in 1929.
Kept in commercial service after the outbreak of World War I, LUSITANIA was sunk by a German U-boat in May, 1915. The tremendous loss of life caused an international outrage and is often credited by historians as being a significant factor leading to the United States entering the conflict against Germany.
MAURETANIA came through the Great War after having served as both a troop and a hospital ship and continued to win laurels for her line and her country until age and the Great Depression sent her to the scrap yard in the 1930's. MAURETANIA is felt by many maritime historians to have been one of the greatest if not THE greatest of all the major liners to sail North Atlantic.