Known as Ship Beautiful
RMS AQUITANIA
This book is a complete facsimile of the
1914 Shipbuilder Souvenir Edition.
‘The Shipbuilder’ was the magazine for the shipping and maritime industries and is still published today. This beautiful RMS Aquitania replica is meticulously scanned from the original, with pages rebuilt using the latest digital technology.
Printed in its original size this book is perfect bound (not stapled). The cover design was changed for this Souvenir edition and is similar to other books in having a matt laminate cover for protection.
The photography shows the incredible scale of the Aquitania brought to life by the 6 colour images from the original edition. Plus, fold out plans show full details of each deck.
This special edition ‘as it appeared at the time’ is the nearest you can get to understanding the craft and care that went into this special Cunard liner, RMS Aquitania.
Publisher's specifications
Page dimension : 284mm x 186mm
Spine thickness : 15mm
Total volume : 156 pages
Colour plates : 6
Original photos : 132 images
Technical illustrations : 34 images
Fold out plans : 5 spreads
The original inside text of this special Shipbuilder book was kindly loaned by Mark Chirnside from his collection, for which the publishers are very grateful.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
About the Aquitania
RMS Aquitania was launched at the Clydebank builder, John Brown, on 21 April 1913. The last surviving four funnelled liner, she completed Cunard�s trio of Express liners following RMS Mauretania and RMS Lusitania.
Aquitania was the result of the rivalry between Cunard and White Star especially on the North Atlantic routes. White Star’s Olympic and Titanic were larger and more luxurious than Cunard�s Mauretania and Lusitania, which were designed more for speed. With the Aquitania this was Cunard’s new luxury liner to take on White Star.
No expense was spared on fitting out the Aquitania. The decorators to The Ritz in both London and Paris were hired to achieve the incredible standard that earned it the ‘Ship Beautiful’ accolade.
Aquitania’s maiden voyage took place on 30 May 1914 an event overshadow by the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland in Quebec the day before. Aquitania only managed three round trips on the North Atlantic run when she was taken over for military use. As a troop ship she went to the Dardanelles before being converted into a hospital ship and then back to a troop ship for the rest of the war.
In December 1919 she was converted from coal burning to oil-fired after a refit and during the 1920s become one of the most popular liners on the North Atlantic. She served in the Second World War mainly as a troopship and after the war to transport war brides to the Americas. She was finally taken out of service in December 1949 having completed 3 million miles in 450 voyages, carrying over 36 million in her 36 years – the longest serving liner in the 20th Century.
Find out more about the RMS Aquitania at Wikipedia.
Copyright (c) IMareEST 1914 & 2011
This edition is a complete facsimile of the original and is printed with the kind permission of Shipping World and ShipBuilder, a monthly magazine published by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, London E2R 5BJ, UK. http://www.imarest.org
Publishing rights
This edition is printed and published as a digital book by Parkers Books, E C Parker & Company (Services) Limited, The Granary, Dane John Works, Gordon Road, Cantebury, Kent CT1 3PP, England, UK. For more information please email shipbuilder@titanic1911.com