RMS Mauretania II

I am fascinated by shipping labels, actually any transport related labels. I think that makes me an ologist of some sort. This one interests me as it was on a hat box I bought in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in the mid-90's. My great grandfather was a cabinetmaker on the first Mauretania. Not many people realise there were two.


Mauretania II was built by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead and was the largest ship built in England at that time. She was also the first new ship delivered to the combined Cunard White Star Line. Mauretania was laid down on 24 May 1937 as Yard Number 1029.
In WWII service she amassed over 50,000 nautical miles. One of her wartime voyages, of 28,662 nautical miles duration, took her right around the world, taking 82 days to complete. During this epic voyage she established a speed record for the crossing time from Fremantle, Australia to Durban, South Africa.
After a complete overhaul and refurbishment of the interior, Mauretania made her first post-war Atlantic crossing to New York, departing on 26 April 1947. After using Liverpool as her home port for the first two voyages she was thereafter based at Southampton.

In 1965 she arrived at Ward's shipbreaking yard in Inverkeithing, Fife and was scrapped. (Various sources)