Sunday: Finding Your Bearings
On the first day at sea, passengers would find their sea legs by exploring the
20th century Atlantic liners that would be their home for the next
four days.
Passengers on the journey from Liverpool or Southampton to New York would have
to stick to designated areas for their class of ticket. Each class of passenger
had their own bars, nurseries and sports facilities. The only time all classes
met officially was at Sunday service in the first class lounge.
By the 1900s the wealthiest passengers lived in private suites. The
Mauretania’s Regal Suites had two bedrooms, a dining room, butler’s
pantry, reception room and bathroom. Third class passengers slept in two rows
of upper and lower bunks separated by a toilet seat over a bucket. By the 1950s
even third class cabins were called suites. Passengers still shared bathrooms
down the passage and showers had not yet been introduced.
Social life centred on the lounge or saloon. Most liners had a grand piano in
the first class lounge, with upright pianos for the other classes.
On early 20th century liners, even first class passengers ate at long
tables. White Star’s Olympic (1912) was the first liner to have a
separate restaurant with small tables where diners paid for each meal.
A work-out in the gym was one way of keeping fit between meals. On smaller
liners like the Scythia II (1922) gyms doubled up as games rooms. Ways of
shedding pounds on the Queens included electronically controlled camels and
horses, vibrating chairs, pulley weight machines, dumbbells and medicine balls.
Until the 1950s indoor swimming pools were separated not only by class but by
sex, with women and men having different bathing times. Even children were
expected to play with their own class.
Regent Street at Sea
On early 20th century liners, the barber’s shop sold souvenirs
and necessities like soap and safety pins while passengers could buy their
postcard in the library.
Serious shopping arrived in the 1920s with Aquitania’s fashionable
‘Atlantic Rue de la Paix’. It had a bank, a café and the
first ocean branch of the London tailor Austin Reed.
With its 24 large window displays the Queen Mary’s shopping arcade was
known as Regent Street. A fountain, deep sofas and baskets of fresh flowers put
passengers in the mood to spend.
Mauretania Liverpool
© University of Liverpool
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Giants in Steel
Liners were among the largest moving objects ever built. The Mauretanias
of 1907 and 1939 were each twice as long as Anfield or Goodison Park football
pitches. Although super-liners like the Titanic, the Queen Mary and
the Queen Elizabeth never came to Liverpool, the contracts to build and
fit them were placed here because their owners' head offices were in the
city.
Liners had to be extremely strong and reliable to convey several thousand people
safely across the North Atlantic, one of the world’s wildest oceans. They
were built to plough through waves as high as a five storey building and
withstand hurricane-force winds.
Most 20th century liners used turbine engines to turn the propellers that pushed
the vessel through the waves. The Mauretania II (1939) travelled at an average
speed of 23 knots, about the same speed as a city bus.
Shipping lines had different ambitions. Cunard went for fast, reliable ships,
its express liners crossing in under five days. White star preferred luxury,
arguing that its slower liners gave passengers an extra day to enjoy their
floating hotel.
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