Friday, December 10, 2010

RMS Aquitania

It's no wonder the Aquitania was called Ship Beautiful.  The RMS Aquitania was a Cunard Line ocean liner with room for over 3,000 passengers, and an interior designed by the same firm that built and decorated the Ritz Hotel in London. The Aquitania's maiden voyage took place on May 30, 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I.  She was converted for military use during the war, but was back in service as a passenger liner in the 1920s.  The ship was popular with movie stars, royalty, and Americans who could drink to their heart's content during the era of U.S. prohibition.


After the stock market crash of 1929, few people could afford fancy cruises though, so the Aquitania's service was  scaled back. And then, with the outbreak of World War II, the Aquitania was once again pulled into military service. She was retired in 1950.

Here's the back of the card.


If you want to know more about this wonderful ship and its history, you may want to read RMS Aquitania: 'The Ship Beautiful' by Mark Chirnside.

4 comments:

  1. I really like the illustration style. Looks like a little bit of painting, some watercolor, some pen and ink and colored pencils almost. Very nice. It's always neat when the nautical postcards show nicely the scale of the ships.

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  2. Wonderful maritime postcard ...such an evocative and romantic image of a different era. Happy PFF!

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  3. Yeah, everything is pretty soft-focus except those brilliant red smoke stacks, perhaps they were the symbol of the ship line?

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