RMS Mauretania (1906) and launched with passengers. When "Britannic", working as a hospital ship during World War I, sank in 1916 after hitting a mine in the Kea channel the already davited boats were swiftly lowered saving nearly all on board, but the ship took nearly three times as long to sink as "Lusitania" and thus the crew had more time to evacuate passengers. "Mauretania" departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 16 November 1907 under the command of Captain John Pritchard, and on the return voyage captured the record for the fastest eastbound crossing of the Atlantic, with an average speed of
German survey ship Meteor the "Meteor": German survey ship Meteor Meteor was a German survey vessel, noted for her survey work in the Atlantic Ocean between 1925 and 1927. Handed over to the Soviet Union following World War II, the ship was renamed Ekvator. Her ultimate fate is not known. Her keel was laid at the Kaiserliche Werft at Danzig in February 1914 and "Meteor" was launched in January 1915. Originally intended to become a gunboat for the Imperial German Navy's colonial service she was not finished during the First World War due to limited need for lightly armed vessels. After the war the