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
The Ship that Found Herself named the ship when she was launched in Scotland, enthuses about the ship to the captain. He is more cautious, and says: "She has to find herself yet. It's the way wi' ships, Miss Frazier. She's all here, but the parrts of her have not learned to work together yet. They've had no chance... We can no more than drive and steer her, and so forth; but if we have rough weather this trip - it's likely - she'll learn the rest by heart!" The ship encounters heavy seas during the voyage to New York, and the parts of the