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 World That Never Was and anti-revolutionaries of the period. David Peers, in the anarchist newspaper "Freedom", recommended the "racily and colourfully written" book while pointing outs its omission of anarcho-syndicalism and anarchism in Ukraine and Mexico. Socialist feminist writer Sheila Rowbotham, writing in "The Independent", wrote that ""The World That Never Was" conveys the labyrinthine coils of conspirators and spies with graphic panache" but noted Butterworth's failure to convey his characters' ideals and motives, and his imprecise referencing style. Leo McKinstry of the "Daily Express" praised the book's scope and its "rich cast of characters" but argued it was let down by Butterworth's style