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
SS Britannic (1874) its own attempts at the Blue Riband. On 25 June 1874 she made her maiden voyage, from Liverpool to New York. In the autumn of 1876, she captured the westbound Blue Riband and a month later set the eastbound record as well, becoming the only White Star ship ever to hold both records simultaneously. She lost the westbound record to her sister, "Germanic", in April 1877 and the eastbound one to the Guion Line's "Arizona" in July 1879. On 4 July 1881 "Britannic" ran aground in fog at Kilmore, County Wexford, Ireland, and remained stuck for two days. All the