An auction of fittings from Britannic was held on 4 July 1919 and the items scattered to the wind. The whereabouts of a few Britannic fittings is known.
*A pub in Belfast that has a few bits and pieces of her Dining and Reception Rooms and some suite details.
*A private flat in Belfast has a large amount of paneling from two of her best suites.
*A collector in Germany has had a fair bit of luck tracking down some fittings and paneling from her first-class staircases among other things.
*Some of it wound up on other ships. A bed that found its way onto
Olympic was sold at auction a number of years ago. It was stamped "433" and sold for just over $1,000. (My guess is that a fair number of Britannic items were placed on Olympic. After all, these were fittings from a nearly identical sistership, and there would have been no reason for White Star to "unload" a lot of the furniture at auction when it could simply be placed in storage and put on Olympic or another liner when their fittings wore out or were broken.)
*The bookcase from her second-class Library was going to be auctioned about eight years years ago. Shortly before the sale, the auction house was contacted by someone acting on behalf of a private party, who was interested in purchasing it before it went to auction. The sale was made, and it turned out that the annonymous purchaser was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
*And a huge amount of paneling was discovered just a few years ago in a warehouse in Belfast. (It was subsequently sold, but off hand I can't remember to whom.)
As for the woodwork at the Billingham Arms Hotel in England that supposedly comes from Britannic's first-class Smoking Room, although it looks similar to that on Britannic, remember that the only surviving image of Britannic's Smoking Room is a *rendering* not a photograph. Hardly conclusive proof. Also, a lot of the paneling carved at the time was quite similar in style. To be honest, there was nothing special about what was produced for the White Star Trio. As evidence, look at the Holland America ships of the time. They were all built by H&W, and many, many fittings and furniture are identical to those on Olympic, etc. Until I see some proof that the woodwork came from Britannic (perhaps the tell-tale hull number or room name on the back of one of the panels), I really can't add it to my list of "known" fittings.
Although I've seen copies of the catalogues for Mauretania, Aquitania, and Olympic dispersal sales, one has never turned up for Britannic that I know of.
Eric Sauder.
