Hi everyone,
The image of
Captain Rostron on Mauretania's bridge is definitely a screen capture from an archive film that was made in March 1922 to show her leaving the Tyne after her refit. This short film was shown at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle, as part of the exhibition which was held from 20th September to 19th November 2006, to commemorate the centenary of Mauretania's launch. I went to see this, and quite clearly recall seeing the video loop of this great little film.
>>do you know what type of crane it was?<<
Well, Jimmy, I am no expert on cranes, but I think that particular type of crane is known as a gantry crane. The cranes at John Brown shipyard on the Clyde were built by William Arrol, who achieved fame for building the Forth Railway Bridge (which of course Mauretania passed underneath on the way to the breaker's at Rosyth!) One of the Arrol cranes is preserved at the JB shipyard site, while the rest of the yard has been sadly flattened.
I dare say that those on this site who are more knowledgeable than me will offer further help.
The best Mauretania book...
Well, I personally wouldn't say that there is one in particular, as Eric said, refer to the list of books in the other thread. Primary sources such as "Engineering" and "The Shipbuilder", both originally published in 1907 to commemorate Mauretania's appearance, contain a wealth of technical detail about her. The Humfrey Jordan book -
Mauretania, which Eric recomended, is a "biography" of Mauretania, first published in 1936, just after her demise, and it contains a great deal of information about her career, with many contributions from those who served on her. Gerald Aylmer's
Mauretania - The Ship and Her Record, from about 1933, also details her life. Another good little book is
Mauretania - Pride of the Tyne by Ken Smith, this has many photos of her on the Tyne. The recent book
Mauretania - Triumph and Resurrection, by Peter Newall, is interesting for its information about the auctioning-off of fittings from her, and where these ended up.
And yes, Eric, I'm with you in that I feel it was best that Mauretania ended up the way she did, after learning of various accounts on the state of the
Queen Mary at Long Beach. OK, the breaker's is cruel and brutal, but at the end of the day, it's a natural end for a ship. At least old Maury had a darn good life, when the time came for her final journey, she was given a civic send-off from Southampton Docks, and she stopped at the mouth of the Tyne so that the city of her birth could say goodbye to her - those who were on the flotilla of small boats that came out to greet her sang "Old Lang Syne"! Also, in the Depression-hit North of England, her scrapping provided work for hundreds.
Regards,
Lucy
