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A Merchant Fleet at War

Chapter 3: ILLUSTRATIONS
By Archibald Hurd
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About This Book

A wartime account of the merchant fleet’s role during the Great War, describing mobilisation, the conversion of passenger liners into armed and hospital ships, and the steady movement of troops and materiel under escort. The narrative recounts encounters with enemy submarines, notable sinkings and survival episodes, and the everyday practices adopted at sea—camouflage, armament, convoy procedures and boat drills—alongside shore-based contributions such as factory and aeroplane work. Drawn from officers’, captains’, and crews’ recollections and contemporary photographs, the account emphasizes practical challenges, seamanship, and sacrifice as civilian vessels and their personnel sustained global logistics and evacuated or treated the wounded amid modern naval warfare.

ILLUSTRATIONS

In Colour
“Aquitania” leading the transports Frontispiece
  To face page
“Aquitania” escorted by destroyers 4
“Mauretania” escorted by destroyers 12
Torpedoing of the “Ivernia” 28
“Carmania” sinking “Cap Trafalgar” 36
Torpedoing of the “Ausonia” 44
Torpedoing of the “Lusitania” 52
“Phrygia” sinking a submarine 60
Torpedoing of the “Thracia” 68
“Valeria” sinking a submarine 84
Torpedoing of the “Volodia” 92
“Aquitania” as hospital ship 108
“Campania” as seaplane ship 124
In Monochrome
  To face page
“Aquitania” at Southampton with Canadian troops 2
Embarkation 6
Transport in Southampton Water 6
Canadian troops on “Caronia” being addressed by their commander 8
The “Campania” sinking in the Firth of Forth 10
The “Carmania” starboard forward guns 14
Rope protection on “Carmania” against shell splinters 14
Life on a transport (i): Kit inspection 16
Life on a transport (ii): Rifle drill 16
The “Carmania” ready for action 18
South African infantry on board the “Laconia” 22
The “Caronia” leaving Durban 24
H.M.S. “Mersey” alongside the “Laconia” off the Rufigi River 26
The “Carmania” approaching Trinidad 30
One of the “Carmania’s” guns 30
“Abandon Ship” drill at sea 32
After the fight 32
Chart-house and bridge of the “Carmania” after the fight 34
The “Laconia” at Durban 38
Final of the S.A.I. heavyweight championship on the “Laconia” 38
The Nelson Plate presented to the “Carmania” 40
Crew leaving the “Franconia” after she was torpedoed 42
Scene on board after the torpedoing of the “Ivernia” (i) 46
Scene on board after the torpedoing of the “Ivernia” (ii) 48
The torpedoing of the “Ivernia”: Survivors afloat on raft 50
The torpedoing of the “Ivernia”: Survivors being taken in one of the boats 54
The “Lusitania” 56
The “Mauretania” as a hospital ship off Naples Harbour 58
The “Alaunia” as an emergency hospital ship 62
The “Lusitania” passing the Old Head of Kinsale 64
The “white wake” that stretched to the beaches of Gallipoli 66
Officers, nurses and R.A.M.C. orderlies of H.M.H.S. “Aquitania” 70
“Homeward Bound.” 70
The sun-cure 72
The “Franconia” passing through the Suez Canal 72
American troops never forgot the “Lusitania” 74
In the Spring of 1918 the “Mauretania” brought 33,000 American soldiers to Europe 78
The “Aquitania’s” stage 80
The “Saxonia,” camouflaged, leaving New York with American troops for Europe 80
Welcoming the first contingent of returning American troops, New York, December 1918 82
The “Mauretania” arriving at New York, December 1918 82
Boat drill on a Cunard hospital ship 86
The “Aquitania’s” garden lounge as hospital ward 88
The “Aurania” ashore after being torpedoed 90
The “Ivernia” settling down 90
The “Ivernia” survivors arriving in port 94
Troops landing from the “Mauretania” 94
The “Dwinsk” settling down after being torpedoed 96
Survivors from the “Dwinsk” after eight days in the lifeboat 96
The “Mauretania” leaving Southampton 98
“Father Neptune” cared little for the preying submarines 102
An armed cruiser’s range finder 102
The “Thracia” fast 104
The “Aquitania” re-appears in the Mersey 106
Officers of the torpedoed “Franconia” 110
A Cunard crew buying war savings certificates 110
One of the American howitzers, assembled at the Cunard works 112
The “Aquitania’s” chapel 112
Cunard national aeroplane factory 114
Interior of the aeroplane factory (i) 118
Interior of the aeroplane factory (ii) 118
Interior of the aeroplane factory (iii) 120
Russian refugees on the “Phrygia” 120
One of the rooms in the Cunard shell works 122
A Record of “striking” value 122
A hospital ward in the lounge of the “Mauretania” 126
The “Aquitania” lounge as orderly room 128
Officers’ ward in the smoking room of the “Aquitania” 128
Men’s ward in the lounge of the “Aquitania” 132
The “Franconia” sinking 136