RMS Mauretania (Classic Liners)

I agree with transatlantique's review and have mixed feelings about this book. I'm happy that someone has taken the time to acknowledge this ship which often sailed in the shadow of her famous namesake and her two "big cousins" Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. The second Mauretania was a fine ship in her own right. On a positive note, it's obvious the author has an affection for his subject. The text is engaging, and the chapter of the "Maury's" wartime service is rather suspenseful, noting at one point a near-collision with the Ile de France. But while there are plenty of handsome exterior shots of the Mauretania, I agree; almost no interiors. No deck plans. It's not that this material is unavailable; I have seen interior Mauretania shots in other liner books I own. The Mauretania was a beautifully appointed ship, and interior shots are why I buy books such as this. I hope some sort of revised edition is in order; this is an OK book that could have been great.

Here we have one of the few books dedicated to the second Mauretania. It's a pretty good one too. There are many ships that could do much worse than a tome such as this. Filled with tons of exterior shots (something common to this series of books, "Classic Liners") a good deal in color, there are VERY few pictures of her interiors. So few that the average reader would come away wondering at their absence. All pictures are however very high quality and there are lots of them. However there Are a few misidentified pictures, such as listing Mauretania when the actual picture contains Queen Mary, Ile de France or Queen Elizabeth. The latter a common mistake as Mauretania was visually extremely similar, simply 50,000 tons smaller. The narrative is excellent with sections written Commodore Marr, Captain Jones, Engineering Officer Gleed, Officer Jackson, Steward Webb, and Steward Owens. Many copies of Daily Programs, a nice cutaway and cruise brochures are also included. An excellent addition to your liner collection and certainly a ship worthy of such a tribute.

there is almost a total lack of photos of the ship's interior which i found very disappointing. a number of the exterior photos are so similar as to be redundant, adding to the disappointment that more interior photos were not used.

No, there aren't a lot of good interior reprints of this ship. My other books by Britton are fairly complete, but not this one. There is a nice colour reprint, included with a few different others, of two men sitting in their cabin, and an interior scene of a banquet held on board with the Queen Mother, but it leaves much to be desired.Most reprints are of the exterior, and most are in colour, in various ports with various other ships. The colour scenes entering NY harbour are quite nostalgic. There is a nice reprint of Mary, SS France (in the very back), and Mauretania's green hull next to an automobile at Ocean Terminal in Southampton. There are some interesting deck scenes, and many layouts of menus, event flyers, posters, letters, adverts, various memorabilia, and a cutaway that falls the first quarter of the ship into the fold of the page. Of course the key to this cutaway leaves one looking for a magnifier to match up the numbers.The text is sufficient enough to describe an accurate history. But who is doing much reading with these books? We want photos from all perspectives.It isn't all a loss, not as bad as 1 star. I would have given it 3 stars because of the lack of interiors, but what is included is four stars. Had it been mostly text, that would have brought the rating down considerably. If there are photos from and of the decks, I assume that the person taking those photos on the ship went inside. So why aren't there interiors of her? This does baffle me given the number of interior scenes Britton has included with his other books. A written explanation at the beginning would have been nice. Maybe there are some photos of her interiors included in another book, but I would have liked for them to have been included in this one.I am glad I bought this, though incomplete, because it fits in nicely with my collection. Maybe someday I'll see a publication that will expound on what life might have been like from the inside of Mauretania, preferably in lavish and large layouts.

Agree with the other reviews here regarding the disappointments for what the book does not include. There are also inaccurate captions as well as outdoor shots on deck attributed to the Mauretania which are in fact other Cunarders.

Beware: The description of this book in the Amazon listing is misleading in one very important aspect. There are NO interior shots of this great ship's public rooms or cabins. Zero!How can an author create a book supposedly about life on a great liner and totally omit photos of the public spaces like lounges, dining rooms, lobbies, theatres etc and also totally exclude photos of the accomodations? There is one shot of two gentlemen in a cabin and I think one shot of a deck buffet. No diagrams, deck plans, artist sketches, nothing to give the reader a clue of what went on inside the ship.To add insult to injury there are numerous repetitive exterior shots that appear to be just taking up space, the same shot from multiple angles.What a missed opportunity this book is for those for those of us who wanted to learn more about this "little sister" of the great Queens. I feel like I have wasted my money on this book.

Great book for exterior shots - but I rather like to see some interior shots of the ship to get a feel of what the passengers were offered not that I'm a fan of the interiors of some ships of this period - if the book would have included a few shots of her interiors it would have been a great book on a liner that is seldom mentioned in history.

This publication was better than I had expected with great photos of the Maury, Pity that I hadn’t known of the intended publication as I have my own story of its last two years of service.

RMS Mauretania (2) - ein klassischer Cunard Liner, der leider in der Schiffsliteratur gar nicht, oder nur selten erwähnt wird. Daher war es umso erfreulicher als endlich dieses Buch erhältlich war.Beim Durchblättern entsteht leider große Enttäuschung, da fast ausschließlich Bilder des Schiffes auf See oder in Häfen zu finden sind, zum Teil mehrfach diesselben Aufnahmen nur aus anderen Blickwinkeln fotografiert. Aufnahmen von der Inneneinrichtung fehlen, genauso wie Deckspläne. Dadurch entsteht der Eindruck, dass der Autor sich nicht sonderlich vertieft hat in die Gestaltung dieses Buches.Für alles Schiffs- besonders Mauretaniafans ein nicht zu empfehlendes Werk. Schade.

This book on Cunard's often-overlooked Mauretania 2 (1939-1965) is long overdue. As with previous books in this series the book has the main text in the front and the last half consists of many rarely seen color photos. (The main text has recollections from former crew members and passengers that are quite interesting) Aside from some photos that are not labeled correctly & actually show the funnels of liners other than the Mauretania 2, the images are well chosen and show off the fine lines of this Cunarder. One notable absence is the lack of color images of her public spaces. These images are available in various color brochures still around today and should have been included.But these are only minor gripes. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this impressive vessel.

Brought this for my dad who worked on the ship, it was great as he is unwell at the moment but found the photos lovely to look at. I was a little worried as some of the reviews were a bit negative but was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. The photos were lovely and there was not too much text. I would definitely buy another Andrew Britton book.