RMS Mauretania

Another nautical stamp today.

This one has the Cunard RMS Mauretania on it, the sister ship to the Lusitania, and the Cunard competitors to the White Star Olympic class. The ship was apparently popular even though the very noise at speed, and survived from 1906 util scrapping in 1935. Unlike the Olympic class which had three funnels and a fake one for show, the Mauretania did actually use all four funnels to vent the boilers that generated the super heated steam to drive the Parsons' steam turbines. While world record breaking when launched, a modern cross channel ferry, is bigger and faster, and both are tiny when compared to the modern cruise ships, which are utterly gigantic!

The stamp cost a shilling when new and may be worth over £1.60 in unused condition, this one is rather bent and most definitely used! It was issued before I was born, so I've nothing to say about 1969.

Another frantic day at work... and I'm still catching up...