SS Lusitania

5 years prior to being Torpedoed by a German U-Boat in 1915, kind of a neat card knowing the fate of the ship.

Please forgive me for correction Stallzer,
The vessel shown in the postcard (and a beauty!)
is the RMS Lusitania I think.

The SS lusitania was a single stack vessel,
shown here painted by Tom Roberts whilst aboard.

I hope I am correct.

If you enlarge the postcard shown above, it does say "S.S. Lusitania".

That other little boat with the outboard motor
was also called the "SS Minnow" :)

They would be one in the same. SS= Steamship, RMS = Royal Mail Ship. That is the Lusitania, owned by the Cunard Ship Co. that took the torpedo.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ger-64977399

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania

How right you are, Rod. I can see Gilligan waving at everyone, but is that Mary Ann or Ginger I see behind him?

Yes, maybe, but we might have to "split hairs" again.
Officially, and with great prestige, any vessel that was awarded a mail contract, took on the title RMS = Royal Mail Steamer

In a quirk of curiosity, we have the "RMS Titanic"
with her lifeboats with the livery of "SS Titanic"

I'll let someone else explain.

Having the title "RMS" was seen as a mark of quality and a competitive advantage, because the mail had to be on
time. In the 1860 CDSPCo contract there was a penalty clause of £1 1s 4d for every minute's delay. The White Star
Line sisters RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic were Royal Mail Ships.

S.S. stands for Steam Ship and is the internationally accepted standard for a steam driven vessel as was RMS
Titanic.

The Lifeboats would carry SS rather than RMS because there MIGHT have been a later cruise when Titanic was
NOT under Royal Contract to carry the mail.
Source(s):
former US Naval Officer, History Teacher, and friend of the Royal Navy

I believe the Lusitania was under royal mail contract from
her commissioning hence RMS.

Not trying to be a smart bottom, but to some
may be of interest

That's dating you donna

Can you believe we watched that stuff

By coincidence, the day this thread was posted, the last known living survivor of the sinking of the Lusitania died in England aged 95. Audrey Lawson-Johnson and her brother were rescued from the ship by their nanny, but two older sisters were drowned. Their family were migrating from the USA to England. She was just 3 months old at the time.

Extraordinary.
I was reading of those who perished, quite
a remarkable list of prominent people.
Germany had advertised their intent in many papers,
I am surprised there was not more reticence.

I would not consider it to be splitting hairs Rod. Your explanation is quite accurate and I would probably assume that when the Postcard was manufactured the Lusitania probably had not received the Mail contracts yet. I did not look to see when her maiden voyage was but the PC is from 1910, 5 years prior to her sinking at which time she was the RMS Lusitania. That is eerily a very fascinating coincidence Stampgal, and I had no knowledge of that when I posted this, I have just been going through my PC collection which I started going through the past couple of days. Much to my surprise, I have found some very interesting items, I'll post up some others.

Cheers :)
FYI.
Let's call the SS Lusitania (number 1)
She was wrecked BTW off the coast of Newfoundland.

Here is a nice little writeup on the earlier Lusitania and Rod's stamp, from a ship-philately website.
http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/v...0718&start=0

She was rigged for sails, which explains the image in the painting/stamp.

Great read here!

Ditto.

Yes, a great read Cjd,
thanks for finding that
what a knowledgeable author!
Ships on stamps is in good hands


Clipper:
A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area. Clipper ships were mostly made in British and American shipyards, though France, the Netherlands and other nations also produced some. Clippers sailed all over the world, primarily on the trade routes between the United Kingdom and its colonies in the east, in trans-Atlantic trade, and the New York-to-San Francisco route round Cape Horn during the California Gold Rush. Dutch clippers were built beginning in 1850s for the tea trade and passenger service to Java.