During the war 56 per cent. of the Cunard ships were sunk, including the memorable _Lusitania_; and the White Star Line, owing to the same reason, lost close on 150,000 tons. The _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_ had followed the _Carmania_, and were the outcome of an agreement made with the British Government to produce two ships capable of maintaining a minimum average ocean speed of from twenty-four to twenty-five knots in moderate weather. This has not only been maintained, but surpassed. _Mauretania_ was built in 1907, with turbines, a length of 790 feet, and her tonnage is 31,000 gross. In spite of all her running before the war, during the war, and since, she still holds the record not merely for the Atlantic, but for all seas in respect of merchant ships. The test accepted by most shipping experts is two-fold: the highest average speed for the whole voyage, and the fastest passage in days, hours and minutes. On this reckoning _Mauretania_ still leads, in spite of her younger sisters, for as recently as 1922 she averaged 25·29 knots eastward-bound in June. Her fastest passage in July of that year of five days, eight hours, nine minutes, entitles her still more to possession of the “blue riband” of the Atlantic. But as showing the remarkable consistency in running, if we take her three consecutive passages eastward across the Atlantic in June and July 1922, there are only _five_ minutes difference between the fastest and the slowest. It is superfluous to comment on this achievement. At a time when her fighting sister _Indomitable_ is being broken up, this powerful merchantman still goes on beating records. Recently fitted to burn oil-fuel, this turbine-driven, quadruple-screw, twenty-five knotter will long be remembered in maritime history as _Lusitania_ will in naval history.[7] The next famous Atlantic ships were the two White Star liners _Titanic_ and _Olympic_. The tragic end of the former, when she foundered during her maiden voyage, is too well remembered to need relating again. The _Olympic_ left Southampton on her maiden voyage in June 1911. She is a triple-screw vessel of 46,489 tons gross register, and thus much bigger than _Mauretania_, but not quite so fast. Those of us who remember passing _Olympic_ at sea during the war, zigzagging through the submarine zone with 5000 soldiers on board and the ship’s boats swung out, will never forget the sight. One hears many impossible yarns about certain claims, but apart from her magnificent work in bringing armies from America to Europe safely, this ship did definitely sink a German submarine. This may be regarded as some compensation for the loss of that new triple-screw White Star _Britannic_, a vessel of 48,158 tons gross register, which was destined never to cross the Atlantic, for which she had been constructed. The reader will remember that on November 21, 1916, after much excellent service as a hospital ship, she was sunk by enemy action in the Zea Channel, Ægean Sea.