END OF THE MAURETANIA

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1935, Page 27

END OF THE MAURETANIA

The first day of the week's auction of the appointments of the Mauretania, whose next and last voyage Is to the shipbreakers, was half-expected to be a sad and sentimental occasion, with many present to bid for souvenirs of the liner which queened the Atlantic for a ', score of years, says the Southampton correspondent of the London "Daily Telegraph." But except for an emotional moment when the sale began* its atmosphere

[was as cold as the weather, and practical reasons determined every purchase. Panelling and carpets were bought for a Channel Islands hotel, furniture for a new London film studio, fittings for quite ordinary disposal. Possibly the souvenir-hunters did not come because : few of the 390 lots on offer out of the total of 3500 were of a kind to touch the heart. It is not for bunks, basins, and brackets that the ocean traveller's bosom beats; and the ship's lettering, flags, sirens, compasses, and lamps are being kept for the final day. Then, perhaps, sentiment will pay for a fling.

The Mauretania lay next to the Olympic in the new dock, which the Southern Railway is equipping for her successors, and the auction took place in the first-class lounge, so long the rich background to wealthy gatherings, but today cold and full of draughts. People came silently into the light of the crystal chandeliers wandering round the forsaken alleyways, where the air had a slight tinge of the mustiness that follows human desertion of a place once dwelt in.

The auctioneer sat at a red-curtained table which was set upon another table. He faced the microphone of a news-film outfit and seemed reluctant to make the beginning of the end of a great ship. "It is a sad occasion, but it is all part of the march of progress, and we are glad that an even greater ship will follow to. maintain Britain's proud name upon the seas. .." There was a little wavering applause. How shall one respond when a man says, in effect, "The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen." Mr. Fish added: "The conditions of sale are printed in the catalogue. Lot one is two mahogany wardrobes with bevelled mirror doors and drawers underneath. What .can I say? A pound? Twenty-five shillings? Thirty shillings . . .?" At fifty-five the hammer came down, as it were, upon the first nail Of a coffin. ' .