The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by Santoro Graphics Ltd. of Rotherham. The card was printed in England.
The back of the card states that the artwork was by Colin Ashford. The image appears to be a more modern and less detailed version of the original image, which was produced circa 1928 by Odin Rosenvinge (see below).
Colin Ashford
Colin Ashworth was a painter and illustrator in oil and watercolour. He was born in 1919 in Ackworth, Yorkshire and attended Wakefield School of Art from 1933 - 1937.
Colin first flew when he was about twelve years of age, in an open top biplane which he later discovered was flown by a Great War pilot.
He attended Glasgow School of Art from 1937 – 1939, under W. O. Hutchison and Tom Purvis.
Colin fought in the Second World War, sustaining injuries during a battle against two Panzer divisions whilst trying to hold the Allied front in Belgium. He returned home with bullet wounds to the legs and severe shell shock.
Following three months of treatment in England he went back into battle with The Royal Engineers in North Africa and Italy. Following the end of the war he worked in publishing for many years whilst maintaining his painting.
Ashford worked in advertising studios and magazine publishing before going freelance as a painter and illustrator. He was a founder-member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, and a fellow of the Central Institute of Art and Design.
Colin stated that:
"I was influenced by marine artists of the
1920's and 1930's, also poster illustrators
of the same period”.
Colin took part in group exhibitions at RSMA and RI, and had solo shows in Kent galleries. Historical marine and aviation subjects were a speciality.
The Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford are among collections holding examples of Colin's work.
Colin died in 2020.
Odin Rosenvinge (1880 - 1957)
Odin Rosenvinge was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne of Danish descent. After leaving school, he joined a Leeds commercial art and printing firm where he started to paint marine subjects.
When he was thirty-two, he moved to Liverpool and joined the firm of Turner and Dunett, who had all the major shipping companies as clients.
Odin served in the Middle East during the Great War. In the 1930's, his employers went into liquidation, and he went freelance, becoming one of the most celebrated poster and postcard artists.
SS Imperator
RMS Berengaria was originally called the SS Imperator.
SS Imperator was a German ocean liner built for the Hamburg America Line, launched in 1912. At the time of her completion in June 1913, she was the largest passenger ship in the world by gross tonnage, surpassing the new White Star giants, Olympic and Titanic.
Imperator was the first of a trio of successively larger Hamburg American liners that included SS Vaterland (later the United States Liner Leviathan) and SS Bismarck (purchased and renamed Majestic for the White Star Line transatlantic passenger service).
During World War I, the Imperator remained in port in Hamburg. After the war, she was briefly commissioned into the United States Navy as USS Imperator and employed as a transport, returning American troops from Europe.
Following her service with the U.S. Navy, Imperator was handed over to Britain's Cunard Line as part of war reparations where she sailed as the flagship RMS Berengaria for the final decade of her career.
-- Construction and Early Career
The first plates of Imperator's keel were laid in 1910 at the Vulcan Shipyards in Hamburg, Germany. She made her maiden voyage in 1913. At 52,117 gross register tons, Imperator was the largest ship in the world until Vaterland sailed in May 1914.
Before its launch on the 23rd. May 1912, Cunard announced that its new ship, RMS Aquitania, which was under construction at the time at the John Brown shipyards in Glasgow, would be longer by 1 foot (300 mm).
There was chagrin in Hamburg. Several weeks later, Imperator was fitted with an imposing bronze eagle figurehead which adorned her forepeak. This meant that the length of Imperator surpassed that of Aquitania. The eagle's wings were torn off in an Atlantic storm during the 1914 season, after which the figurehead was removed and replaced with gold scroll-work similar to that on the stern.
On its initial sea trials, the Imperator ran aground on the Elbe river due to insufficient dredging. There was also a flash fire in the engine room which resulted in eight crewmen being taken to hospital.
On her official trials, she suffered overheating of the turbines, and some stability issues were discovered. The trials were therefore abandoned, and the builders were called in to carry out emergency work. Coincidentally, 1913 was the silver jubilee year for the Kaiser, so he was going to be treated to an overnight cruise on the North Sea before the ship would make its maiden voyage. The overnight cruise was cancelled; it was eventually carried out in July of that year.
Imperator left on her maiden voyage on Wednesday, 11th. June 1913. On the way, she stopped at Southampton and Cherbourg before proceeding across the Atlantic to New York, arriving on the 19th. June 1913.
On board were 4,986, consisting of 859 first-class passengers, 647 second-class passengers, 648 third-class passengers, 1,495 in the steerage, and 1,332 crew. The ship returned to Europe from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the 25th. June 1913.
On its first arrival, the harbour pilot assigned to bring it into the New York Ambrose channel noted that the ship listed from side to side when the helm made changes to the ship's direction. She was soon nicknamed 'Listerator'.
In October 1913, Imperator returned to the Vulkan shipyard for work to improve handling and stability, as her centre of gravity was too high. To correct the problem, the marble bathroom suites in first class were removed and heavy furniture was replaced with lightweight wicker cane.
The ship's funnels were reduced in height by 9.8 ft (3 m). Finally, 2,000 tons of cement was poured into the ship's double bottom as ballast. This work cost £200,000, which had to be borne by the shipyard as part of their five-year warranty to the shipowners.
At the same time, an advanced fire sprinkler system was fitted throughout the ship, as several fires had occurred on board since the vessel had entered service.
Imperator returned to service on the 11th. March 1914, arriving in New York five days later on the 19th.
Among its luxurious features, Imperator introduced a two-deck-high, Pompeiian-style swimming pool for its first-class passengers. To see this, please search for the tag 46BER93
-- The Great War and U.S. Navy Service
In August 1914, as the Great War began, she was laid up at Hamburg and remained inactive for more than four years, falling into dilapidation. Following the Armistice of the 11th. November 1918, Imperator was allocated to the United States for temporary use as a transport alongside Vaterland, which was now renamed SS Leviathan and bringing American service personnel home from France.
She was commissioned as the USS Imperator in early May 1919. After embarking 2,100 American troops and 1,100 passengers, Imperator departed Brest, France on the 15th. May 1919, arriving at New York City one week later. She made three cruises from New York to Brest, returning over 25,000 troops, nurses, and civilians to the United States.
Decommissioned at Hoboken, New Jersey in early 1919, it was decided that she would be operated by Cunard. Captain Charles A. Smith and a full crew was sent out to New York and the official handover to Cunard took place on the 24th. November.
-- Cunard Service
The ship arrived at Southampton on Sunday 10th. December 1919 and then proceeded to Liverpool for what was planned to be a quick overhaul (she was scheduled to leave on her first voyage for the new owners on the 10th. January 1920).
However, upon inspection, the ship was found to be in poor condition. During dry-docking on the 6th. January, it was found that the ship's rudder had a piece missing, and the propellers were suffering from erosion on their leading edges. These issues were attended to while the ship was refurbished with items borrowed from the Cunard vessels Transylvania and Carmania.
Due to the extent of the work that had to be carried out, Imperator remained at Liverpool until the 21st. February. During this time the company's annual dinner was held on board. On the first return journey from New York, Imperator developed a severe list which was found to be caused by a faulty ash ejector. Cunard decided that the ship was in need of a major overhaul, and she was withdrawn from service.
The ship was re-named after the English queen Berengaria of Navarre, wife of Richard the Lionheart, in February 1921.
In September 1925, a security alert at sea was triggered when the Cunard company offices in New York received a message stating there was a bomb aboard Berengaria; the vessel was then 1,200 miles out from New York, bound for Southampton.
The ship was searched although the passengers and most of the crew were not informed as to the reason. A fire drill was held just before the supposed time of detonation, so passengers could be placed close to their lifeboat stations without arousing suspicion. The bomb threat failed to materialise.
The Berengaria was sailing from England to New York when the 1929 Wall Street crash hit, and a number of passengers went from being millionaires to paupers while at sea.
On the 11th. May 1932, Berengaria ran aground in the Solent. She was refloated an hour later.
In May 1934, Berengaria was again in the headlines when she ran aground on mud banks at Calshot on the Solent. she was pulled free by four tugs from Southampton. The vessel suffered no damage and the incident did not affect her sailing schedule.
Despite her German heritage, Berengaria served as flagship of the Cunard fleet until replaced by her sister ship, RMS Majestic (also German: ex-SS Bismarck), in 1934 after the merger of Cunard with White Star Line.
In later years, Berengaria was used for discounted Prohibition-dodging cruises, which earned her the jocular nickname 'Bargain-area'.
-- Retirement and Scrapping of the Berengaria
Toward the end of her service life, the ship suffered several electrical fires caused by ageing wiring, and Cunard-White Star opted to retire her in 1938.
She was sold to Sir John Jarvis, who had also purchased Olympic, to provide work for unemployed shipbuilders in Jarrow, County Durham. Berengaria sailed for the River Tyne under the command of Captain George Gibbons to be scrapped down to the waterline.
Due to the size of the vessel and the outbreak of the Second World War, final demolition took place only in 1946.
