Sailor's Rest

When the Cunard Lines' 45,600-ton Aquitania steamed majestically into New York Harbor on her maiden voyage in June 1914, admiring New Yorkers called her "the most beautiful ship in the world." Built at a cost of more than $10 million, the four-stacked* Aquitania, with her nine decks, and quarters for 2,870 passengers, marked a new peak in luxurious ocean travel. But at first she had little time to show off.

Pressed into troopship service in World War I, she used her speed (23 knots) to zigzag alone through submarine-infested waters. She also performed yeoman service in World War II, carrying 384,586 servicemen to & from battle. Never once was the Aquitania, known as "Grannie," fired on. Between wars she averaged a trip a fortnight from Southampton to New York, carried some 700,000 passengers. Recently the old ship, still in her stripped-down war condition, has been carrying immigrants to Canada. Last week, tied up at the Southampton dock after 35 years' service, the Aquitania was retired. Said a Cunard official, with never a tear for old Grannie: "It's unsatisfactory to run a liner longer than that."

*One was a fake, installed because many travelers seemed inclined to judge a ship's reliability by the number of stacks.

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