Casgliadau Arlein

An album of 167 gelatine silver photographs and 3 postcards. Shows the Cunard Line S.S. MAURETANIA at Fishguard Harbour, August 1909, the S.S. LUSITANIA at Fishguard, Sept. 1909, the transfer of luggage and passengers from the liners to the harbour via the tender vessels SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, SMETON and S.S. PEMBROKE, the Fishguard lifeboat, five panoramic views of Fishguard with S.S. MAURETANIA and tender vessels, the G.W.R. OCEAN EXPRESS departing Fishguard for London, G.W.R. carriage interiors, others of the S.S. AMBROSE and S.S. ST ANDREW arriving May 1908, the S.S. ANTONY April 1908, many stamped on reverse with Cunard Line stamp and handwritten notes.

All photographs are held in album by two corners so that the details can be read on the back. In grey card cover with cream pages. Textile tie at right to hold together.

R.M.S. LUSITANIA which first called at Fishguard in September 1909, was in fact the last transatlantic liner ever to call at Fishguard, on 14 September 1914. Whilst the Great Western Railway hoped that the transatlantic trade via Fishguard could be resumed after the First World War, this did not transpire. On 7 May 1915, she was struck by a German torpedo off the Irish coast, on her homeward voyage across the Atlantic from New York to Liverpool. She sank within twenty minutes. 1,198 of the 1,959 passengers aboard, including children and crew, perished.