RMS Majestic Ephemera Collection

All Digitized Ephemera for the RMS Majestic available at the GG Archives. Common items of ephemera in our maritime collection include passenger lists, brochures, event and entertainment programs, and other memorabilia produced for a voyage or ship.

 

Ephemera contained in the GG Archives collection represent the souvenirs provided to the passengers of each voyage. Many of these souvenir ephemeral items have disappeared over the years.

Our selection varies considerably by ship, and likely contains only a sampling of what was originally produced and printed by the steamship lines.

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Building the SS Majestic

AN increased force of men have been put to work on the new White Star steamship Majestic at the shipbuilding yards in Belfast, where her construction progresses, and it is not improbable she may make her maiden trip to this port before the close of the year.

Source: Ocean: Magazine of Travel, Vol. III, No. 2, September 1889, Page 42

Arrival of the Majestic in New York - Her Maiden Voyage - 1922

BIGGEST LINER HERE WITH WORLD RECORD

Majestic Docks at White Star Pier After Maiden Voyage of 5 1/2 Days.

HUGE BUT EASY TO HANDLE

Though Largest Ship In World, She Turns Around Readily in Narrows.

Completing its maiden voyage from Southampton in 5 days 14 hours and 45 minutes, the Majestic of the White Star line, the world's largest ship. steamed up New York harbor yesterday afternoon and received from smaller craft the tribute due to a new monarch of the seas. Sirens blew and flags dipped as the 56,000 ton liner, majestic in appearance as well as name, passed by on the way to_ its pier, the longest in port. From the Battery to the White Star piers at the foot of Twenty-third Street, thousands waved from office windows and wharfs. Overhead aeromarine planes encircled and acted as an aerial escort.

Apart from the size of the Majestic, the manoeuvreability of the steamer won the greatest admiration from observers.

Under the command of Captain Sir Bertram Hayes, with Pilot A. H. Peterson, the ship accomplished a feat seldom attempted by large steamers, namely, turning around in the Narrows after weighing anchor at the conclusion of the Quarantine examination. Usually vessels proceed out to Gravesend Bay where there is plenty of room to negotiate a sweeping turn around. But the Majestic, as If on a pivot, with only one tug assisting, swung around in the half-mile wide Narrows and started upstream.

One hour and fifteen minutes after weighing anchor the Majestic had warped into her pier and the gangplank was down. The actual docking, which means the time the beam was off the pier end until the vessel was tied up, required only twenty-five minutes.

Ten Tugs Puff Away at Giant.

A favorable tide made the berthing of the ship a comparatively easy task. Ten tugs, dwarfs pitting their strength against a giant, puffed away in turning the Majestic into the pier slip. Just as the Majestic was ranging alongside the pier to a position behind the pier head shed as close as possible, the nose of the vessel crashed into the corrugated side of the shed. The impact, though the Majestic was scarcely moving, tore away about fifteen feet of the outer covering of the shed. The damage, according to officials, amounted only to a few hundred dollars.

Moored several feet from the shore bulkhead. stern of the ship projected forty-one feet into the Hudson beyond the solid pier which is 923 feet long. Scows were placed at the stern to protect the quadruple screws. At night red lights will be hung to warn river craft to keep clear.

The official average speed' reported during the trip was 22.63 knots an hour, but it was said unofficially that the Majestic at times plowed through the seas at the rate of 23 knots. It was suggested by shipping men that the Majestic bids fair to be a contender with the Cunarder Mauretania for the speed record across the Atlantic. The Mauretania made a trip in four days ten hours and forty-one minutes,

" We 3ust let the Majestic loaf along: there was no attempt to push her," said Captain Sir Bertram Hayes, who in ad-is Commodore of the White to ar - of steamers. " the hand:es well and we experienced no trouble on the way over. We are after no speed records. Our job Is to carry passengers safely across the Atlantic."

Harold A. Sanaerson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the corporate name of the White Star Line. who was a passenger, said the performance of the Majestic on the maiden voyage was highly satisfactory.

" The ship Can steam twenty-five knots easily; how much more we do not know nor do we intend to find out for the present," he said. " There will be no attempt to push the vessel."

Full Power Not Used.

Officials of the Belfast Ship Works a tad that the full power of the boilers was not used. One said that great care had to be used in handling the ship on the Initial trip because should any trouble develop there was no accessible dry-dock in either the United States or England where an examination could be made.

Just as the Majestic was arriving at Quarantine, the Mauretania and Reliance were leaving for Europe. While their flags dipped to the new boat, passengers lined the rail and waved to those aboard the Majestic.

The Majestic is 956 feet long and has a beam of 100 feet. Her depth from bridge to keel is 102 feet. With nine decks, above which project four superstructure decks, the giant vessel presented a trim appearance which won favorable comment. She is of the three-funneled oil-burner type. Forty-eight boilers, with 240 furnaces, provide the power to .turn the triple screws. The promenade is said to be the most extensive on any ship, four times around equaling a mile.

The Majestic has accommodation for 4,100 passengers and a crew of 1,000. There are 1,245 staterooms aboard, including many suites, the largest of which consists of eight room and three baths. Just to name a few of the features 'of the chip there is a lounge 76 feet long and 57 feet wide, a dining room 117 by 98 feet and a Pompeian swimming bath of S30 square feet area,

Invitations have been sent out by the White star Line for an inspection of the new liner tomorrow.

The New York Times Published: May 17, 1922 Copyright © The New York Times.

Images of the RMS Majestic

RMS Majestic Twin-Screw, 10,000 Tons Steamship of the White Star Line. GGA Image ID # 144698dbb1