RMS Lusitania Cunard Line Captain William Turner Shortly Before Being Torpedoed





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1 Majestic Historic Ship RMS Lusitania Cunard Line Captain William Turner Shortly Before Being Torpedoed & Sunk 1915 British Marine Oil Painting Framed Nautical Art.

Subject stunning British marine art beautifully captures the grandeur and elegance of one of the world's most famous Cunard liners. The scene portrays the RMS Lusitania sailing steaming along choppy ocean waves in side on profile heading towards the left under foggy overcast sunrise early morning sky, evoking a timeless maritime ambiance. Her 4 funnel stacks bellowing black smoke.

Initial signed JS British school artist.

Title “RMS Lusitania” Merchant Captain William Thomas Turner Command Ocean Liner Ship Of Cunard Line 1915 shortly before being torpedoed and sunk By British Artist J.S.

Medium oil on board with a front ar70 glass cover.

Set in a traditional recentl Larson Juhl Hampshire moulded scoop profile gilt wood frame which enhances this work even further.

With hanging thread on the back ready for immediate wall display.

Circa 1950's mid 20th century.

Impressive size with the frame being 66 cm wide and 56 cm high.

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner launched by the Cunard Line in 1906. She was the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister Mauretania three months later and was awarded the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1908. RMS Lusitania was sunk on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing, on 7 May 1915 by the German submarine U-20, 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,197 passengers, crew and stowaways. The sinking occurred about two years before the United States declaration of war on Germany, but significantly increased American domestic public support for entering the war.

The German government attempted to find justifications for sinking Lusitania. Special justifications focused on the small declared cargo of 173 tons of war materials on board the 44,000 ton displacement ship, and false claims that she was an armed warship and carried Canadian troops. In defence of indiscriminately sinking ships without warning, they asserted that cruiser rules were obsolete, as British merchant ships could be armed and had been instructed to evade or ram U-boats if the opportunity arose, and that the general warning given to all ships in the war zone was sufficient. The sinking shifted public and leadership opinion in the United States against Germany. US and internal German pressure led to a suspension of German Admiralty policy of deliberately targeting passenger ships, as well as later stronger restrictions. War was eventually declared in 1917 after the German Government chose to violate these restrictions, deliberately attacking American shipping and preparing the way for conflict with the Zimmermann Telegram.

Type Ocean liner, tonnage, 31,550 GRT or 12611 NRT, displacement 44060 long tons, length 787 ft or 239.9 m overall. Beam 87.8ft or 26.8 m. Height from keel to top of funnels 144 ft or 43.9 m. Draught 33.6 ft or 10.2 m. Depth 56.6 ft or 17.3 m. 6 passenger decks, 10 overall, installed 2 fire-tube boilers producing 76,000 hp (57 MV). Propulsion as built four triple blade propellers, from 1909 quadruple blade propellers. Capacity 552 first class, 460 second class, 1186 third class, 2198 total, with a crew of 850. First British four-funnelled ocean liner.

Biography of Captain Turner, he was born in Liverpool, England to Charlotte Turner (née Johnson) and Charles Turner, who was a seaman. The younger Turner first set sail aboard the ship Grasmere somewhere between the ages of 8 and 13. Just like his last voyage on the Lusitania, his first sea voyage also ended in a shipwreck near Ireland, and he swam to the Irish shore to save himself. Turner served under his father's command on Queen of the Nations. While best known now for his role in the Lusitania disaster, Turner was an excellent navigator who accomplished several crossings at notable speeds, including Liverpool to New York in 12 days in 1910, and was promoted for his skill despite his unsuitably gruff demeanor around passengers.

Turner joined Cunard Line in 1878 as Fourth Officer, following in his father's footsteps, and left Cunard in 1883 to gain additional experience required for a promotion. Turner gained his captain's licence in 1886, and then rejoined the line in 1889. In 1903, Turner was given his first command, Aleppo. While Cunard initially had concerns about Turner's gruff demeanour and avoidance of passengers, they found to their surprise that passengers actually enjoyed Turner's elusive act and that he was in high demand. In 1915 A German U-boat sank RMS Lusitania by torpedo, and an Admiralty inquiry brought serious charges against Turner. Winston Churchill was directly involved with the case. Turner was exonerated, but the charges haunted him for the rest of his life, and he lived in seclusion

Provenance private London marine collection, labels verso high end London based auction, Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD, exhibited museum.

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Condition report.

Offered in fine used condition.

Front painting surface is in acceptable overall order. The board has warped & having various foxing staining & craquelure in places, with some paint touchs to the lower front hull & some minor paint loss towards the back of the ship. The frame which has general wear, scuffs, scratches, stains, cracking, some chips losses in places commensurate with usage & age.

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Dimensions in centimetres of the frame

High (56 cm)
Wide (66 cm)
Depth total thickness of frame (3 cm)






Reserve: $5,400.00

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