DONALDSON DOMINION DUO: T.S.S. ATHENIA & T.S.S. LETITIA

A ship sails through history… What a wonderful, vibrant history there is, as told by our marine editor, in the old liner Captain Cook, better known as the Letitia, which is now on her way to the scrap heap.  

This was no mere luxury vessel made famous because of a kind of café society trade. Through the years she took part in the dramas of our time, tragedy and hopefulness, war and peace.

In her early days she brought settlers from Scotland to Canada. Then was fitted as a hospital ship and brought back those thousand Canadian prisoners of war from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1945, just in time for Christmas.

Then she became the transport Empire Brent, bringing war brides and their children to Canada. Finally she became the Captain Cook, appropriately captain by a Vancouver celebrity named Captain James Cook, carrying 27,000 settlers to a new life in New Zealand.

We on the waterfront can flavor the full emotion of such a story. The Captain Cook played her part in the crises of countless lives.

The Province (Vancouver), 11 March 1960

Sister ships share the same basic construction details, usually come from the same builder and spend at least the first part of their lives in company, indeed of “of one company” as Sir Francis Drake would have it.  Yet, many wind up having divergent careers and different fortunes and fates as distinct as their own individual characters.  

No pair of sister ships bear this out more than Donaldson’s Athenia (1923) and Letitia (1925). Athenia is forever remembered for being torpedoed and sunk in the first hours of war between Britain and Germany in September 1939.  Athenia’s sinking was the opening shot of the longest and most important battle in the whole of the war: that waged on and below the Atlantic Ocean from 1939-1943.  

Yet her sister, Letitia, managed to distinguish herself in more roles—North Atlantic liner, cruise ship, Armed Merchant Cruiser, troop transport, hospital ship, war bride ship and migrant vessel;  serve more British dominions—Canada, Australia and New Zealand;  and carry more varied passengers---  emigrants, tourists, pilgrims, students, university heads, scholars, authors,  generals, soldiers, POWs, wounded, displaced persons and assisted migrants than any other passenger vessel over a  35-year career, as  one of the  greatest ever ships to fly  the Red Ensign.

   

During a fulsome  fifteen years  or  so  before the war, Athenia and Letitia were definitively  Scottish  and Canadian ships, furthering the enduring bonds  between the  two forged by  immigration,  culture  and  commerce.   Distinctive in character among that epic  group  of  19 ships  ordered by  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson after the war,  Athenia  and  Letitia,  too,  were  part of  a  never equalled  collective  of  vessels  built in 1922-31 to  serve  the  Dominion-- on East and  Western  Sea and from True North  to Southern Cross-- that  constituted a heyday  of Canadian  liners--  from the 4,037-grt  Bayrupert  to  the  42,348-grt  Empress of Britain-- and the last liners built for that forgotten "other"  Scottish  trans-Atlantic line:  Donaldson  Line.  

Embark  then, on  a voyage from the Clyde to  the St.  Lawrence  aboard Donaldson's "Sister Goddesses"  

T.S.S.  ATHENIA  & T.S.S. LETITIA  

T.S.S.  Letitia, by  Odin  Rosenvinge.

"Will Ye No Come Back Again"...T.S.S. Athenia, 1923-1939. Credit: Don Hazeldine

Glasgow and  the River  Clyde bequeathed to  British maritime  history  a strong tradition of  family  concerns  renowned  for  their  shrewdness, practicability and cautious  self confidence albeit  always tinged with  that Scottish unemotional  regard for  the  value  of  money. The Clyde spawned  both  shipbuilders  and  shipowners  who,  for the  one hundred and  fifty years  of  British  supremacy at sea, were always  at  the  fore  front. 

Leading amongst many  comes  the family  stemming  from John Donaldson (1800-1872)  whose four  sons  all  took part in  establishing  the  shipping  company that more  their  name and  which,  at the  end  of  the long story, still had three  great grandsons at  the helm.

Duncan Haws,  from the foreword of  Merchant Fleets:  Donaldson Line. 

Thus, from the environment of a humble Glasgow maker of clocks, has sprung a fleet of eighteen fine steamships which have done so much to disseminate the commercial genius of Scotland in the Americas during the past three-quarters of a century.

The Gazette,  12 August  1931.

Athenia and Letitia were the last passenger ships built for a line that never rivalling Anchor Line in number of ships, was no less representative of its native Scotland on the North Atlantic.  It would  be hard to conceive a Merchant Navy without the contributions of Scotland: the  genius  of  her marine  engineers and naval architects, craftsmanship of  her  shipwrights, business acumen of  her  shipowners  and stalwart qualities  of  her officers,  seamen and  engineers. Or indeed without the true “Hands Across the Sea” bonds that linked Scotland with Scots in North America that both Anchor and Donaldson Lines maintained. Born  and bred  on the  shores  of  the  Clyde,  captained  and  crewed by Scots,  Athenia and Letitia were true Scottish Ships of State. 

What  was always  a  family  enterprise  bearing  their name,  even when  their trans-Atlantic passenger service  was partially  owned  by  the  sprawling  Cunard-Anchor  conglomerate  1917-1935,  Donaldson Line  has  its  roots in John Donaldson (1833-1889) and  William  Falconer  Donaldson (1830-1880), the  sons of a clockmaker.  It was remarked that into the third generation  of  Donaldsons at  the  head  of the line that  bore the  family  name, that they all  still possessed the delicate, slender hands of clockmakers.  But John and William, finding their  first employment in  trading  and shipping  clerk functions in Glasgow,  and intoxicated with  the swirl  of  commerce that made the  city the  epicenter  of  the expanding British Empire, had other things to stimulate them than  the  making  of clocks and devoured every aspect  of the shipping  trade.  

By 1855  the  two founded Donaldson Brothers  and within three years acquired  their  first  ship,  the 299-ton barque Joan Taylor.  The Donaldsons set their roots in  the  rich trade with  South America's River  Plate  before the  North  Atlantic and  it  would remain an integral  part  of  the  company's business until  the end. By 1870, the  first  Donaldson steamship, the 1,350-ton  Astarte  entered service.

With  Confederation in 1867 creating  the modern Dominion of  Canada, trade between it, both cargo  and passenger, burgeoned in  the  last  quarter of  the  19th  century.   This and Allan Line, then  the leading line  trading between Britain and  Canada,  "butting in"  Donaldson's established service  to  South America,  prompted the  Donaldsons to  do  the  same on the St. Lawrence run  in April 1878 with a fortnightly Glasgow-St. Lawrence service to Quebec and Montreal and to Portland, Maine in winter. By the turn of the century this evolved into a weekly service to Montreal, St. John in winter and also to Baltimore.  These were cargo operations, but by the turn of the century, the demand for passenger space from Scotland to Canada was insatiable. In 1903 the line began to offer berths on their existing ships.

The initial Donaldson  trade  was in  cargo not passengers, but by  the second quarter  of  the  19th  century, the tide  of  Scottish  immigration to  North  America beckoned and  specifically  that to  Canada  as the  raw numbers  show,  it  was a  traffic  not  to be ignored  and one  that  Donaldson would  be among the first  to  tap  with  direct service from Scotland and in large  measure  facilitate  into  the 1930s:

          Period               No. of Scottish Immigrants

          1871-1901         80,000

          1901-1919         240,000

          1919-1930         200,000

By 1930, over one million Scots lived in Canada whose total population at the time was about 10 million.  As the expat population settled and prospered, it fostered a gradual increase in eastbound traffic as well to "the Old Country." Indeed, the very success,  in broad  terms  of  British and European  immigration to  North  America in  the  late  1880s-1920s,  created replacement business in the  opposite  direction with tourist and home visitors that began to  flourish  in the  mid  1920s  when the U.S.  Restricted  immigration and the  ensuing  Depression all but  ended  it  to  Canada  as well. Never fielding  more than  a handful  of passenger ships, the canny  and cautious Donaldsons carved  out their  fair and profitable portion of  North Atlantic  passenger  business and indeed, extricated it  from the Depression rubble of Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson and emerged fully  independent  by 1935.

Athenia (1904) was the first of a quartet of liners for the Glasgow-Montreal run before the First World War.  Credit: Author's collection.

The first  Donaldson  passenger liner  and  the  only  English-built  one,  Athenia  was  completed by  Vickers  at  Barrow  as a bold "biggest  yet"  7,835-grt  cargo ship in March 1904  for  the  Canadian  run.  Indeed  so  bold  in that  her overall  length  of 478 ft. was  not exceeded  until  the second Athenia of  1923. She  proved well  in excess  of  trade and  was instead returned to her builders and converted to more  profitable  use as a passenger liner  with  a new superstructure deck  and  accommodation for 50 saloon  and 450  steerage  passengers.  

The now 8,668-grt ship  made  her  maiden voyage from Glasgow to St. John, NB,  on 25 March 1905. Athenia was  an instant  success, made more  so  by her  second  voyage  when  her  saloon accommodation  was restyled as "One-Class Cabin  (Second  Class)"  and one of the progenitors of the "Cabin  Boat" on the Canadian  trade. That  and  Donaldson's  personal attention  to  the  level of  food, service  and  quality  fitments  in  passenger  accommodation that  would  be a  hallmark  for  the  next 55  or  so  years were quickly  established  and appreciated. Also integral to the  line's success  in  the Canadian market  was its appointment of the Robert  Reford agency in  Montreal as general agents.

Athenia's success  led  to  a quick  succession  of  "goddesses"  before  the  First  World War, starting  with  the  first purpose-build  Donaldson  liner,  the  7,396-grt.,  455 ft. by  53.2  ft., Cassandra launched at Scott's, Greenock,  on 27 June 1906 and  making  her  maiden voyage to Montreal on 22 September.   Accommodating 220 Cabin (Second)  Class  and  1,000 Third Class, Cassandra was as perfectly profiled, neat,  tidy  and  efficient  liner as  any  on the Western Ocean  with  twin-screw  triple-expansion machinery  giving a  14-knot  service  speed  and  a  "Second  Class"  accommodation as  fine as  any  its grade.  Cassandra set the pace  and  standard  for  all succeeding  Donaldson liners as did  career  with  them that spanned 23  years.

Next  came Saturnia, built by C. Connell &  Co. on the Clyde, which was a modestly  enlarged  Cassandra measuring 456.3 ft by 55.3. ft. and 8,611 grt and with  comparable machinery  and speed,  accommodating  250 Cabin (Second) and 950  Third Class. Making  her  maiden  voyage to Montreal  on 11 June 1910 barely three  months  after  being  launched, she survived colliding with  an  iceberg in  the Belle  Isle Strait the following August and  went on  to a thoroughly successful  career until finally  replaced  by  the  new  Letitia in 1925.

The handsome pre-war Letitia was lost in the First World War whilst serving as a hospital ship... not by enemy action, but pilot error coming into Halifax in 1917.  Credit: Author's collection.

For  the last of a quartet  of  pre-war  goddesses,  Donaldson returned  to  Scotts for Letitia,  launched on 21  February  1912  and entering service on 4  May. Measuring 470.4 ft. by 56.9  ft., 8,991  tons and  with berths for 300 Cabin (Second) and 950 Third, and following the well established machinery of  her sisters, Letitia always had a special cachet and character, the off-forgotten member  of  that elite company  of late  Edwardian  liners built  for  the  Canadian routes, a quality enhanced  by her tragically  short  life.

By mid  1912,  Donaldson Line's relatively  new  passenger  service  had  reached its apogee with four  fine new  ships maintaining  a weekly  service from  Glasgow  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and in  winter  to  Halifax  and St.  John,  N.B..    In 1913, Donaldson's North  Atlantic  passengers  service carried 7,702 Cabin  (Second)  and 11,830 Third  Class  westbound on 42  crossings  and 2,812 Cabin (Second)  and 5,025 Third  Class eastbound on 41 crossings  or  a  total of  27,369 passengers. 

Donaldson Line  maintained regular trans-Atlantic service throughout  the First  World  War although within the  confines of  occasional requisitioning  for transport service, including Cassandra participating in the first convoy taking Canadian  troops to  France, Saturnia in the Dardenelles Campaign and Letitia being  requisitioned as a hospital  ship in  November  1914,  and being engaged  in this role permanently  the only  one of the  quartet absent  from  the  Canadian  run during the war. 

H.M.H.S. Letitia  wrecked at  Portuguese Cove on Chebucto Head at  the entrance to  Halifax harbour  on 1 August 1917. Credit:  wikipedia  commons. 

The  Great War saw  Donaldson lose no  fewer than  nine of a fleet of  14 ships, including the  oldest passenger liner  Athenia (torpedoed  and  sunk  by  U-53 on 16  August  1917  off Inishtrahull,  Northern Ireland)  and  Letitia which was lost not on account  of  enemy  action but  pilot error  when,  serving  as a hospital ship and returning  with Canadian wounded, went aground  and  wrecked  off Chebucto  Head at the  entrance  to  Halifax harbour,  although thankfully with  no  loss of  life.  

During  the  war,  in September  1916, Anchor  Line obtained  a controlling  interest in  Donaldson's  fleet of four  liners which  came to be  operated by  a new  separate  company called  Anchor-Donaldson  Ltd. although  there  was no interchange  of  personnel  ashore  or afloat  with  Anchor  and Donaldson's  passenger  services were  still  manned  and managed by  Donaldson personnel.  It  did  result,  however,  in  the  passenger  services  being further embroiled  or,  depending on one's  perspective,  embellished, by  being  automatically  also part  of Cunard which  had acquired all the  shares of Anchor themselves  back  in 1912.  

In addition to the taking over of enemy passenger and freight vessels, there has recently been a large amount of shipping ordered for trans-Atlantic and other commerce, including vessels for the Canadian lines. It is announced that the Dominion Line has ordered six new steamers for the Atlantic trade, and that the Anchor-Donaldson Line is to build two new vessels for their Glasgow and Montreal route. Seven of the liners will be constructed in Clyde yards, while the remaining vessel will be built at Barrow-in-Furness.

During the war the Donaldson fleet suffered heavily from enemy action, the passenger steamers Athenia and Letitia being lost at sea, and four cargo vessels also being sunk. To make good these losses and in anticipation of the expansion of the trade the joint firms have ordered the new liners.

The  Gazette, 24  September 1919.

Two new passenger liners are on order for the Montreal-Glasgow service of the Anchor-Donaldson line, and it is hoped that delivery will be made by next summer.

Montreal  Star, 24 September 1919.

So  it  was  that  this now  enormous  undertaking, trading under  the rather  equally large mouthful  as "Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson"  contemplated,  contracted and  completed (although  it  would  take the  best  of  six  years) the  biggest  single  newbuilding  programme of liners  ever, totalling  19  in  all, of which two  were to  replace  the  lost Athenia  and Letitia and assume  their  names  as well.  Given the post-war  inflation in shipbuilding  costs and financing issues, it  was  just  as  well the  renewal of  Donaldson's  passenger  fleet  was subsumed  in  the  far  bigger overall plans  of Cunard.   

As a tribute to those vessels which had been lost in the war, their names would be carried on by their post-war replacements, breaking a long held belief among some sailors that it was unlucky to change or repeat a ship's name.  For Donaldson, it also saved them from searching out another pair of Greek goddess names to bestow on their share of the newbuildings.

The earliest rendering of the new Donaldson liners (by Odin Rosenvinge) gives them a far more imposing funnel than that actually fitted.  

On 9 September 1919 Anchor-Donaldson placed an order with Fairfield Co. Ltd. for two ships for their Glasgow-Montreal route. These were assigned Yard Nos. 596 and 601.  No. 596 was laid down at Govan almost immediately.  

A slightly  different take on the origins of  these ships  is  to be found in P.J.  Telford's Donaldson Line (1989):

To improve services to  and from  Eastern Canada, Anchor-Donaldson Ltd. secured a load in the  1920s from the Commercial Bank of  Scot Limited of  a sum amounting  to £400,000. This  was used to enable them to take over a vessel,  partially  built, in the  Clyde  yard of  Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. This vessel had  originated as a Cunard order and was most likely one of a group of  six vessels known as the  "A" class.  Work had been suspended on the  vessel [no. 601] after  about £300,000 had  been spent on her.  She was completed in 1925 at a cost  of £782,5000 and given the name Letitia (II). A sister ship, from the  same yard and completed in 1923, had also  been designated for the Cunard fleet but became the Anchor Donaldson's  Athenia  (II).

Here, it should be noted that the announcement in September 1919 already  specified two  new ships specially  for  Donaldson Line, and that whilst  very similar to Cunard's "A"  class, incorporated the  cruiser  stern  adopted by  the Anchor Line share  of  the newbuilding programme, etc., and were surely always ordered, designed and built for  Donaldson.   The Fairfield builders nos. 596 and 601 are between those of Tuscania (595), Lady Denison-Pender (597), 598-599 (cancelled) and Transylvania  (600), indicating they  were slotted  in  between the  two Anchor liners rather  than be part of the "A" class none of which was built by  Fairfields. 

Contracted in 1919, Athenia was completed  in 1923, almost  a year  late owing  to  the  eight-month-long joiners strike  in British  yards, and  her sister not until 1925,  being one of  a number of the Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson newbuildings whose construction was "paused" in March 1922 owing to the  conditions affecting much of British industry immediately after the war including protracted strikes and staggering wage and price inflation. Shipbuilders were paying a wartime bonus wage rate until mid 1921 and steel prices were high. Moreover, these vessels were built on a "cost plus" basis rather than a fixed priced contract so that their completion costs, caught up in ever escalating labour and material inflation, became prohibitive. Overall, there was an astonishing 300 per cent increase in replacement costs of ships between 1914-1920. 

Credit: Victoria  Times,  6 November 1920.

It was reported in 1920 that whilst the pre-war  Letitia (1912) had cost £120,000 to build, the two new liners would cost £860,000 each. The actual invoiced price for Athenia was, in fact, £1,043,848 and for Letitia, £812,305, indicating the wisdom of postponing her completion until prices came down.  And it appears that the £300,000 loan cited by P.J. Telford was obtained to resume  Letitia's construction in  late 1923. 

Once in service,  as analysed by  Francis E. Hyde  in  his Cunard and the North  Atlantic, 1840-1973, the two  types of  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson intermediate liners produced substantially  different profit models,  with the  "600 footers" proving considerably more profitable in  service in  the challenging  inter-war  period owing  to their  great  flexibility  and ready  adaption to  cruising than the smaller "A"s.  For example,  Laconia cost  8/0.42 (shillings and pence)  per £1  passenger/freight  revenue c.  1929-30 whereas Antonia (comparable in  all  aspects to  Athenia/Letitia) cost 10/7.78 per £1. 

However, during  the  exigencies  of the Depression, Donaldson were far more aggressive  in finding alternate  employment for  Athenia  and Letitia  with troop and religious  pilgrimage charters,  and most  famously, in chartering Letitia  for  her  famous  cruises  for  the  Hellenic  Travellers' Club c. 1935-39, whereas  Cunard  laid  up one of  the  "A"s (Andania)  for  the  best part of two  years.  In the  end,  Athenia  and  Letitia,  thanks to shrewd Scots  management, stood  the hard  economic tests of  the  1930s  better than  most,  receiving substantial and ongoing improvements  and refits during the  inter-war period,  not  the least  was a major  rebuilding of  their  Third  Class accommodation in early  1939.  

The construction cost per ton of the Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson newbuildings made them among the most  expensive liners ever built in terms of initial outlay but surely in the  case of many-- Scythia,  Samaria, Ascania, Franconia, Cameronia, Tuscania and Letitia--  which  chalked up some three plus decades of  service apiece, they more  than earned  their  keep,  and no  more enduring  or successful group of liners was ever built for the North Atlantic.  

Cover of Donaldson Line brochure, c. 1926. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Some people desire novelty and a sense of adventure when traveling at sea, while others look for that comfort they enjoy at home. Both these qualities are blended to a really remarkable degree on these two sister ships.

On these snug, cozy liners all your desires are met with effortless ease suggestive of home; yet there is an atmosphere of adventure abroad during the voyage to satisfy every spirit.

On each ship you experience time-honored Anchor-Donaldson Service, conforming to the most modern standards obtaining in the Americas, mellowed by traditional Scotch hospitality.

The "Letitia" and the "Athenia" are cabin ships carrying two classes only. For a very moderate fare passengers have at their disposal, elegant public rooms of luxury which is usually associated with saloon accommodation.

Donaldson Line brochure, 1926.

Briefly the Letitia, as a ship,  is  decidedly  a ship  of today.  Specially  built  and design for  the Anchor-Donaldson  service  between  Glasgow  and Canada, no  effort  has been spared  to make  her  accommodation all that  the most  discerning passengers could  desire.

The  Montreal Star,  2  April  1925.

Of   North  Atlantic liners of the first  quarter of  20th  century,  few are more  ignored by  contemporary  chroniclers or  casual "enthusiasts"  than  the  "intermediates" whose very middling qualities  of size  and speed that made  them attractive to  their  owners and bankers, and popular  with  everyday passengers,  render them forever  in the  shadow  of  the "greyhounds"  and "floating  palaces."  Dismissed further still  are the  no few  than 19  such vessels commissioned by  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson  from 1922-1925,  made  more obscure  by their sheer number  and perceived "sameness."   Built  for the  relatively  obscure Donaldson Line, Letitia and Athenia are  further diminished in  attention.  In the curious  attraction afforded tragedy  and  loss,  Athenia is elevated in  public  awareness but it was Letitia of  1925 that proved  in three and half decades of service, perhaps  the  most  varied in role and route of  any  British  passenger  liner ever, to be the most  successful  of  all  inter-war intermediates  rivalled  only  perhaps  by Cameronia,  Scythia, Tuscania  and De Grasse.

Athenia and Letitia were products of  the most  epic passenger  liner newbuilding  programme in  history when in  1919 Cunard Line (which by  then also had  a controlling  interest  in  Anchor  and  Donaldson  Line and thus managed almost  effortlessly  to dominate the  North  Atlantic Ferry  in a fashion  that J.P. Morgan's  moribund  IMM had  utterly  failed to  do)  announced  orders for 12 liners for Cunard, five for Anchor and two for Donaldson, totalling some 317,200 grt).

In size  and speed, these  ships fairly  redefined  the  character of  the  North  Atlantic liner immediately  after the War, eschewing  records for size  and speed for  more enduring qualities of economy  and  earning  capacity and indeed reflecting experienced  with progenitors of the type introduced in  the years leading up to 1914. 

The Classic North Atlantic Intermediate Liner: T.S.S.  Athenia.

The enduring  qualities  of  these  ships is  testament to  their specification,  design and build qualities. Some  like Lancastria, Laconia and Athenia would meet untimely, indeed notorious ends, in the  Second World War whilst  others like Scythia,  Cameronia and  Letitia  would endure  for  the  ages  and prove among  the greatest British  trans-Atlantic liners  every built.  

It was a record investment in new tonnage and a commitment to what Cunard expected to be the post-war environment for the North Atlantic passenger trade. With their German rivals hors de combat, it was deemed the expensive and excessive competition among giant record breakers was a thing of the past so the new fleet was exclusively composed of ships of moderate size (two groups of 20,000 and 14,000 grt ships) and speed (15-16 knots).  Their principal passenger trade, however, was presumed to be same as before the war i.e. predominately immigrants so they were given large capacity Third Classes (1,000-1,200) in basic cabins as well as substantial cargo capacity, and originally, much  of  it "convertible"  between the  two  functions.   In some respects, they were developments of HAPAG's President Lincoln pair of 1907.

Of course, events proved quite different after the war with severe restrictions on immigration to the United States, a drop in cargo carryings owing to high post-war tariffs and an unanticipated demand for budget tourist space. Even so, the new intermediates proved remarkably adaptable vessels and some like Anchor's Cameronia, Cunard's Scythia and Donaldson's Letitia proved among the most successful and longest-lived of all their ships.

If anything, the Donaldson pair of ships were the most comparable to their pre-war Letitia and suited to actual post-war conditions on the Canadian run where immigrant traffic remained buoyant after U.S. restrictions were enacted and the Dominion and British Government  as well  as charitable and religious organisation actively sponsored settlement in Canada from Britain and Ireland.   Although neither were initially suited to the development of Tourist Third Cabin and had to be refitted to accommodate three classes. And like their Cunard and Anchor siblings, both  (well Letitia at least) managed to be a successful, occasional cruise ship before the  war. When restored to its full independence as Donaldson Atlantic Line in 1935, the company made considerable investment in improving both  ship's accommodation and  were it not for the war, Athenia and Letitia would have soldiered on well into  the late 1940s.  As it turned out,  Letitia  remained in service until 1960,  a remarkable testament  to her  original design and construction, not to mention Donaldson management which  remained a constant during her varied 35-year  career outside  of her role as a commissioned Armed Merchant Cruiser 1939-42.

Leonard Peskett, O.B.E., (1861-1924), Cunard's Chief Naval Architect, c. 1892-1924. Credit:  wikipedia commons.

Indicative of the greater co-ordination between the Atlantic lines of the group, the new ships for Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson North Atlantic services were rationalised to a large degree and designed by same architect, Leonard Peskett (1861-1924), Cunard's Chief Naval Architect practically invented the modern Cunarder singlehanded and was responsible for the design of all of them from Campania/Lucania right through to the entire post-war newbuilding programme.

P.A. Hillhouse (1869-1942), Chief Naval Architect, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., 1902-1937. Credit: wikipedia commons.

Assisting with the specifications of the Donaldson ships was Alexander Innes, Chief Engineer Superintendent of Anchor Donaldson, and Percy Archibald Hillhouse (1869-1942), Chief Naval  Architect for  Fairfield  Shipbuilding  and Engineering Co. from 1902-1937.

 

So it was that Donaldson’s share of this programme would consist of two 14,000-grt turbine steamers which were, save for their cruiser sterns (shared with their Anchor Line cousins), very similar to six “A” class ships for Cunard also built for the St. Lawrence run.

An early photo of Athenia as completed with the Anchor Liner tender Paladin in attendance so in the Clyde, off Greenock. Credit: Benjidog.co.uk

And for comparison, Letitia after the 1927-28 refit extending the aft superstructure and plating-in the forward part of the covered promenade deck.  She is shown in the Mersey with the tender Skirmisher in attendance. 

With principal dimensions of 538 ft. 2 ins. overall (520 ft. b.p.) in length, beams of 66 ft. 4 ins. and drawing 27 ft. 8 ins. with a deadweight tonnage of 9,940, Athenia and Letitia were all but identical to the Cunard "A's" in size. Athenia's gross registered tonnage was 13,465 and her sister 13,475 so they, too, were true sister ships.

A profile in proportion and purposefulness, T.S.S.. Letitia.  Credit: Wikimedia Commons

J.H. Isherwood described Letitia as being "a fine, handsome and sturdy looking ship" and like all of Peskett's designs, had a perfect proportion of hull and superstructure and a modest rake to the twin masts and single (if slightly undersized) funnel imparting a purposeful and business like quality to what were quintessential modest, working passenger-cargo liners.  Like their Anchor Line cousins, they had nicely shaped cruiser sterns whereas, for some reason, Peskett determined that their Cunard variants should have the old-fashioned and less pleasing counter sterns.

Like their Anchor Line cousins, Athenia and Letitia had attractive, neat cruiser sterns, and handsome raised bronze letters in Gill sans spelling out their names, too.  Here Athenia gets a paint touch-up in Prince's Dock, Glasgow in May 1937.  Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Each had six decks with three overall: Boat, Promenade, Bridge, Shelter, Upper and Main Decks. There were ten watertight bulkheads and seven holds with three forward worked by a pair of kingposts forward and foremast booms, one trunked through the superstructure aft of the bridge island and worked by a pair of kingposts forward of the funnel and three aft worked by mast booms and a pair of kingposts. There was insulated space in no. 5 hold and the three forward holds could carry grain (an important Canadian export).

Patent 'nested' lifeboats of the  Murray & Clemson type are installed under Welin  patent davits. In no case has  one of pair of  davits to serve more than two lifeboats. The seating accommodation in the lifeboats is  in excess of  the total  of  passengers and crew  combined.

Wishaw Press, 6 April 1923.

Total boatage  comprised 12  pair  of nested boats  (28' and 30') and two 30'  single boats.

These were, like all the Cunard group intermediates, powered by geared turbines and oil-burners, and as such considered very up to date for the time.  Additionally, Athenia introduced the improved "Nodal" system of gearing, too, which solved some of the early gearing issues with the intermediates of the era or as one marine journal explained: "In new of the troubles which have been experienced on many vessels recently as a result of the failure of helical teeth in double reduction gearing, the 'nodal drive' has been incorporated in the main propelling to counteract the effects of the vibrations caused by torsional oscillations in the turbines' gearing shafting."

Two sets of triple-expansion, double reduction geared Brown Curtis turbines were fitted, supplied by three double-ended and two single-ended Scotch boilers working at 210 psi and in one boiler room. At 99 r.p.m, the twin-four bladed screws gave a service speed of 15 knots from 8,700 horsepower, but both were capable of 17 plus knots. In service, Athenia and Letitia were extremely reliable with not a single breakdown or mechanical failing recorded during their pre-war careers.

A wonderful photo of Athenia sailing from Glasgow and her departure being filmed from Fairfields where she was built.  This shows her split superstructure with the no. 4 hold and kingposts aft of the bridge island, the plating in of the forward end of her covered promenade from her 1927-28 refit and her double-nested lifeboats.  The stern of Anchor Line's Cameronia is in right background. Credit: https://www.benjidog.co.uk

ATHENIA Profile & General Arrangement Plans As Built 

credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record, courtesy of William T. Tilley. 

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

House tops, Navigating Bridge and Compass platform.

Boat Deck and Captain's Bridge

Promenade Deck and Docking Bridge

Bridge Deck

Shelter Deck

Upper Deck

Main Deck

Hold

In layout, Athenia and Letitia were in the  classic  interwar British mode with a separate forward island comprising  the compass platform, navigation bridge,  captain's bridge (forward part  of Boat  Deck with master's accommodation and office, and forward part  of Promenade  Deck with  senior officers'  accommodation. 

A marvelous vista of double-banked clinker-built lifeboats, quadrant davits, raised roof of the Smoking Room, a forest of ventilator cowls, funnel and foremast that Cabin Class passengers enjoyed whilst strolling on Athenia and Letitia's Boat Deck. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Separated by  the  no.  4 hatch,  was  the  main superstructure  with house tops with dome of Cabin Class lounge  (Athenia only) and  drawing  room and smoking room, Boat Deck with four double-nested boats  at quadrant davits and open  Cabin Class sports and promenade  space with the Cabin entrance forward.

Promenade Deck had the principal Cabin  Class public  rooms  starting  with  the Cabin  entrance  and foyer  forward  and  athrwart the  funnel casing,  a lounge (portside) and nursery (starboard), drawing room amidships to starboard with the wireless  room  and office  on the portside,  the lounge extending  the  full width  of  the deckhouse and the smoking room and veranda café (Athenia  only) aft.   In Letitia, a larger smoking  room took  up  both  these  spaces. A covered promenade deck encircled this  deck, leading aft to  open deck space and a paid  of boats and docking bridge right  aft.

Cabin Class covered promenade  deck looking  forward. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Bridge Deck formed the base  of  the superstructure and devoted to Cabin  Class accommodation for 354 passengers (max capacity) or 276 two-berth occupancy  only with outside  rooms available  as two- or  four-berth and inside ones  for four only.  Forward was open Third  Class  promenade  space and entrance and right aft was covered Cabin  Class deck  space with the hospital in the  poop deckhouse with  a pair of  boats on each  side.

The first full deck, Shelter Deck, had seamen's and firemen's accommodation forward, portside  had the Third Class lounge and smoking  room and engineers accommodation whilst on the  starboardside was the remaining Cabin Class accommodation with  berths for 162 which  was listed as interchangeable to  Third  Class and all four-berth  cabins.  Aft was the  Third  Class covered promenade  deck.

Upper Deck had crew accommodation right forward and two large compartments, that around the No. 2 hatch having portable Third Class class accommodation  for 76 in four  or six-berth  cabins and that around No.  3 hatch  having four-berth portable accommodation for  140. The Cabin Class dining  saloon with dome overhead, seating 282, came  next, and  separated  by the  galley,  the Third Class dining  saloon seating 318.  Aft  of  this was  the  permanent  Third Class accommodation with  two and four-berth  cabins  in two blocks, one with 134  berths and the  other with 82. A covered Third  Class deck was aft with washrooms  and toilets and another  smoking  room and lounge aft and, furthest  aft, steward  accommodation.

Main Deck had two compartments forward  with  portable  Third  Class accommodation  for  134  and 140 passengers  respectively, galley stores amidships, permanent Third Class accommodation for  80 passengers, reefer cargo space and  aft, two  blocks of  portable  Third  Class  accommodation  with  104  and  158  berths  and  right  aft,  steward accommodation. 

Like the other vessels of the fleet she carries two classes of passengers only, Cabin and Third Class. Cabin ships, as two-class vessels have been named, have become extremely popular with the travelling public on account of the good accommodation they offer. In vessels carrying three classes a very considerable amount of space is necessarily devoted to Saloon passengers, but in the two-class vessel Cabin passengers have at their disposal all the facilities which, as a rule, are given over to Saloon traveller. The Athenia is a striking example of the comfort which this class of vessel offers. 

Portadown News, 3 May 1924.

Designed along the same lines as the  Athenia,  the  Letitia  is distinct from her sister ship  in several particulars, the  smoke room being larger, as previous experience has proved the accommodation in the smoke rooms to be inadequate on well booked steamers.

Two  special baths had  been added to  the  cabin accommodation on both  sides  of  the  ship,  which  can be converted  to private baths  in  connection with  staterooms.

A well  equipped nursery for  the  benefit of  children travelling third  class  has also  been installed on  the  after end  of  the  steamer.  This  innovation will  mark  an important  advance  towards  better  conditions for  third  class  travellers.

The  Gazette, 16 October 1924.

Rising above their veritable production line quantity, shared naval architecture and "intermediate  liner" dimensions  and pretensions, the Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson 1919 newbuildings  were among the most characterful and distinctively  decorated of British  liners of  the inter-war era and involved the  work of  most  of the  prominent interior firms,  architects,  designers and decorators of  their  era as well as bespoke  fitters, furnishers  and  firms in the  trade. 

Cunard Building, 1917.  Willink &  Thickness architects. Credit:  Architectural  Review.

Franconia (1911) rendering of  First Class dining  saloon, Willink & Thicknesse.  

For Athenia and Letitia,  Donaldson turned  to  the  Liverpool  firm of  Willink & Thicknesse.  Founded  in 1882 by William Edward Willink (1856-1924) and Philip Coldwell Thicknesse (1860-1920), the Liverpool based firm enriched the city with some of its most cherished edifices. With Franconia (1911), their first major liner commission, they went on to be one of the first architects specialising in shipboard décor and design.  Their masterpiece, however, was on land and remains one of Liverpool's "Three Graces": The Cunard Building at Pier Head, for which they were awarded the contract after the firm designed the interiors of  Franconia/Laconia of  1912-13. Indeed, the  firm would maintain  their  headquarters office in  the  Cunard Building for years and could contemplate with  pride the  comings  and  goings  of many  of  their past projects. 

H.A. Dod (1890-1965).

In 1912,  Harold Alfred  Dod (1890-1965), born in Lancashire and who studied architecture under  Charles  Herbert  Reilly at the  Liverpool School of Architecture (M.A. degree in 1910) joined Willink & Thicknesse and  most likely cut  his  teeth on  liner interiors with Franconia/Laconia then in their final  designs.  After serving in the  Great War, Dod, rose to  lead the  practice with  the death  of  Thicknesse in  1920 and Willlink four  years  later.  Under Dod,  the firm  came  to  specialise in liner interiors and Athenia/Letitia  were their  first major  inter-war  project  and his  first as  director  of  the  firm.   

The interior fit  and furnishings  were of  superb  and enduring quality, typical  of  the  era when Clydebank joinery  work set  the  standard of the  world. The fine woodwork  of the interior was by by Messrs. Waring & Gillow, and the plasterwork by Messrs. Ben Henry Johnson & Son, of Liverpool.

She is a cabin ship, carrying two  classes only. She has not been built for millionaires, but the accommodation for cabin passengers is luxurious enough to suit anyone less well endowed with this world's goods. The public rooms are beautifully decorated, and furnished with eye always to comfort well as beauty. 

Northern Whig, 27 May 1924.

As with all of the  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson intermediates, the  decorate challenge  of these ships, with a hold aft of the bridge island as well as the funnel and engine room casings, was the inevitable "squeezing" of public rooms into the box-like voids and side passageways left, and to  create  practical interior arrangement  and accommodation  within  the  confines of the  comparatively  modest dimensions  of the spaces provided, especially  in the  case  of  the  14,000-grt "A"s and the  Donaldson  pair,  a  task  facilitated  by  their  originally  having but  two  classes-- Cabin  and  Third--  as true  "Cabin Boats." This  rationalisation of  space and  reduction in duplication  of  rooms and facilities  by class was,  as  will  be seen,  severely mitigated when in  1928 the  introduction  of  "Tourist Third" class,  resulted in an  awkward and unsatisfactory  subdivision of existing  rooms and spaces including the physical partitioning off of original spaces, not  the  least  of  which  was  the Cabin Class dining room, to  make them three-class vessels.  

But  this  came  later and as built,  Athenia and Letitia were exceptionally  attractive vessels  inside,  each with  her  own  character as well  with Athenia, true  to  her name, given classical elements  by  Dod whilst  Letitia's interiors reflected  nods  to  English and Scottish  historical themes.  When Letitia  finally  went to  the  breakers  in  1960 as Captain Cook, remarkably almost all of  her original  public  room  interiors, foyers and  circulation spaces  were largely original  to  Dod's designs, which  truly stood  the test  of both time  and tastes and  she was among the  last classically decorated  British  liners  afloat  at  her  passing.  

Reflecting  the  importance  of  the project and  on a topic then of considerable interest during  a period  of unrivalled passenger  ship construction in British  yards, Mr. Dod  presented a paper, The Interior Decoration of a Liner, before the  Liverpool Architectural Society, 7  March 1922.  But  the real  value of Dod's  work  was reflected  its enduring  quality, providing  pleasing surroundings, the  case of Letitia,  for  hundreds of thousands  of  passengers  over three and half decades of voyages  over  most  of the world's oceans. 

Rendering of Athenia's Cabin  Class lounge. Credit: The  Builder.  

Rendering of Athenia's Cabin  Class smoking  room.  Credit: The  Builder.

Rendering of Athenia's Cabin  Class smoking  room.  Credit: The  Builder.

Cabin Class (Athenia) entrance hall Boat Deck.  Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Cabin Class (Letitia) entrance hall lounge.  Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Cabin corridor lounge. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

The lounge hall is entered by two vestibules from the deck and forms a gallery of 40 feet in length along the port side. The decoration is in the style of the later French Renaissance, and is ornamented with green Scagllola marble columns with gilded capitals. Large windows afford an excellent view forward. 

Athenia Cabin Class nursery. Credit: eBay auction photo.

An excellent play-room for the children has been fitted on the Athenia. The walls are painted to resemble woodland scenery, with sketches illustrating nursery rhymes and stories dear to the hearts of children. An enamelled dado protects the walls and is brought out along one side to form a locker where the toys are stored. Over the mantlepiece is a copy of Sir Joshua Reynolds' famous picture--" The Age of Innocence." At one end is a little playground, separated from the rest of the room by a rail, where the youngest children may play in absolute safety. 

Cabin Class drawing room in Letitia. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

The drawing room is designed In the style of the Adam Brothers of the 18th century. Elliptical arches and tall pilasters give that appearance of dignity which is always associated with these architects. A handsome antique marble mantlepiece is a prominent feature of the room. The style is that of the early Georgian period which is associated with freedom and comfort. The floor area of the lounge is 40 feet by 20 feet and the room is not spoiled by the presence of pillars. Over the centre of the room is a wrought iron dome supported by richly ornamented pendentives. The walls are finished in a pleasing tone of old ivory which imparts a sense of warmth to the room. 

Athenia  Cabin Class lounge. Credit:  facebook  Cabinliners.

The floor area of the lounge is 40 feet by 20 feet. and the room is not spoiled by the presence of pillars. Over the centre of the room is a wrought iron dome supported by richly ornamented pendentives. The walls are finished in a pleasing tone of old ivory which imparts a sense of warmth to the room. 

Cabin Class lounge.  Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Cabin Class smoking room in Athenia. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

The smoking room is finished in dark polished oak, and, like the lounge. It follows the Georgian style. Comfort is the keynote of this room, and the mellow panelling is set off by bright coloured hangings. 

Cabin Class smoking room in Letitia. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Cabin Class Verandah Cafe on  Athenia. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Opening from the smoke room and leading on to the deck is the verandah rate. This is a semi open-air room, the walls of which are treated to resemble stone and covered with teak trellis work.

Wishaw Press, 6 April 1923

Cabin Class pursers'  bureau. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Cabin Class dining saloon in Athenia. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Athenia Cabin Class dining  saloon.

The dining saloon on the upper deck occupies the full width of the ship and has seating accommodation for 264 passengers. Situated at the foot of the main staircase. the dining saloon is designed in the style of the Italian Renaissance. In the centre of the ceiling is a domed portion supported by a column of Scagllola marble. The walls are richly ornamented by tapestry of old Venetian scenes. The room is finished in a warm cream colour, and the whole effect, is brightened with coloured curtains and mirrors between the windows.

Letitia's interiors were quite distinctive from those of her sister with more use of oak panelling and timbers.  The dining saloon being described as "strongly suggesting the best traditions of Old England in the many oak panelled inns, scattered throughout the country." Adding "the drawing room and lounge are furnished with comfortable cretonned covered chairs and the windows have attractive curtains. The galley leading to the public rooms is panelled in oak, as is the stairway leading to the pursers office and the dining room which is also panelled in oak and hung with armorial bearings. There are a number of good etchings and paintings in the gallery, giving it an added attractive appearance. Prominent among these are six etchings of the shipyards, by Muirhead Bone, which were originally done for the British War Memorials.  Others are works of Graham Petrie, R.I., these including a painting of Lago Maggiore, and one of the Rio Veneziano and a third of the market in Venice."

The accommodation and passenger spaces of Athenia and Letitia were attractive, pleasant and straight forward. And, like most ships, better as originally conceived for just two classes, something that indeed Donaldson Line had helped to pioneer on the North Atlantic with Second (Cabin) and Third only on their early vessels.

As originally configured Athenia accommodated 516 Cabin and 1,132 Third Class passengers whereas her sister had 504 Cabin and 1,023 berths in Third Class.

Cabin Class was traditionally sited on the uppermost four decks amidships with 354 berths in cabins on Bridge Deck and 162 berths on Shelter Deck in Athenia.  Letitia, as built, was listed as having 342 berths on Bridge Deck  and  162 on Shelter Deck,.a total of 342 Cabin Class rooms. These were pleasant and comfortable for their time, broadly comparable with Second Class on the big express steamers, but even these had only cold running water.  There were additionally four suites on Bridge Deck in Letitiawith two rooms each and a private full bathroom.

The state rooms are lilted for two or four persons, and are finished with wardrobe,settee, and small fixed locker seats. In the two-berth rooms, which are next to the ship's side, the upper bed hinges up against the wall, thus providing a number of special one-berth state rooms. Practically all the inner rooms on B deck have a ventilating root light. All the state rooms on both B and C decks are fitted with wash-basins with running water, and an even temperature is maintained by a natural supply of cold air with mechanical extraction. In conjunction with a small radiator under the personal control of the occupant. The walls are enamelled white, and the furniture is of polished mahogany: curtains are fitted to berths and side-lights. A Wilton carpet covers the floor. 

Wishaw Press, 6 April 1923

Bedroom (yes and upper and lowers, too!) of a suite with private bathroom attached. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

Cabin Class two-berth outside cabin. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives 

Cabin Class four-berth cabin. Credit: Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

LUXURY IN THE THIRD CLASS. But it is in its third class that the Athenia is chiefly remarkable. It is not many years since steerage passage to America was an ordeal which no one would undergo who could possibly avoid it. The voyager had to carry with him his own straw paliasse to serve as bed in open room with hundreds of others, his own cutlery and table utensils, and—if he wished to have anything really fit to eat—not infrequently his food well. All that has been changed. 

The Anchor-Donaldson Line has been in the forefront the movement making for comfort in third class ocean travel, and the Athenia embodies the last word in comfort in this direction. There are two third class dining saloons, seated for 318 and 172 persons respectively, and the tables set with snowy tablecloths, gleaming cutlery, and handsome flower decorations, the handsome swivel chairs and the general look of cheerfulness and light make pleasant showing one could wish. 

There are staterooms to accommodate 1,132 passengers, mostly in two and four berth rooms, there being a few to accommodate sis persons. There are two general rooms, a smoke room, and lounge ball. The orchestra plays for third class as for cabin passengers, and there is extensive open and covered promenading; space. 

Northern Whig, 27 May 1924.

Third Class was, of course, utilitarian although much praised when new for representing considerable improvement on pre-war conditions.  Everyone was accommodated in cabins of two, four or six-berths with washstands and reservoir-tank fresh water laid on with polished wood berths and white enamelled walls and bare painted steel overheads.  The difference in capacity figures between Athenia (1,132) and Letitia (1,023) came from "convertible" cabins on Athenia which could be taken apart quickly and the space used instead for cargo.  In Athenia, the  permanent  cabins had berths for 80 on Main Deck and 226 on Upper Deck  compared to  Letitia having 355 berths in Upper Deck cabins and 658 on Main Deck. These "portable"or convertible" cabins  lacked washbasins and were generally inferior to the permanent cabins and were replaced by  permanent cabins  by 1928.

Third Class promenade deck on Athenia.

Third Class smoking room aboard Athenia.

Third Class four-berth cabin in Athenia. 

There were two dining rooms on Upper Deck for Third with 318 and 182 seats. Although the seats were the traditional swivel ones and the tables were the usual long refrectory style, they were laid with cloths, proper cutlery and flowers. Each was provided with an upright piano so could be used for entertainment as well.  In addition, there was a smoking room, two lounges and a "lounge" hall.  Most of the furniture in these was of the fitted wood slat settee variety and the panelling was polished oak.

ATHENIA Deck Plans (c. 1939)  credit: William T. Tilley

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

Showing the changes from her 1928 refit to three classes: Cabin (Yellow), Tourist Third (Green) and Third (Pink) and alterations from her 1939 refit.  

Boat Deck

Promenade Deck.

Bridge Deck

Shelter Deck

Upper Deck

Main Deck

Aft view of Athenia showing her post 1928 extension to the Bridge Deck-- see the four square windows to the new Tourist Third lounge and aft openings for the new Tourist covered promenade deck.  Credit: Benjidog.co.uk

In 1928, both ships were refitted and rearranged to accommodate three classes, specifically providing separate public rooms for the new Tourist Third Class.  This was accomplished by extending the Bridge Deck aft just past no. 5 hold creating a large lounge with side windows for Tourist and an aft facing covered promenade while one deck above, this provided an expanse of open deck for Tourist around the raised hatch for no. 5 hold.  Additionally, the original Cabin smoking room was given to Tourist.  To compensate Cabin Class for this loss of a room,  the Cabin nursery was removed and the forward part of Promenade Deck re-arranged to give Cabin an additional corridor lounge.  The vestibule lounge forward of this was given large windows looking out to the forward Cabin open deck. The forward part of the covered promenade was plated in and provided with large windows. The former lounge was re-designated as the smoking room. Providing a separate Tourist Third dining space was rather unfortunately accomplished by the expedient of partitioning off the starboard side of the Cabin dining saloon to provide a 144-seat section while Cabin retaining the center domed portion and portside area.

Featured in advertising, the new Tourist  Third Cabin dining saloon, created out by  partitioning off  one side  of  the Cabin Class  one. Credit: Montreal Star, 1 May  1931.

The Tourist Third Class smoking  room (Athenia) formerly that  of Cabin Class. Credit: Montreal Star,  30 May  1931. 

Redecorated  Third Class dining saloon, c. 1928.

Redecorated Third Class lounge, c. 1928.

Improved Accommodation in Clyde Vessels 

The Anchor-Donaldson Line is preparing to meet the anticipated large increase of holiday traffic from the Clyde to Canada this summer by extending and completely refurnishing and decorating the accommodation in two of their most popular vessels, the Letitia and the Athenia. To tourists and holidaymakers who are seeking fresh fields of interest and pleasure, the Anchor-Donaldson Line's enterprise will make a strong appeal. The new and improved tourist third cabin accommodation in the two ships mentioned may be enjoyed at the same fare as formerly, £38 10s return to Canada. The first consideration in the tourist third cabin accommodation was the enlargement of open and covered deck space. To achieve this, the after-end of "A" deck in each ship has been extended to give increased Promenade area of 1440 feet, which gives a broad expanse of open deck free of obstacles, and therefore ideal for games and dancing.

The weather not always suitable for open-air pursuits, however, and travellers will find in the public rooms on these vessels the accommodation and comfort which are essential on cross-Atlantic trip.  In the Athenia,  the splendid smoking-room, once the sanctum of cabin passengers, will be at the disposal of the tourist third cabin passengers. It is furnished to ensure case and comfort, and has decided advantage over the verandah cafe, which has hitherto served a double purpose, but which will now be used specifically as a cafe, opening on to the deck. The Letitia has always had smoking room for tourist third cabin passengers. This has now been considerably enlarged. Its oak beams and panelling give it a restful atmosphere. 

A fine new dining saloon is another feature of the tourist third cabin accommodation. It is situated within easy reach of the other public rooms, and is well appointed in the modern arrangement of small tables. 

Needless to say, the public rooms and state-rooms are all entirely separated from the ordinary third class accommodation, also are tho promenade and decks. On "A" deck in the Athenia, in that section reserved for cabin passengers, the ship's side plating has been extended and fitted with windows which can opened or closed to the weather, so that what was originally merely a shelter is now deck cafe artistically furnished with wicker chairs and tables set off by palms and fowering shrubs. Those who are familiar with the layout of the Letitia and Athenia accommodation will notice another change on stepping into the cabin entrance hall lounge. What was once the cabin nursery is now a delightful room redesigned and decorated as a corridor lounge and cosily furnished with easychairs, settees, and a writing-table here and there. The lounge proper, newly arranged, and entirely new smoking-room are excellent examples of interior planning. In fact, the arrangement of the cabin public rooms is far more interesting than formerly, and the standard of comfort in both classes undoubtedly very high.

Dundee Courier, 4 June 1929 

Tourist Third Class accommodation almost entirely came from the lesser grades of former Cabin Class so that the ships capacity became: Athenia 314 Cabin, 310 Tourist Third and 928 Third (total 1,552) and Letitia 298 Cabin, 310 Tourist Third and 945 Third (total 1,582).

One of the rebuilt Cabin Class staterooms with private bath, c. 1936. 

Redecorated  min. rate Cabin Class cabin,  c.  1936.

Letitia Cabin Class dining saloon, c. 1939. 

Athenia, Cabin Class lounge, c. 1939. 

An especially smart looking Athenia, possibly just after her 1928 refit and showing the plating in of the forward part of her covered promenade deck and the superstructure extension aft. Credit: Benjidog.co.uk

Athenia and Letitia proved to be thoroughly dependable, popular and well-found ships, the former proving her mettle staying afloat for some 14 hours after being torpedoed and the latter for a matchlessly varied of career of 35 years in every role and climate imaginable. They were certainly a credit to their builders and to Donaldson Line management and maintenance.

The first of the big post war liners which were built to replace those of the Montreal fleet which were Sunk during the war is now stated to be ready and will perpetuate the name of the Athenia of the Anchor-Donaldson Line. It was announced that the new Athenia will make her maiden voyage to Montreal at the opening of next season. She will have a tonnage of 14,000 tons and will be one of the largest boats coming there and will also be the first oil burning liner to run to Montreal. Her advent marks a new era in  liner competition to that port and she will place the Montreal-Glasgow service on a  higher  basis than even in the best  of the pre-war  days.

Telegraph-Journal, 24 September 1921. 

Like Donaldson's service to  Canada itself,  the roots  of Athenia  and Letitia  lay entirely  in the long established and  indeed  epic emigration  of Scots to  Canada which  was such  that in 1911, Canadians of Scottish ancestry  or  origin accounted  for  an astonishing 28 per cent of the  population and even as late as 1931, totalled nearly  15  percent. During the 1920s, half  a  million Scots emigrated,  mostly to  Canada and the United  States and in the first four months of  1923, no fewer than 18,000 left Glasgow and  Greenock for North America alone.

In the 1920s, concurrent with  the introduction of Athenia, the  Dominion Government participated in the Empire  Settlement Act  of 1922 that was  set up between the  British Government and the Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand among them) to encourage and subsidise emigration, including  vastly  subsidised steamship  fares of  £2-5 per  adult.  Canada, in particular, tailored her  participation to  encourage settlement of  farmers on enormous  tracts of  farmland in the  western provinces especially and the "3,000  Families Scheme" offered financing for  land purchases.  Recruitment for single females as  domestics was also encouraged.  There  was also  the  traditional seasonal  harvester work in August-September that  attracted  roundtrip  bookings, although  this  was dependent on the annual grain  harvest.  

Chart showing immigrant  arrivals at Canadian  ports (by thousands) 1919-1935.  Credit: Anglocelticconnections.ca

In addition to these government schemes, private  and religious organisations, orphanages and children's  homes  in Britain  including  the Salvation Army and  Dr.  Cossar's  farm  training scheme  for  boys furthered  and enabled  emigration, especially  of  youths, to  the  Dominion. And a substantial portion of  it, destined  for  Canada, originated in Scotland where  the so-called "Roaring Twenties"  were anything but with high and persistent unemployment in key  industries  such as  mining and shipbuilding and dire conditions in  urban  slums as well as impoverished farms and  rural villages. 

. 

Not  all those who  "went out"  to  Canada  prospered, a  fair  proportion  returned  home but  as a whole  these immigration schemes were a success both  for populating the  Dominion  and improving  the  lives and futures of  these  new  Canadians.  Indeed,  the  creation of  a consumer middle  class via  immigration in the  British  overseas  Dominions  and the  United  States  was unique  in  the  world,  fostered within  a generation or  two,   a two-way  passenger  traffic by  the  mid  to late 'twenties of  prospering  former immigrants  visiting  "the  old  country."

It was not  all boom  in the  'twenties  in terms of overall  carryings, either. Indeed, there was a  severe contraction  in traffic in the  first  few years of  the  decade  owing  to economic  recession in America  and  Canada and as  evidenced in  carryings on the  Anchor-Donaldson Glasgow-Canada service:

1920    20,508 passengers

1921    12,920 passengers

1922     8,275 passengers

1923    9,162  passengers

All  of this out  enormous  pressure on the Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson newbuilding  programme, first  a rush to  complete the  initial units and  then, in response to  the reduction in traffic (both  passenger  and  cargo), a "go  slow" or  indeed,  as with Letitia, a "stop  work" order until trade  picked  up  and shipbuilding  costs decreased.  The effects of  the Empire Settlement  Scheme also  kicked in by  1924-25 and carryings increased to  15,500 in 1924, prompting  a restart on Letitia  which  finally  entered  service  the  following year, by which  time, passenger traffic  had more  than  recovered although  never  to quite  equal  those  recorded  in 1920.

1924   15,500 passengers

1925   14,598  passengers

1926   17,171 passengers

1927   19,628 passengers

1928   18,947  passengers

1929   20,080  passengers

Without doubt, the  first five  or  six years of Athenia's and Letitia's  long  careers  were  the true  realisation of their  intended purpose  and  role in  the  last  great migration  from  the  Old Country to  the  Dominion.  But first came the  challenge to build and  complete them.In an immediate post-war Britain whose industries, especially shipbuilding, were beset  with  labour unrest, shortages of materials and rampant  inflation, the  very  woes that inspired so many to emigrate conspired  to  frustrate  the  timely construction of the ships  to  take  them to  more  promising future elsewhere.

Anchor-Donaldson poster from 1927 promoting the subsidised Empire Settlement Plan fares for authorised immigrants to Canada. Credit: The Glasgow Story.com

1920

It was reported on 8 June 1920 that the new ships would accommodate 520 Cabin and 1,200 Third and “will not be ready until next year.” Their names were revealed on 13 August: Athenia (after the Goddess of Athens) and Letitia (after the Greek Goddess of Joy) and carrying on the names of the former so-named liners lost in the war.   Although the  Victoria  Daily Times "scooped" the news  about  their  name three weeks  earlier:

The Anchor-Donaldson Line is making  plans to take care of its share of this pending influx [of settlers] from Scotland. The Anchor-Donaldson Line is making rapid progress in restoring its service to a normal basis. The line has two new passenger liners, each of 12,500 tons deadweight, under construction at the Fairfield yards on the Clyde. They will be of the popular one-class type each with accommodations for 520 cabin and 1,200 third class passengers, all the staterooms having from two to four Each vessel will be 520 feet long, with a beam of 66 feet and a depth of 44 feet. The company hopes to have these vessels in service next Spring to replace the Athenia and Letitia, which were lost during the war.

The two new ships will be named Athenia and Letitia and will ply between Glasgow and Montreal.

Victoria Daily Times,  22 July  1920.

Credit: Montreal  Star,  24  September 1920.

At a luncheon  for travel  agents aboard Saturnia alongside  at Montreal on 23  September  1920 , R.W.  Reford, president of the  Reford agency  representing Anchor-Donaldson, said "that despite  the  labor  conditions  prevailing it  was practically  assured that  the  two new liners  would be ready  for  commencement of  the  1921  season."

One of  the longest and most damaging strikes in  British  shipbuilding,  the joiners strike, began on 1  December  1920 over a proposed cut of 12  shillings a week in pay  and the  removal of a wartime bonus that was remarkably  still be paid  out and one of  the principal inflationary pressures rendering  newbuilding costs immediately  after the war increasingly  prohibitive. Joiners, of  course,  were  principally  involved  in the  final fitting  out  of ships, especially  liners, but  the  strike's impact  filtered  down throughout  the entire  shipbuilding  process and  brought yards to  a standstill.  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson's  epic  shipbuilding  programme was  especially impacted  and of those hulls already  laid  down and under construction, progress effectively  ground  to  a halt for  eight  months.

1921

Credit:Montreal Star, 27  January 1921.

When Anchor-Donaldson released  their summer sailing on 12  January  1921, the  Gazette  (Montreal) reported: "It was hoped that the service would be augmented early this season by new liners Athenia and Letitia, each of which will be of approximately 12,000 tons, and which are now in process of construction at the yards of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company on the Clyde, but the joiners' strike end other labor troubles in British shipyards have caused so much delay that the company is unable to say when they will be placed in commission. Both vessels, when completed, will have accommodation for 518 cabin and 1,140 third class passengers, and will be one-funnel, convertible oil-burning ships, to burn either oil or coal."  The Montreal  Star  followed  up  on 27  January:  "The liners which should have been ready this May, and have already been delayed for a further 6 months, are the C.P.O.S. Montcalm and Montrose, of 16,200 tons; the Anchor-Donaldson liners Letitia and Athenia of similar tonnage and also oil burners. "

In August 1921 the joiners'  strike was finally ended, after eight disastrous  months, when  the joiners' capitulated and  accepted the wage reductions.  Only then  could  work  resume  on Athenia and  the  other  initial  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson newbuildings, all of which  would miss  an entire  year of service,  and worse, come on line just  when carryings significantly  dipped owing to  a sharp  and steep  recession  in  the  United  States  and Canada.  Donaldson's service,  for  example, which  carried 20,508  passengers  in  1920, had  but 8,275 in 1922. But  at least,  Athenia  was well under by that autumn,   occasioning  a  sudden flurry of  press  reports…  at least  in the  Canadian papers,  it  being a curious custom  of  British  ones  to  generally ignore the progress (or  lack thereof) of  ships built  in  their  own yards.

On 20  September 1921 Anchor-Donaldson's Canadian agents  Robert  Reford  announced in Montreal that "the  new  Athenia will make her  maiden  to Montreal at  the opening  of next season.   She will have  a tonnage  of  14,000 tons  and will be one of the largest boats  coming  here and will also  be  the first  oil  burning  liner  to  run to  Montreal.  Her  advent marks  a new era  in liner competition to  this port and she will  place the  Montreal-Glasgow  service  on  a higher basis than even in the best  of  the pre-war  days."

The new Athenia is built on the came lines as the post war Cunard feet, being an oil burner, and thus requiring only one funnel. It is stated that the single funnel liner will be the ship of the future, owing to the use of oil fuel, and with the elimination other funnels a great saving is made extra cabin space. The Athenia was delayed for a considerable time by the ship joiners strike in Britain which tied up all shipbuilding and repair work in British yards. The strike was settled after a duration of nearly a year. The new liner is 14.000 tons gross with a good turn of speed, 

In comparison with liners built before the war she is a costly ship. The Letitia which was a new ship in 1914 cost £120,000 whereas the new Athenia cost £860,000 to build. In spite of the heavy initial cost, steamship companies expect the new liners to pay by reason of a saving in oil fuel. It is now generally admitted that there will be a general reduction in north Atlantic passenger rates next season, especially in the third class.

Montreal Star, 1  October 1921.

On 4  October 1921 Montreal papers reported  that Athenia "is  expected  to  sail  from  Glasgow about April  21st  next and  from Montreal about May 5th… the  Letitia  will follow  her on the route  early  in the  season."   

Credit: Montreal Star, 8  October 1921.

With  the  ship  finally  meaningfully underway towards launching, publicity increased that  autumn:

Col. W. I. Gear, vice-president of The Robert Reford Company, Limited. visited the new Anchor -Donaldson Line Athenia a few days ago at the yards of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan on the Clyde.

He was impressed with the quality of the steamer, which will have accommodation for 500 cabin and 1,100 third class passengers. The builders have promised the steamer for the first of April next at the latest.

Gazette,  11  October 1921.

Credit: Victoria Daily Times, 25 March 1922.

1922

… the liner left the building berth, and took the water gracefully in a favouring wind, amid great cheering from a large gathering of spectators.

The Scotsman 30 January 1922

Christened by Mrs. Alexander Gemmell, a daughter of the late Mr. A.F. Donaldson, Athenia was launched at 1:00 p.m. on 28 January 1922. Athenia was but one of eight steamers launched on the Clyde  that  month,  totalling 52,062  tons.

Credit: Daily Record, 30  January 1922.

At the  luncheon  which  followed the  naming ceremony Sir  Alexander  M. Kennedy  presided,  and on his right sat  Mrs. Alexander Gemmell. The  owners were  represented by Messrs.  Charles Donaldson, N.P.  Donaldson, W.B. Donaldson, and  D.  Hosie,  directors;  Mr. W. M'k.  Roden,  manager;  Mr.  Alexander Innes, superintendent  engineer;  and Captain Findlay,  marine  superintendent. The  builders  were  represented by  the  chairman and managing director; Sir E. Mackay  Edgar,  Bart., director; Mr. Robert Traill,  director  and engineering  manager; Mr. G. Strachan, director  and secretary; Mr.  A.J. Hendin, shipyard manager;  and Dr.  P.A. Hillhouse, naval  architect. The ladies present were Lady  Kennedy, Mrs. Charles Donaldson, Mrs. Hosie, Mrs.  Roden, Mrs  Innes, Mrs.  Findlay, Mrs.  Traill, Miss M.F. Donaldson. Among other guests were Mr. Alexander Gemmell, and Colonel Andrew O'Kelly, representative of  Canadian Government.

The Scotsman, 30  January  1922.

At the post launch luncheon, Sir Alexander M. Kennedy, Managing Director of Fairfields, addressed the myriad problems now plaguing British shipbuilding at the time: "The cost of the Athenia will make well-nigh impossible for them to get a return on the capital expended, but since prices have now fallen considerably, and with the prospect of further reductions taking place in materials and labour, the present might be a very suitable time to lay down a duplicate vessel and apply the law of average.  Needless to say we Fairfield would do all in our power to lighten their burden as much as possible."

Credit: The Gazette, 28 January 1922.

The same day, the initial dates for Athenia’s first voyages were announced with her maiden voyage commencing from Glasgow on 9 June 1922 and that from Montreal on the 23rd. She was to have successive sailings from Montreal on 21 July, 18 August, 18 September, 13 October and 10 November and run between Glasgow and Portland, Maine, in winter. 

At her christening, it was said Athenia would be put into service within six months and the keel of her sister ship was duly laid down. The epic post-war building programme of Cunard and associated lines should have continued to showcase British shipbuilding prowess and efficiency as just witnessed during the war. Instead, labour problems culminating in prolonged strikes by engineers and joiners, astonishing inflation in wages and materials exacerbated by "cost plus" contracts rather than fixed priced tenders as well as a downturn in both the cargo and passenger trade brought about by high tariffs and restrictions on immigration into the United States, all conspired to make these intermediate liners not only among the most expensive per ton ever built, but also among the longest to complete.

Such were conditions, that stop work orders went out in March 1922 on the second Donaldson ship and Anchor's Transylvania in the early stages of construction at Govan as well as other ships underway in other yards.  The fitting out, too, of Athenia ground to a near halt since the engineers strike precluded her planned completion in time for the 1922 St. Lawrence season and Donaldson were in no hurry take delivery in winter.

1923

It was not until 22 January 1923 that Athenia's fitting out was resumed. It announced she would open the St. Lawrence Season with her maiden sailing from Glasgow on 19 April and would, like Saturnia and Cassandra, make westbound calls at Moville in Northern Ireland.  "This liner is now being rapidly pushed to completion in preparation for her maiden voyage from Glasgow on April 19 and eastbound from Montreal on May 4," reported the Gazette (Montreal).   

On 3 March 1923 it was added that Athenia would run her sea trials "towards the later part of this month."

Athenia on trials, 3 April 1923.  

Athenia ran trials on the Skelmarlie measured mile in the Clyde on 3 April 1923 which were described as “being in every way satisfactory” with a mean speed of 16.77 knots obtained and topping 17 knots. Aboard were Sir Alexander Kennedy, Managing Director of Fairfields,  Prof. P.A. Hillhouse, Naval Architect, Leonard Peskett, Naval Architect, Mr. Charles Donaldson, Chairman of Anchor-Donaldson, Mr. W.B. Donaldson and Mr. N.P. Donaldson.  Following the trials, a reception and luncheon was arranged aboard hosted by Mr. Charles Donaldson and Sir Alexander Kennedy.

The trial trip of the T.S.S. “Athenia” of  the Anchor-Donaldson Line, Ltd., down the Clyde and round Alisa Craig proved to be highly successful. The proprietors of Line invited a large number of guests comprising railway representatives, Canadian Government officials, conspicuous among, whom were Dr W. J. Black, Deputy Minister of Immigration and Colonisation of the‘Dominion Government. Mr Reford of the Robert Reford Co., the Canadian Agents of the Line, was also present, and a large number  of influential booking agents, the writer (our representative) included. 

The mist on the Clyde and the dull atmospheric conditions prevailing on the water did not in the least affect the spirits of the guests on board. The hospitality of the A.-D., the genial company, and the interesting features of the new steamer absorbed the attention of all. 

Highland News, 7 April  1923.

Original caption: Shipping agents  at trial trip. A group  of the  agents of the Anchor  and Anchor-Donaldson Steamship lines photographed on board  the new Donaldson liner, Athenia, on the occasion of  her trial trip on the Clyde. Credit: Daily Record, 4 April 1923.

First advertisement for Athenia's maiden voyage, 

Original  caption: The Donaldson liner, Athenia, left the  Clyde  on her  maiden  trip to  Canada, yesterday,  with  a big  complement of  emigrants, among  whom were 180  passengers  who were conducted to the  Dominion under  the  auspices  of  the  Salvation Army.  Above  is  seen a typical group  of  voyagers.  Do  you  recognise any  of them? Credit: Daily  Record, 20 April 1923.

Finally, some four years after being ordered, Athenia (Captain David Taylor) was off on her maiden voyage, sailing from Glasgow at 1:00 p.m.  19 April 1923 with 210 Cabin and 937 Third Class. Among those  aboard was  a large party  of immigrants the Salvation Army  Emigration Scheme and they were afforded a  musical  send-off with the  Salvation Army Band aboard down the Clyde as far as  Greenock.  Unusually, she also called en route at Liverpool the  morning of the  20th. so that she had aboard a final list of 240 Cabin and 1,126 Third and was due at Quebec on the 30th. 

But  unpredictable spring weather played havoc with plans and strong east winds still holding masses of ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, blocked Cabot Strait, diverting  Athenia and Cunard's Ausonia to Halifax.  It  was  an expectedly busy  day  in the  port of Halifax on 2 May when three  liners--  Athenia, Canada and Ausonia--  docked there with  a total of  2,006  passengers landing at  Pier 2,  North  Terminals.  No fewer  than eight  special  trains  left that  evening  and the following  morning for  Montreal and points west. Three trains were  laid  for Athenia's passengers and in "a  triumph  of Canadian National Railway service," (Montreal Star, 3 May),  the  first (for cabin class  and some  Third)  left  Halifax for  Montreal  at 4:30 p.m., the second at 5:50 p.m. and  a  third  at 8:00  p.m.). Canada would turnaround there  but Athenia  and  Ausonia  would proceed to  Montreal  to discharge  their  cargo  and  maintain  their  scheduled  eastbound  sailings from the  port  when ice  conditions  permitted. 

The new Athenia is  certainly  a fine  ship  and  was greatly  admired  up  the harbor.  Her builders claim  that  she marks  a great advance on anything  launched  by them till now and is equal to  anything afloat in her  own line of  trade. 

 

The Evening Mail, 2  May 1923.

Weather  conditions remained poor with ice  persisting  in Cabot Strait and on  3  May  1923 the Evening Mail (Halifax)  reported  that Athenia  would  turnaround  there and  sail  for  Glasgow on the 9th.   As for her 4,000-ton cargo, it was proposed  to  land only  the light  portion of  it  there and keep the  heavy  freight  aboard  for  the roundtrip  and  discharge  on  her next  Montreal arrival. Instead, with  the  hope  ice  conditions  would  ease,  Athenia was dispatched  from Halifax at 2:00 p.m.  for Montreal at 2:00 p.m. on the  4th. It proved  the wrong  decision and  on the  8th it was reported  that  Athenia and Ausonia were  both still icebound  in the lower Gulf.  The conditions persisted and on the 9th, she was still in ice off Cape Ray.  As it was, Athenia did not dock at Montreal until the 12th at 1:30 p.m.  It was one of the most delayed maiden arrivals of a passenger liner ever, the  ship  originally  to have  come in on 30  April!

Making a quick turnaround, Athenia sailed on her maiden eastbound crossing at 1:00 p.m. on 14 May 1923 with 171 Cabin and 91 Third Class passengers, including  a number originally  booked in Saturnia whose sailing was put back to the 17th. Passing  Father Point at 8:20 a.m. the following  day and averaging over 15 knots,  Athenia cleared Cape Race on the  22nd, and arrived Glasgow the morning of the 26th.

Another  short turnaround  ensued to  get her back on schedule, with  Athenia  leaving  Glasgow  on her second voyage on 30 May 1923. This was her  first "normal" westbound trip and, as per  custom, she  landed all her 725  Third Class  passengers (including 36 agricultural labours for  Ontario  farms and another Salvation Army  party of  117 settlers) on arrival at  Quebec at 7:00  a.m. on 7 June and proceeded to Montreal, docking there that  evening  at 8:00 p.m., landing her  230 cabin passengers  in  time  to catch  western-bound  trains.  

Athenia's next voyage  from Glasgow, on 22 June 1923, was  the  first under  the new  "quota" year  for immigrants to  America and she  went out  fairly  packed with 323 Cabin and 1,137 Third Class.  Among her Canadian immigrants was another Salvation Army  party of 300.   That summer she called additionally  at Liverpool westbound, arriving there the  day after Glasgow.  Making  Quebec at 1:00  p.m. on Dominion Day (1 July) and finally docked at Montreal at 8:00 p.m. the  following day.after being held up at Quebec by processing her arriving 1,138 Third Class of whom 400 were bound for the U.S. and delayed by U.S. authorities.  Homewards,  Athenia  went out on 6  July with 210 Cabin and 105  Third Class after  enjoying her first "normal"  turnaround in Montreal  during which  she  again hosted  visiting travel  agents  for  lunch on the  5th. She arrived at Glasgow  on the  14th and according to the  Greenock  Telegraph (17), "the steamer  exceeded  her guaranteed speed of  16 knots"  on the  trip  over.  

Even under  the Quota Act, the  exodus of Scots  for North  America continued unabated  into  the summer with  7,500  having left since  22 June 1923  alone, half to  the  U.S. and the  remainder  to  Canada.  When Athenia left Glasgow  on 23 July,  she had 494 Cabin and 884  Third Class and she went out with Anchor's  Columbia and  C.P.'s  Metagama, all packed with immigrants  and afforded quite a send off:

Last evening the big liners Columbia, Athenia, and Metagama loft Glasgow for the other side of the Atlantic. On board wore between thirty and forty people from the Port. From early in the evening the Mirren Shore and the harbours were black with friends anxious for give the emigrants hearty send-off in their venture in author land. It is estimated that the crowds numbers two thousand, who waved handkerchiefs, Union Jacks, and all sorts of articles, at the same time roaring themselves almost hoarse. From the vessels the farewells were returned with great gusto.

Greenock Telegraph, 24 July 1923.

Athenia called  at Quebec  at 2:00 a.m. on 1 August 1923 and reached Montreal at  8:00 p.m. that evening.  Special trains left Quebec  for New  York, via Montreal, for  her American-bound passengers and most of  her cabin passengers, landing at  Montreal, were immigrants as well and arriving at  the same time as Metagama, the Montreal Star  observed  that Shed 3 "looked at 8:30 a.m. today  (2 August)  like a busy  section of  Sauchiehall Street  Glasgow,"  thronged with Scots.  Athenia's return crossing was considerably less thronged or  newsworthy, departing on 5 August with  only 89 Cabin and 57 Third Class  passengers.  Passing Greenock at 6:00 p.m. on the  12th, she  docked at Glasgow  the following morning. 

Athenia in the  Mersey. Credit: Library of New South  Wales. 

That summer, Athenia and Metagama were a "matched pair"  on the Clyde-St. Lawrence route, both departing again together on 17 August 1923 with 750  returning American tourists and 1,200 immigrants between them, with 457 Cabin and 692 Third Class aboard  the  Donaldson flagship, including the famous Labour leader Frank Hodges. Athenia arrived Montreal on the  25th.  Eastbound, she  cleared on the  31st  with  110 Cabin and 63 Third Class, returning to Glasgow on 8 September. 

No fewer than  3,000 Scottish immigrants were aboard Athenia and Metagama from the Clyde on 14 September 1923 and on clearing the Mersey the  following day, Athenia went across with 455 Cabin and 631 Third Class.  Calling at Quebec on the 23rd, where  she  landed 629 passengers, Athenia  docked at Montreal at 12:10  p.m. the  next day.  For Glasgow on the  28th, Athenia had 77 Cabin and 60 Third Class, arriving on 12 October.  The day before  the  Gazette (Montreal) wrote that "after this voyage the  Athenia will make one more trip  to Montreal.  Decision will be given shortly  as to  the  employment of  this popular steamer during  the  winter season."  

On her final voyage of her maiden   St. Lawrence season, Athenia sailed from Glasgow on 12 October 1923 and Liverpool  the following day, with  273 Cabin and 608 Third Class. In all, 40,000 Scottish immigrants had sailed from the  Clyde in the four months  since 22 June, 21,110 for Canada and 19,385 for  the United States.  After disembarking 610 passengers at Quebec on the  evening of the 21st, Athenia berthed at Montreal at 7:15  a.m. the  following morning, the Gazette remarking that  her Third Class  list, "chiefly Scotch  settlers of  a good type," were almost all destined for the Dominion with only  a few for the  U.S..  Leaving Montreal for the last time that season on the 26th,  Athenia went out  with 46  Cabin and 65 Third  Class and arrived at  Glasgow  on 3 November. 

Although the Shipbuilder noted that "It now seems evident that the Anchor-Cunard-Donaldson combine are not anxious to obtain delivery of any these four [Transylvania, Letitia, Caledonia and Alaunia] vessels for service at the beginning of the 1924 season, work was finally resumed in late November 1923 on Athenia’s long delayed sister which had languished for two and a half years on the stocks. This would give the yard work for 15 months.

Her first year, Athenia completed 14 crossings and carried 9,757 passengers.

The advent of the new Athenia coincided with a major push as part of the Empire Settlement Plan to foster immigration to Canada by Britons with subsidised flat fares and pre-arranged employment.  As part of this were a wonderful series of posters promoting Canada, Donaldson and featuring the new flagship. That above, by Odin Rosenvinge, shows Athenia off Quebec.  

1924

Finding winter employment for St. Lawrence route vessels was always challenging, given that the river was closed to navigation usually from mid November to early April and traffic to Canada fell off substantially in winter.  Traditionally, Donaldson Line had maintained a winter service to Halifax and Portland, Maine, but now under the Cunard-Anchor umbrella, Athenia and her eventual running mate were shifted about on Cunard or Anchor's own winter services or, at times, simply laid up in winter.

Plans for the 1924 season were announced on 29 December 1923.  During the summer, Athenia would continue to call at Liverpool  westbound  as part of the joint service with Cunard which would add Caronia and Carmania to the route.  On 3 May 1924 it was announced that Athenia would call westbound at Moville as well.

For her first winter season, Athenia made two voyages on Cunard’s Liverpool-Halifax-New York run. On the first, departing Liverpool 16  February 1924, Athenia docked at Halifax via Queenstown on 24 February 1924.  The Evening Mail had a wonderful  write-up of  this her second, and first  scheduled, call at Halifax:

On her first scheduled trip to Halifax, the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, 13,500 tons, Captain David Taylor, entered Quarantine at 5 p.m. Saturday from Liverpool via Queenstown en route to New York, and docked shortly before 10 o'clock Sunday morning at the south side of Pier 2, where she disembarked 18 cabin and 59 third class passengers. The Athenia visited Halifax only once before. when she was diverted last April, while on her way to Montreal on account of the large quantity of ice in the St. Lawrence river.

An interesting arrival on the liner was  Harris Veinstein, only 14 the years liner of age, who is travelling unaccompanied from his home in Poviok in the county of Rodomsk, in Poland, to the home of his uncle, A. Heman, 57 Huron street, Toronto. The little lad seemed to. be enjoying the trip and during the voyage, he was well looked after by both the passengers and crew on the liner. At his arrival here he was looked after by the Jewish Aid Society and placed on special train which left Pier 2 early last night for Montreal.His father died several years ago, and he left his mother and other and sisters at home.

Evening Mail, 25 February  1924.

Conversely, the ship's maiden arrival at New York  on 26 February 1924 was entirely ignored and  Athenia   landed 42  Cabin and 40 Third Class passengers there.  Sailing on  1 March with 42 Cabin and 40 Third  Class,  Athenia  arrived Queenstown the  9th  and  Liverpool  the following day.

A second voyage on the New York winter run commenced from Liverpool on 15 March 1924, calling at Halifax on the  23rd where Athenia  landed 36 Cabin and  132  Third  Class  passengers and another 47 Cabin  and  45 Third  Class disembarking  at New York  on the  25th. A death was recorded during  the crossing to Halifax, Dr.  C. Whitehead of Michigan, aged 57, who died of heart failure after a double bou  of pneumonia and his body  landed at Halifax.  Athenia  left  New  York  on 5  April with 58 Cabin and 52 Third Class  passengers and arrived Liverpool the evening  of the  14th.

Credit: Daily  Record, 24 April 1924.

Credit: The Gazette,  6 May 1924.

Seen off  by Donaldson's Capt. H.  Findlay, Marine  Superintendent, Mr. William Donaldson and  Mr. Norman Donaldson,  managing directors, and beginning her second St. Lawrence season, Athenia sailed from Glasgow on 24 April 1924, calling at Liverpool the next day where among those embarking were 60 Welsh immigrants for  Canada,  a Salvation Army party  of 100 and  28 Scottish  "prospective  brides"  who would meet their future  husbands  on arrival, and travelling "under  the  special care  of the  ship's conductress, Miss A. Drummond." In all, she went out with 166 Cabin and 773 Third Class. Athenia berthed  at  Montreal  at 8:00 a.m. on 4  May, after  landing 773 at Quebec the  previous  evening and  had 166 disembarking there.  

The Athenia  will sail from Montreal on Thursday at 10 with 175 cabin passengers on board and 150 third-class. A full-stringed orchestra has been taken on by the Athenia to play for both cabin and third -class, and Mah-Jongg sets have been introduced into the otherwise peaceful atmosphere of the lounge and drawing rooms. 

Nearly one-fifth of the passengers coming over on this steamer were women travelling alone or in parties with the object of entering domestic service on this side. About sixty came over under the auspices of the Salvation Army. The majority of the male passengers come from the North and West of Scotland and intend to take up farm work in Ontario and Western Canada.

The Gazette, 6  May 1924.

Clearing Montreal at  10:00 a.m. on 8  May  1924 Athenia went out  with 170 Cabin and 123 Third Class and the  Montreal Star had fine write up of  her  departure:

The ship was under command of Captain David Taylor, O.B.E., and expects, with the present fine weather, to make a speedy and pleasant crossing. 

A large crowd of friends and relatives of passengers were on the dock at shed 3 when the big liner cast off her mooring ropes, and, guided by tugs, backed out into the harbor channel and started forward up the river past the harbor mouth and St. Helen's Island on her seaward trip. Well-known officers who sailed with the vessel are; James H. Reid, D.S.C., Chief Officer: R.S. Willoughby, O.B.E., R.D., R.N.R., purser: R. Chadwick, surgeon; James Gillespie, chief steward and Miss A. F. Drummond. conductress. 

Athenia arrived Glasgow on 16 May 1924.

Original caption: A merry  party of emigrants who are going out on the Athenia to the  Dominion under the auspices of  the Salvation Army. Credit: Daily  Record, 24 May 1924.

Original caption: A young Scot  off  to  Canada.  James Stewart Hope,  aged  three, on the  Anchor-Donaldson liner, Athenia, which  left  the  Clyde yesterday. Credit:  Daily  Record, 24 May 1924.

Athenia's  23 May 1924  sailing  from Glasgow, with 100 Cabin and 520 Third Class,  was the  first to  call at Moville, Northern Ireland,  introducing  a new  and important  immigrant  market  for  Donaldson.  Arriving there on  the  24th,  Athenia  was afforded considerable newspaper attention and Irish  agents and the press travelled aboard  her from Glasgow and  Liverpool to  Moville.  "The Athenia's last westbound voyage was notable for the genuine enthusiasm which her visit to the north Ireland port of Moville was greeted by the citizens of Londonderry." (Gazette, 12 June 1924). She embarked 50 there and went out with  157 Cabin and 541 Third Class,  including another  17 brides, a Salvation Army  group of  150 and another 100  under  the auspices of  the British  Empire  Settlement Board, and 50  sponsored  by the Ontario Government.  

The Northern Irish papers were the best champions of the new Donaldson twins especially after Athenia's maiden call at Moville in May 1924.  A party of reporters and travel agents were invited for her first Glasgow-Liverpool to Moville run. Credit: Ballymena Observer, 30 May 1924.

Athenia arrived at Montreal at 7:00  a.m. on 2 June, coming in almost  simultaneously with Andania.  Departing for Glasgow  on the 6th, Athenia had 325 Cabin and 244 Third  Class passengers and arrived in the  Clyde on the  14th. Her list  was swelled  by attendees of  the  quadrennial World's  Sunday  School Convention being held in  Glasgow.

That year’s carryings were bolstered by substantial, sustained and subsidised Scottish emigration to the Dominion. If the United States had slammed the door on unrestricted immigration in 1922, Canada had a still largely unpopulated country to fill, a shortage of labour especially in agricultural work and determined that immigrants come mostly from the Mother Country as part of the Empire Settlement Plan in co-operation with the British Government as well as private sponsors.

Athenia left Glasgow on 23 June 1924 with over 450 settlers and more embarked at Moville, having  aboard a total of 73 Cabin and 301 Third Class. Most were domestic servants and farm workers, including boys aged 16-17 going to Canada sponsored by the Salvation Army.  She arrived at Montreal the morning of 1 July 1924,  in company with Montcalm, "both  liners told  of  having encountered some fog  in the  Gulf and lower St.  Lawrence,  but, in spite  of  this  made  a fast run to  Montreal and, during the last lap of  the  journey, carried on what  was almost  a neck-to-neck race for the Montreal docks. The Athenia  docked  at  shed 3, where there was considerable bustle and excitement  early  today  as  passengers  and their baggage poured out  of  the  big building. The Montcalm was  at  shed 10 almost at  the same time, and  the  bustle  of  the  harbor  between the two  ships." (Montreal  Star, 1  July), and both were dressed overall for Dominion Day, and reported "fine  weather throughout"  their respective  passages. Arriving on Dominion Day, Athenia  left on American Independence Day  for  home  with 369 Cabin and 269 Third Class passengers.   She made Glasgow on the 12th.

Original caption: Farmers of the future-- Dr.  Cossar (left)  bids another batch of  his  farewell  on board the Anchor  Donaldson liner Athenia  before their  departure  to  his  Canadian farm.  Credit:  Daily  Record, 19 July  1924.

Original caption: To Cheer Canadian Households-- a merry bunch  of  Scots lassies photographed  on board  the s.s.  Athenia. They  are  going  out to try  their fortune in the  Land of the  Golden West. Credit: Daily Record, 19 July 1924.

Clearing the Clyde for  the St. Lawrence on 18 July 1924,  Athenia called the next day  at Liverpool  but skipped Moville, and had 208 Cabin and 439 Third Class passengers for Canada, including 16 lads going  out  to the Cossar Farms, New  Brunswick, after  elementary training in farm work, a party  of 100  domestics going out to Ontario under  the auspices of  the Salvation Army and five brides in waiting.  Making a  fast trip over, Athenia called at Quebec  on  the  26th  at  noon and arrived at Montreal the  following morning  at 8:00 a.m., reporting "fine weather and very  speed  trip"  over.  Homewards on 1  August, Athenia left Montreal with 117 Cabin  and 101 Third  Class passengers,"a  good seasonable list  as  the eastbound  movement has  passed the peak  and the  heavy  travel is now  westbound. " (Montreal Star, 31 July). She arrived Glasgow on the  8th.

On 26 July 1924 Donaldson reported a 60% increase in Canadian passenger traffic and reminded that Letitia would augment the service the next year.

Credit: Daily  Record, 16 August 1924.

With 421 Cabin  and 393 Third Class, Athenia departed  Glasgow for  Canada  on 15 August 1924 and Liverpool  the following day, "among  them many  engaged in  building trades  and also miners.  There  is  a considerable number of returning tourists on aboard,  and  several  quota  passengers  are also  travelling by  the  vessel." (Daily  Record,  15 August). Calling at  Quebec  on  the  24rd where  she landed 400 passengers),  Athenia reached  Montreal late  that same day but  landed her  passengers the following  morning.  The Clydebound Athenia cleared Montreal  on the 29th with  88 Cabin and 137 Third  Class  passengers.

Original caption: a  view  of a  section of  the 1000  passengers who left  the  Clyde yesterday on the  Anchor Donaldson liner Athenia en route  to Canada.  A large party of domestic servants sailed  under the  auspices of  the  Salvation Army. Credit: Daily  Record,  13 September 1924.

With  the best list  she had carried  all season: 454 Cabin and 471 Third Class (all but  about 100  being women and children), of  whom over  100  embarked at Liverpool (13), Athenia sailed  from Glasgow on 12 September 1924.  There was  a party  of domestics  sponsored  by  the Salvation Army and three boys bound  for Dr. Cossar's  farm in New Brunswick  as well as 200 returning American tourists.  Pausing at Quebec on  the 20th,   Athenia berthed at  Montreal the evening of the 21st. Glasgow-bound, she departed on the 26th  with 79 Cabin and 131  Third Class passengers.

It was reported on 10 September 1924 that Letitia would finally be launched later in the month, it being noted there was now a heavy demand on the Clyde for ship joiners and iron workers and there was “considerable movement from Montreal to Glasgow for this class of labour.” (Gazette).  So at times, there was also eastbound emigrant travel to bolster the ships' carryings.  

Preliminary plans for the 1925 season were released on 12 September 1924 with Letitia, Athenia, Saturnia and Cassandra offering a weekly Glasgow-St. Lawrence service and Letitia and Athenia  calling westbound at Liverpool.  On the 24th Cunard announced the addition of new Ascania and Aurania plus Letitia would make a fleet of nine liners, totaling 119,000 grt on the Montreal run. Carmania and Caronia would go on Cunard’s new London service and replaced by Ascania and Aurania. Northern Ireland would have Letitia and Athenia fortnightly from Moville to Montreal and Ascania and Aurania fornightly from Belfast.

Original caption: One hundred young women from all over  Scotland sailed  on the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia from the Clyde yesterday to  seek their fortunes in the Dominion. A happy batch of  the girls. Credit: Daily  Record,  11 October 1924.

From Glasgow on 10 October 1924 and Liverpool on the 11th, Athenia went out with 257 Cabin and 395 Third  Class,  including 100  young women bound for domestic work  in Canada.  She arrived at Montreal at 7:00 p.m. on the 19th.

A farewell dance will be given by the officers and crew of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, at the Auditorium this evening, commencing at 8.30 o'clock. The Athenia's pipe band, the only band its kind afloat, will give a selection of Scottish airs, while the dance music will be supplied by the Athenia's regular orchestra, which has featured many times this season in radio concerts given by the Canadian National Railways. The instruments used by the pipers were donated by the directors of the Anchor Donaldson Line. 

The Athenia, which leaves daybreak Friday for Glasgow, in scheduled to make one more trip to Montreal before navigation closes on the St. Lawrence.

Montreal Star, 22 October 1924.

Clearing Montreal at daybreak on 24  October 1924, Athenia  embarked  her passengers (79 Cabin and 131 Third Class) the  previous  evening  and arrived Glasgow on 1 November.

Most likely to the relief of owners and builders alike, Fairfield No. 601 finally cleared the slipway she had occupied for two years and nine months when Mrs. Charles Donaldson christened her Letitia on 14 October 1924. At the same her  first  voyages  were announced: departing Glasgow  and Moville on 24  April  on her  maiden voyage  to Montreal and from Montreal  to Glasgow on 3 May.

Original  Caption: Mrs. Charles Donaldson performing the launching ceremony of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia  from the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's yard. With her is Sir  Alex.  M.  Kennedy, chairman of the Company. Credit: Daily Record, 15 October 1924.

The launch took place in good weather, and was witnessed by large crowds of spectators in the yard. Mrs. Charles Donaldson performed the naming ceremony, and the time the liner was only forty seconds elapsed till she was safely water-borne; she afterwards berthed in she builders' fitting-out basin. As soon as the Letitia was safely afloat, and as is the Clyde custom not before, the spectators raised hearty cheers. 

Liverpool Journal of  Commerce, 16 October  1924.

Original caption: A dense fog hung  over  the  Clyde as the  Letitia left  the  slipway. The  vessel  is  similar in  type  to  the  Athenia, and will make  a notable addition to  the  Company's service between the  Clyde  and Canadian ports. Credit: Daily  Record, 15 October 1924.

After the  launch, the builders entertained a large party of guests at luncheon in the Board Room. Sir Alex. M. Kennedy, chairman of the Fairfield Company, occupied the chair, and among those  present were Mr. Charles Donaldson, chairman of the Anchor-Donaldson Line, and Mrs. Donaldson, Mr. A. C. F. Henderson, Mr. Robert Clark, and Mr. David Hose., directors, Mr W. K. M'Rodan, Mr. John Binnie, secretary, and Captain Hugh Findlay, marine superintendent.

Representing the builders were Sir Douglas Browrigg, Bart., director, Mr. Robert Traill,; director and engineering manager, Mr J. Hendin, director and shipyard manager, Mr. George Strachan, director, Mr. Thomas A. Greer, secretary, and Prof. P.A. Hillhouse, naval architect.

Other guests, besides ladies, included Sir William H. Raeburn, chairman of the Clyde Trust; Mr. D. J. Gavin, Mr. C. G. Donaldson, Mr. N. F. Graham Donaldson, Mr. William Phillips, Canadian National Rlys.; Major-Gen. H. C. Reed, Mr. A. Tarrant, Board of Trade; Mr. J. F. Foster King, British Corporation of Shipping; Mr. L. Race, Anchor Line; Mr. R. Lake, warship products superintendent, Glasgow; Captain T. R. Morris, harbourmaster; the Dr. George Duncan, Mr. James Mc'Cracken, Mr. A. H.Buchanan, and Mr. Andrew Scott.

Mr. Charles Donaldson... said they had witnessed a very fine launch under the very best weather conditions, and he hoped it would be a happy augury for the career of the vessel Letitia.

They had had two seasons' trading  in the Canadian trade with the Athenia. In that period she had carried 18,000 people in and out of Glasgow, and she had proved a very fine advertisement. She was a popular vessel in the service of the public, that was increasing all the time, and he thought when this sister ship joined her it would be a great help, as the one would assist the other. Their worthy chairman suggested during the building of the first boat that she might feel lonely on the Atlantic—(laughter)—and from entirely unselfish motives be advocated that she should have a sister. He fully expected that Sir Alexander might suggest that four Letitias might be better than two, but in their walk round the yard after the he took the opportunity of suggesting that a third would not be out of place.

Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 16  October 1924.

Letitia (right) in the fitting out basin at Fairfields, Govan, October 1924. Aorangi is to the left.  Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. 

Making  her last voyage to  the St. Lawrence  for  the season, Athenia departed  Glasgow  on 7 November 1924 and Liverpool  the following  day  with 161 Cabin and  444 Third Class passengers.  Calling at Quebec at 1:00 p.m. on 16th, Athenia  sailed right into an early  season blizzard "of hurricane-like velocity and heavy squally gales," (Montreal Star) and could not leave until 8:00 a.m. on the  17th and arrived  Montreal  7:00 p.m. that evening.   The Montreal Star had an excellent feature  on the  voyage  over:

With the largest passenger list of any steamer arriving in the St. Lawrence this week, the Anchor-Donaldson Liner Athenia arrived at Quebec early yesterday morning and docked at Shed 3 this port last night. The Athenia experienced wintry weather most of the way across, but made excellent time until she was held up for some hours by a severe blizzard below Quebec, Besides her cabin passengers, most whom disembarked last night the Athenia, brings a general cargo to Montreal including 100 bags of mail. A party of 120 under the auspices the Salvation Army disembarked Quebec and are destined for different agricultural centres throughout Canada.

A special service was held on board the steamer on Armistice Day and the colors were hoisted half-mast at o'clock in the morning and run up the mast head at 2 minutes past 11. The Athenia pipe band, which is the only one of its kind afloat, played suitable selections, including "The Flowers of the' Forest' and the Last Post and a short address was given. Flanders popples were sold on board on behalf of Earl Haig's Fund for Disabled Soldiers.

The Montreal Star, 18 November 1924.

Athenia left Montreal on the last trip of the season on 21 November 1924 with 72 Cabin and 172  Third Class passengers.  At the time, it was announced that Donaldson would offer a special “college tour” out in Athenia on 19 June 1925 and back in Letitia on 3 July which would be the precursor of  Tourist Third Cabin.  

The year  ended  with the handsome  Cassandra making  her  final  passenger voyage on  20  November  1924  from Glasgow  to Portland.  She was  converted  into  a  cargo  liner  and continued in  Donaldson service as such as Carmia until  sold in December  1929 to the Bernstein  Line. 

In 1924, Athenia completed 16 crossings on the Montreal run carrying 8,264 passengers and four crossings Liverpool-Halifax-NY-Liverpool carrying 612 passengers.

Odin Rosenvinge poster for the new Letitia. Credit: The Mariners' Museum

1925

Upon return to Glasgow from Montreal in early December, Athenia was laid up and after her annual overhaul, was detailed to Anchor Line’s New York service for two voyages. Undergoing a refit at her builders, Fairfields, in January 1925, abnormal  high tides on the Clyde postponed Athenia  being shifted from the yard to  drydock on 10  February to  the next  day:

The Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, after undergoing a comprehensive overhaul at Fairfield  Shipyard, was docked at Govan yesterday for cleaning and repainting, after which she will shift to Yorkhill to prepare for her first sailing for the season on Saturday, February 21, for Canada and the United States. The Athenia will combine her own sailing with that of the Anchor Line, and will call at Halifax and New York. The bookings 80 far have been good, and the vessel is likely to have fair number of passengers.

The Herald, 12 February 1925.

Credit: The Herald, 14  January  1925.

Athenia  would  start  the year, too, with  a new master  Capt. James Black, following Capt. David Taylor’s appointment to Letitia. In addition  to Capt. David Taylor, O.B.E., Letitia's senior  officers included Chief Engineer A.  Thomson and Purser R.S. Willoughby, O.B.E., R.N.R., both  of whom served in the first  Letitia. 

With what  the Clydebank  papers  referred to as  a "fair  number" of  passengers-- 127  Cabin and 252 Third Class-- Athenia departed Glasgow on 21 February 1925 on her first  crossing of  the year and first of  two  on the  Anchor  Line New York  service.  Arriving at Halifax the  morning of 3 March, after encountering rough  weather  across, Athenia landed 27  Cabin and 123 Third Class passengers there and resumed passage  that after for  New York  where  she  docked on the 5th, disembarking her remaining 100 Cabin and 129  Third Class passengers.  Homewards, Athenia  cleared New York on the 7th with a predictably  light load  of  32  Cabin and 60  Third Class passengers and made  the  Clyde  on the  16th.

In anticipation of  being relieved by  Letitia,  the stalwart  Saturnia made  her  final sailing  from Glasgow to  Portland  on 12 March  1925 and eventually sold in December  1928  and scrapped  in Italy the following year.

Credit: Montreal Star, 10 April 1925.

Her second  and last voyage  on the  Anchor Line  New York  berth,  saw Athenia  departing Glasgow on 27 March 1925 with  a good list  of passengers, landing 48 Cabin and 378 Third Class at Halifax on 4 April. Among the immigrants were three parties  of boys, one under the  auspices of  Quarrier Homes, another by  the  Salvation Army and a third by the British  Immigration Aid  Society in Canada as well  as a  party of  domestics sponsored by the Salvation Army. Three Canadian National special  trains met the  boat, most  of  the settlers being bound for  the west.  Athenia docked at New York on the 6th,  disembarking her remaining 85 Cabin and 140 Third Class  passengers.  Sailing for  Glasgow on the 11th, she went out  with 44  Cabin and 72  Third  Class and arrived on the 20th.

Credit: Daily Record,  1 April  1925.

Credit: Wishaw Press & Advertiser, 10 April 1925

Letitia was to have to run her trials on 31 March 1925, but this had to be postponed when a blinding snowstorm hit the Firth of Clyde obscuring the land marker posts.  A planned on board luncheon hosted by the yard still went ahead.  "A large and distinguished company were aboard the steamer, including the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir Alexander Kennedy, Alderman Douglas Brown-Rigg, other directors a of the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company, at whose yards the Letitia was built. There were many other notable persons aboard, including the directors of the Anchor-Donaldson and Anchor Lines."  (Montreal  Star, 2  April).  Her trials were successfully run on 2 April, recording a top speed of 17.522 knots and a mean speed of 17.2 knots. 

Original caption: The new twin-screw geared turbine steamer, Letitia,  built for  the Anchor-Donald Line by  Fairfield Shipbuilding Company, Govan, yesterday  underwent  a trial trip  on the Clyde. Owing  to  the severe snowstorm,  the  vessel  was unable to do the necessary tests  on the  measured  mile; the  landmarks being rendered invisible by  the snow. Photograph taken of  the vessel at the Tail of  the  Bank. Credit: Daily  Record, 1 April 1925.

Original caption: A prominent group on board  the Letitia, comprising Sir A.M. Kennedy, Sir Douglas Brownrigg, Sir Thomas Dunlop, Sir Robert Bruce, Mr. Charles Donaldson, Mr. George Strachan and Captain Taylor, O.B.E.. Credit: Daily  Record, 1 April 1925.

The new Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia which has been running trials on the Clyde last week, made a further trip last Friday, when the Scottish agents of the line were the guests of the company, and enjoyed a sail round the Cumbraes. In contrast with the experience at the opening trial, the weather was delightful, and the party, which numbered about 200, not only had the opportunity of viewing the scenic beauties of the Firth from the open decks but were able to make a minute inspection of the vessel under the most favourable conditions.

The speed trial, which had to be postponed on Tuesday owing to the snowstorm obscuring the land posts was carried out over the measured mile on Thursday. The best speed registered was 17.522 knots, and the mean speed 17.2. which Is slightly better than that of the sister ship Athenia. At the luncheon Mr A. J. P. Henderson, one of the directors, who presided, In welcoming the guests, pointed out that the  Letitia was built, owned, and manned in Scotland, and would be regularly stored from Glasgow. 

Wishsaw Press, 10  April 1925.

Credit: Montreal Star,  2 April  1925.

On 3 April 1925  Letitia sailed from Greenock on a day cruise for invited travel agents to Ailsa Craig and return.  “According to the cable advice, everyone was most enthusiastic regarding the layout, accommodation, speed and fitness of the Letitia for the Glasgow-Canadian service, where she will take a prominent place."

The Letitia will leave the Clyde about noon on Friday, and as is usual, in the case of a Clyde built liner making her first sailing, there are certain to be thousands of people, many of whom were in one way or another connected with the work of construction, crowding every vantage point of the river side to wish the vessel good luck as she goes.

West Lothian Courier, 24 April 1925

Original caption: Mrs. Main, of Broxburn, who  is going  with  her  seven children to join her husband in British  Columbia, had  the  distinction yesterday  of  being the  first passenger to  board  the Anchor-Donaldson  new  liner,  Letitia,  which  sailed on its  maiden  voyage  from  Glasgow  to  Canada. To  commemorate  the  occasion Capt.  Taylor, O.B.E., commander  of  the  Letitia, presented  Mrs.  Main with  a framed photo  of  the vessel. Credit: Daily Record, 25  April 1925.

LETITIA SEND-OFF. Some busy scenes were witnessed at the Anchor-Donaldson berth in Princes Dock on Friday morning  24th inst. preparatory to the departure of the Company’s new liner, Letitia, for Canada. Passengers began to arrive at the vessel's berth soon after 8 a.m., and, as might be expected with a ship about to make  her maiden voyage, there was some speculation as to who would be the first to set foot aboard. This distinction fell to Mrs Jeanie Main. of Rroxburn, who, with her seven children, was going out to British Columbia to join her husband, and to commemorate the occasion,'Capt. Taylor, O.B.E., the commander of the vessel, presented her with a framed photograph of the Letitia. In less than three hours about 1000 passengers were embarked, and a little before noon the vessel, bedecked with streamers, moved slowly out of the dock, to the accompaniment of hearty cheers and wishes of void hick from many people who had lined the quayside. A Salvation Army band was accompanying a party of 90 of their own emigrants as far as Greenock, and added to the excitement could be heard the strains of Auld Lang Syne.

Leven Advertiser & Wemyss Gazette, 28 April 1925

Original  caption: Some of  the  bright Scots lassies who  sailed with  the  Anchor-Donaldson liner,  Letitia, on her  maiden voyage  from Glasgow  to  Canada, yesterday.  They are going out  to  domestic service under  the auspices  of  the  Catholic  Women's  League. Credit: Daily  Record,  25 April  1925.

Letitia's maiden voyage got under way at noon from Glasgow on 24 April 1925.  Calling at Moville  that evening where she  embarked "close on 100  Irish Emigrants  of  the Agricultural Class, included in this number  were several large families,  proceeding to take up land under  the  Empire Settlement Scheme, " (Ballymena Observer,  8  May), and Liverpool the  following day, Letitia went  across  for  the  first  time with  a fine list of  166 Cabin Class and 708 Third Class passengers, including parties  of  immigrants including 150  women domestics sponsored by  the Catholic  Womens League, six Cossar farm boys and a party organised by Canadian National Railways. She brought in 568 bags of mail. 

The otherwise routine crossing  over was marred  by  the death of a Third Class passenger, Miss Margaret Tullis, 17, who fell  ill during the  early  part of  the passage, "suffering from some internal malady," and died on 1 May 1925 and buried at sea off Newfoundland.  

Arriving at Quebec on 3 May 1925, Letitia  landed 644 there who boarded special trains to Ontario and Western Canada.  The next morning she docked at Montreal, prompting the Gazette (5 May) to enthuse:  "The Letitia had a magnificent trip, according to her officers who were extremely pleased with her performance, and she showed very few deficiencies on her first transatlantic voyage." Being one  of but five liners arriving in Montreal  that  single weekend,  Letitia was  nonetheless  the toast  of  the town and afforded  full press  attention.

The new Letitia made a very satisfactory voyage  and not  the least  of  her  achievements was the  excellent  social program  carried  out  on board. Last Friday on board  the new liner was 'Children's  Day' and two hundred  of the  tiny  passengers were  presented  with  presents after the usual games  and  frolics. The  program applied  to  both  classes  of passengers and was a great success…  The new liner was greatly  admired by all who visited her today, embodying as she does  many  features  in equipment which  are  not  to be found on other  liners.  Among  them is  a 9  hole golf  course, and  a  Badminton  court.

Montreal Star, 4  May 1925.

The Gazette (Montreal) 30 April 1925

Establishing herself  immediately  in the  social scene of the Montreal  waterfront, Letitia's  pipe  and drum band (admittedly  purleoned  from Athenia,  which  had to  form another  for  herself!), played the  opening number at a concert at the  Sailors'  Institute  the evening of 5 May 1925. 

Departing Montreal at  10:00 a.m. on 8 May 1925 on the homeward leg  of her  maiden voyage, Letitia went out with 97 Cabin and 210  Third Class passengers and arrived Glasgow  on the  16th.

Original caption: Mr. John Macpherson, of Newtonmore, the  famous champion piper, who left  yesterday on the  Anchor-Donaldson liner, Athenia, for Canada, is seen playing a Strathspey before a number of the  passengers. The company  include Mr. W. Bette  Donaldson, Mr. and  Mrs. Norman P. Donaldson and daughters, Major A.A. Stuart Black, Mr. W.J. Thompson, and Mr. John John Clavering.  Credit: Daily  Record, 9 May 1925.

Original caption: Maud Walsh, aged 9, belonging to Motherwell,  who  sailed unaccompanied on the  s.s. Athenia.  She is  going to  join  her  mother in Toronto. Credit: Daily  Record, 9 May 1925.

Making  her first voyage  to  the St. Lawrence for the  season  and her first  as now "the second sister"  now  that  her  long  delayed  sibling was  in service  and usurped her  as  flagship, Athenia left Glasgow  at 11:00 a.m. and  Moville at 8:00 p.m.  on 8 May 1925  and Liverpool  the next day.  By calling at Moville before Liverpool, "a slight saving in saving in time was accomplished for  she was  this able to catch  the tide  in the  Mersey,  as other she  would have  had  to wait and  afterwards made  her  call at Moville." (Gazette,  19 May).  Embarking 315 passengers at Glasgow, 68 at  Moville and 143 at Liverpool, Athenia went out  with 116 Cabin and 410 Third Class,  including  Scotland  champion piper  John Macpherson of  Newtonmore,  Inverness.  Also aboard  was Maud Walsh,  aged 9,  travelling  unaccompanied  and joining her mother  in Toronto. Her cargo  included 4,000  cases  of Scotch  whiskey,  4,000 tons  of India rice" transhipped  at Glasgow from  the  Anchor  Line  Indian boats,  firebricks and "a two ton lift  of  best Aberdeen  granite for  tombstones. For  the  second  season, Athenia  was "paired" with  CPR's Metagama on the  St. Lawrence  route.  She  arrived  at Montreal  the morning of  the 18th.  

There was no doubt that  Athenia  was a "Scotch  Boat"  heading  for  home on departure  from  Montreal at 11:00 a.m.  on  the  22nd:

There was one liner departure today, namely the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia which left here at 11 a.m., local time, with a fair list of passengers, 90 in the cabin and 135 third class. The pipe band and drums of the Athenia were playing for an hour prior to the departure of the ship, to the evident delight of the third-class passengers on whose deck the marine highlanders discoursed such soulful music. The Athena's first pipe band, with kilts and all, went to the new Letitia, but since then the Glasgow liner has picked up two more pipers, who, although dressed in the uniform of able-bodied seamen, played none the worse for it.

Montreal Star, 22 May 1925.

Athenia arrived at  Glasgow  on 30 May  1925.

Original  caption: Dr. Cossar boys receiving instructions at the  Anchor-Donaldson office  in Glasgow preparatory to  sailing to-day for Canada on the liner Letitia. Credit: Daily  Record, 22 May 1925.

At noon today the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia left Glasgow on her second voyage to Quebec and Montreal. Her maiden voyage, which she has just completed, was  successful in  every way and the ship as a specimen of Clyde shipbuilding, has proved  a credit  to her builders,  the Fairfield Shipbuilding  and  Engineering Company . The passengers were  loud in their praise of the accommodation provided, the third class nursery is especially appreciated, and the Letitia bids fair to become as popular with emigrants to Canada as did the Athenia, which, almost from her first voyage, became a favourite. 

The only organised party to sail by her is one of a 15 Cossar  boys, and the rest of  the passengers are represented by agricultural workers, clerks domestics and six, families under the Empire Settlement Scheme.

Greenock  Telegraph, 22 May 1925.

Letitia  left Glasgow  and Moville on 22 May 1925  and Liverpool  the next day with 119 Cabin and  445 Third Class passengers, and after landing her Third Class passengers  at Quebec first thing on the  31st, arrived Montreal that  evening.   She won a veritable race up the River  with the  White Star-Dominion liner Regina,  the two clearing Quebec within ten minutes of  one another. "The Anchor-Donaldson Line  steamer  Letitia, which is now in dock  here,  at  the  conclusion of  her  second  trip  of  her  maritime  existence, made speed  which  her owners  consider very  satisfactory, improving by  a  few  hours on her  first  trip.  She took nine days to come over from Glasgow, but  this included calls at Londonderry and Liverpool.  Her journey  from Liverpool  to Montreal was made in eight days." (Montreal  Star, 2 June). In addition to  her passengers, she brought  over 322 packages  of parcel  post and 152 bags of  mail.  During her turnaround the  ship's football squad drew a tie with  their  match against  Maison-neuve on 2 June with  the ship's  pipe band providing musical interludes. Departing Montreal at  10:00 a.m. on the  5th,  Letitia had 173 Cabin and 194 Third Class for  Glasgow where she arrived on the 13th.

Clearing Glasgow and Moville on 5 June 1925 and Liverpool the following day, Athenia  coursed westwards with 110 Cabin and 369 Third Class passengers, among them a large  party sponsored by  the  Salvation Army, a few boys for Dr. Cossar's  farm and four families under  the Empire Settlement Scheme. One  young man "missed the  boat" at Greenock but  for not lack of trying:

A young man, who had intended embarking on the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, which sailed yesterday afternoon from the Tail of the Bank for Montreal and Quebec, had exciting and exasperating experiences. At Princes Pier, mistaking one of the river steamers for the tender attending the Athenia. he stepped aboard. and not until the steamer was approaching Dunoon did he realise that he was on the wrong boat.

He hurriedly questioned the passengers, and then began to realise the difficulty of his position. He scrambled ashore as hurriedly as possible, and on the advice of some of the passengers proceeded to the boat  slip of Mr John Sands. where he embarked on a motor launch. By this time the Athenia was proceeding down the river. The motor launch had no difficulty in overtaking the liner, but she declined to stop and take on the passenger.

It is understood that the young man intends to make an attempt to catch the Athenia at Liverpool.

The Herald, 6 June 1925.

Calling  at Quebec on  the  afternoon of 15 June  1925, Athenia docked at Montreal the  morning  of  the  16th,  a full day off  her  schedule after encountering  the  worst  weather yet  faced by  the  liner:

After a voyage in which every kind of bad weather was experienced the Anchor Donaldson liner Athenia, Capt. James Black in command, docked here at 7 o'clock this morning. Continuous unfavorable conditions across the Atlantic, including several days of dense fog, was responsible for the one day delay in the ship's schedule. 

Among the passengers was one of the first parties of Europeans making the newly instituted tour of Canada under the auspices of the Canadian National Railways. There are 32 tourists in the group, and they will cross Canada from coast  to coast.The tours are run on same lines as the European tours established by several agencies on this side of the water. and are reported to be growing in popularity among people in Great Britain. 

The Athenia left Glasgow on June 5, and Liverpool one day later. She carried 110 cabin passengers and 369 third-class passengers including 70 children. A novel entertainment was provided for the little ones during the voyage as a Punch and Judy show' was on board and proved to be a great favorite.

Montreal  Star,  16 June  1925.

The  Donaldson liners and their crews  figured in the  social  and sporting  life  of  Montreal during their layovers.  On 18  June  1925 the  footballs teams of  Athenia  and the Cunarder  Antonia played  a match at Vickers grounds and the  night before there was a dance in the  Auditorium attended by  350  persons, including officers  and men from Athenia, Ausonia,  Metagama, Doric  and Gracia,  with  the  Athenia's pipe  and drum  band  playing four reels.

In brilliant  sunshine and "streamers  flying from  the  ship, and piper John  Macpherson on the quayside "celebrating  her departure tomorrow morning  in true holiday  spirit," (Gazette, 18 June), Athenia sailed  from  Montreal on  19 June  1925, her passenger list  of  255 Cabin  and  283 Third  swelled  by  a large  of  "third  cabin  tourists"  for  a  tour  of  Europe  organized by Guy Tombs of Montreal and Pickfords  of  London, encompassing 36 days  and visiting Scotland,  England, Holland, Belgium and  France, returning  in Ausonia from Southampton on 17 July. These tours, whose clientete included recent  college graduates and professionals,  were the progenitors of the  "Tourist Third Cabin"  mania that  developed in the later  part  of  the 'twenties. W.  Betts Donaldson  and  Norman P. Donaldson were also among the passengers. Athenia arrived Glasgow  on the  26th.

There  were 151 Cabin and 315 Third  Class  tickets sold  for  Letitia's third  voyage,  from  Glasgow   on 18 June 1925 and Liverpool  the following day, but with  one very  special passenger.  She went out a day earlier than usual, departing  Glasgow  at  6:00  p.m., to make the  evening tide the next day  at  Liverpool where the most  important  passengers embarked: The Earl and Countess  Haig, and a party  of 40, en route to the British Empire Service League conference in Ottawa convening on the 27th.  It  also  happened to be Earl Haig's 64th birthday.   Also  aboard was Mr. T.F. Lister,  chairman of  the  British  Legion,  whose height  of 6' 6 ½" required the removal of a wardrobe in his cabin to  extend the regulation length  6' 3" berth to  accommodate him. 

Credit:  Daily Mirror, 21 June 1925.

Going to the same conference were Brigadier-General A F (hon the league) Captain Donald (hon organising secretary league) Brigadier-General A Russell Zealand) Brigadier-General James (South Africa) Arthur Blair Lieutenant Colonel Marshall Hole (Rhodesia) Lieut -Commander Bagett-Hett RNR A F Kiddie W B Leane Major K Captain V V Appleby Captain J Bennett (Northern Ireland) Mr T F Lister Legion) Mr J (Wales) Mr W A Outsell Mr W P Walker Free State) Mr J Griffin (British Legion conference) Mr B Gibson-Flemming (India). 

 

When the Field-Marshal and the countess alighted from the London train at the Station they were greeted by Mayor and Lady Mayoress Mr R Crail (assistant the Cunard Company) Amongst General Sir Richard Butler (Commander-in-Chief the Western Command). The Earl and his party embarked on Letitia by the tender Skirmisher from the Prince's Landing Stage. The  countess's boudoir had  been beautifully ‘decorated with flowers sent by Thomas Royden of the Cunard the Lady Mayoress.

Liverpool Daily Post, 20 June 1925.

A royal welcome was given to Field Marshal Earl Haig, Countess Haig and their distinguished party from overseas when they arrived in Quebec yesterday. Great enthusiasm was evinced by the citizens of the arrival of the steamer, the docking of which was witnessed by thousands of people who lined the wharf opposite Shed 27, while up on the Dufferin Terrace, the Ramparts and in fact at all vantage points along the heights of Quebec. The appearance of Letitia near the St. Charles River breakwater was the signal for a great blowing of sirens and whistles on all the flag decorated steamers and smaller craft in the harbor and this first noisily enthusiastic welcome was kept up until the liner was alongside the wharf.

The sound of the whistles and sirens had no sooner died away than a great cheer went up from the huge crowd gathered all around Shed 27, which was the scene of hurried preparations for the preliminary reception. From the street entrance to the landing pier was a passageway whose walls were formed of flags of all nations with the Union Jack and the Canadian flag predominating. Impatience was noticeable among the crowds who waited for a glimpse of the Earl, but this was not afforded before 8 party of prominent federal and provincial, civic and military officials went on board to welcome the distinguished visitor.

Montreal Star, 27 June 1925.

Putting in an exceptionally  fast passage for her honoured passengers,  Letitia arrived at Quebec at 2:35 p.m. on 26 June 1925, Earl Haig and Countess Haig were officially welcomed on board by the Lt.-Governor of  Quebec, Hon. Narcisse Perodeau, members of his staff and the  citizens committee, as the ship came alongside  the decorated King's Wharf and a considerable throng of  citizens were on hand to  greet them. Indeed, the ship  was so early, final preparations and decorations  were hurried.  Haig and party  continued with Letitia up river to  Montreal and were afforded another exceptionally  smart passage, arriving  at 1:00 on the 27th, docking at Shed 3. An official welcome  would be given at the end of his visit  and Haig  and party  entrained via  private train  for Ottawa.

Great enthusiasm was seen at the docks on Saturday afternoon, when the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, Marshal Earl Haig and with Field to the conference of the delegates Service League, to be British Empire Ottawa, on board, docked at held in afternoon at half four at shed 3 on Saturday, which was the time announced earlier in the day. 

The lower floor of the shed adjoining the gang plank was reserved for the special members of the party board to welcome him, who went on of the Robt. Reford Company and representatives bedecked liner of the press. 

As soon as the gayly bedecked liner drew to the dock and her mooring hawsers were fast, the gang was pushed out under the direction of Captain M. N. Gillies, superintendent of the Anchor Donaldson Line in Montreal.

The Letitia had an excellent voyage and passengers expressed themselves extremely pleased with the manner in which in which they had been attended and plans made for their entertainment on board.

The Gazette, 29 June 1925.

Less fanfare attended Letitia's departure from Montreal on 3 July 1925 at 10:00 a.m.  With a fine list of 368 Cabin and 369 Third Class, including another educational tour organised by Guy Tombs Ltd.,  and led by R.H. Pitman.   She arrived at Glasgow at  6:00 a.m. on the  11th. 

Original caption: The  Farewell to Canadian Emigrants. Animated  scenes  were witnessed at Princes Pier,  Greenock, yesterday  where a  big contingent of  emigrants  sailed from the  Clyde  for  Canada  on board the  Anchor-Donaldson  liner  Athenia. Photograph  shows the farewell  scenes at embarkation.  Credit: Daily  Record, 4 July  1925.

Outbound  for Canada on 3  July  1925,  Athenia, after calling at  Moville and  Liverpool,  went out  with 97 Cabin and 347 Third Class passengers, including  a party  of 100 domestics sponsored by  the Salvation Army, 60 children from the Liverpool Sheltering Home for  homes in Belleville, Ont.,  and Toronto;  and more  boys  going  out  to Dr. Cossar's  farm training  school.   She embarked  her  Glasgow  passengers off the  Tail  of  the  Bank, coming  down  by  special train from St. Enoch Station. Pausing at Quebec  on the  evening of the  11th. Athenia  berthed at Montreal  the following morning, after a good voyage  "with the  maximum of fine weather."  (Gazette,  13 July).  Clearing Montreal at daybreak  the  17th, Athenia had 76 Cabin and 112 Third Class  passengers for  "Glasgow  direct"  where she  docked on the 25th.

Credit: Daily Record, 18 July 1925.

Young single women continued to figure large in the westward tide of Scottish emigration to  Canada and fully 40 per cent of those sailing in Letitia from Glasgow and Moville  on  17 July 1925 (Liverpool  the following day)   were of that group, 50 sponsored by the Society for the Settlement of British Women, as well as part of domestics sent out  by The Orphan Homes of Scotland, and also more "lads for  farm work" organized by Dr.  Cossar.  Letitia embarked her passengers at the Tail of the  Bank and reached  Quebec at 7:00 p.m. on the  25th  and Montreal the  following day, somewhat delayed owing to  fog.

Credit: Montreal Star, 31 July 1925.

Letitia's return  crossing  from Montreal  beginning at  11:00 a.m. 31 July 1925 was considerably  enlivened as  she  was conveying Earl and Countess Haig home after  a  highly  successful visit  to  the  Dominion.  A guard of  honour consisting of three  officers  and 100 other  ranks from  Les Carabinier Mont-Royal were  drawn up  facing  the  gangway and after inspection by  the  Field Marshall, the guard moved  to the end of  the shed and on full  view of those aboard Letitia and present arms a second time as she pulled out, to the  strains  of the  Carabiniers'  band. 

As the  Letitia swung out into the  stream and steamed eastward a veritable tornado of  sound broke out from the ships  along the  six mile  front of the harbour.

The  Montreal Star,  31 July 1925.

Flags and streamers were flying from every mast and pole in the harbor as the R.M.S. Letitia of the Anchor Donaldson Line pulled out of berth this morning with Field Marshal Earl Haig and Lady Haig standing on quarter deck saluting in reply to the cheers of crowds in and around shed No. 3. 

The guard of honor composed of members of the Carabiniars Mont Royal gave the salute, and the band played "O Canada' as the steamer quit her moorings and slowly drew  away from the berth. Then the soldiers ordered arms, and the band broke into "Will ye no' come back again." Hundreds of ribbons of colored paper, thrown from passengers on the ship's deck to friends shore, broke as the distance increased, and slowly she was hauled out into midstream, her famous passengers watching from the quarter deck and saluting until they passed out of sight.

The Montreal Star, 31 July 1925.

On departure, Earl Haig sent a farewell message to the  people of Canada by  the pilot boat:

I thank you for your  friendly  welcome and generous hospitality and for  your kindness in bidding us au  revoir. Your friendship  will always  remain for me a treasured possession. To ex-Service men of all ranks I reiterate once more:  Get  together, pull together.  Do not work for any one section of your  country, but for your  King, your Dominion, and the Empire.

Credit:  Daily  Record, 10 August 1925.

Letitia arrived off the Tail of  the  Bank the morning of 8 August 1925 where Earl and Countess  Haig, two  daughters and party disembarked by  tender, coming ashore at Princes Pier about  7:30 a.m. and departing at 8:18 a.m. by train to Edinburgh.  

With 194 Cabin and 457 Third Class passengers on clearing Glasgow, Moville (1 August 1925 )and Liverpool (2), Athenia  coursed  once again for  the  St.  Lawrence.   Calling at Quebec  on the  8th,  landing 457 there, Athenia  berthed at  Montreal  the next day after a foggy passage in the river.  The  emigrant  season  having run its course  for  the  year, there  was a small  party  of  40  sponsored by  the Salvation Army  aboard.  She  was but one of  14 ocean going vessels  arrived at Montreal  that  one weekend, making  for  a total  of  36  vessels  of all  descriptions berthed  in the harbour.  Athenia cleared  Shed 3 at 11:00 a.m.  on  the 14th for home with 54 Cabin and 126  Third Class  passengers and made the  Clyde on the 22nd.

After  maiden voyages  and  Field Marshals, it  was time for  Letitia  to  get to  work  on the  comparatively  mundane  but far  more  important  work  in populating  the  great Dominion.  When she  cleared  Glasgow on 14 August 1925, Letitia's  passenger  list  (274 Cabin and  372  Third Class)  included farm workers  going out to  Canada  to  help  with  the  harvest, 14  domestics, and Isa and  Peter  Forrester, of  Govan, aged  11  and 10  years  respectively,  travelling  unaccompanied  to join a  relation in Montreal.  Touching at  Quebec the  morning of the 22nd, Letitia  reached Montreal the next morning, reporting a fair  weather crossing with smooth  seas  and clear skies  but "at  times, a trifle  cold."  Leaving Montreal at 11:00 a.m. on the 28th, Letitia  had 55 Cabin and 91 Third Class  passengers for  Glasgow where she arrived on 5 September.

Fully crewed despite  a seamen's strike, Athenia  sailed from Glasgow  and Moville  on 28  August 1925  and Liverpool the following day  for Canada with 351 Cabin and 378  Third Class passengers and,  once  again,  embarked her  Glasgow  passengers at the Tail of  the Bank  and  coming  down by special train leaving St.  Enoch Station  at  10:10 a.m.  for  the  noon sailing. "With  the  exception of  a large  contingent  going out  under the  scheme for  the  overseas  settlement  of  British women there no  organised  groups, and the passenger list  is composed  mainly  of  individuals and small families  drawn from all  parts of Scotland." (Greenock Telegraph, 28  August).    Arriving at  Montreal  within two  hours  of one another, Athenia and Doric,  landed  some  850 cabin passengers there the  evening of 6 September.     She  left  there at 11:00 a.m.  on the  11th  for  her  return crossing, going out  with  58 Cabin and 100  Third Class passengers, arriving Glasgow the 20th.

Signing on a full crew despite  a  seamen's  strike,  Letitia  cleared  Glasgow  on schedule  on 11  September 1925 with 258 Cabin and 397 Third Class passengers and arrived Montreal on the evening of the 20th. Homewards, she cast off at 11:00 a.m. on  the 25th with 84  Cabin and 75 Third  Class passengers, including the  Earl  and Countess  of Mar  and Kellie  who embarked  at Quebec  late  that  day.   

An important announcement was made  on  2  October 1925  that Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson would  set  aside the entire  Third Class of    four eastbound  steamers in summer  1926 for "tourist  third  cabin" travel "for  the  use  of  teachers,  students,  professional men and  tourists  generally."   Among  these  would be  Letitia  from Montreal on 25  June and Athenia  on 9 July. "Improvements  will be made in the third class accommodation while  the menu  for  the tourists also will be augmented."(Montreal  Star, 2 October).  

Original caption: For  distant shores. Hundreds of  spectators crowded Princes Dock to  wave  farewell  to  their friends when the  Anchor-Donaldson liner, Athenia, left  on her  voyage  to Canada with  a big  complement  of  passengers fully  two-thirds of  whom are young women emigrants. The scene  as the vessel was about  to sail.  Credit; Daily Record, 26 September  1925.

Of  her 180 Cabin and 312 Third  Class passengers  on her 25 September  1925 crossing  to Canada, fully two-thirds were  young  women passengers, "for  the most part  wives of  men  who  sailed  earlier  in the  year. There are also  a number  of  typists, nurses and  domestics who  have been guaranteed employment  at  good wages immediately  on landing."  (Daily  Record, 25  September).  The youngest immigrant, travelling  alone, was  five-year-old Leslie  Purvis Bell, who would be reunited with  his  father on arrival  at Quebec, and  would be  looked after during  the  voyage by the  ship's conductress. Athenia docked at Montreal first  thing on 5 October.  

Homewards at 10:00  a.m. on 9 October 1925,   Athenia went out with just  36  Cabin and 65 Third Class passengers with eight-year-old Bertie L. Hill, aged 8,  from Winnipeg  and travelling alone  to  visit  relatives in Scotland, and an 80-year-old lady  bound  for  Glasgow, representing the age "bookends"  of  the passenger  list.   She also had a good 6,000-ton cargo.  Getting past Quebec on this trip  proved the  hardest  part of  it and  very high  east winds delayed Megantic, Montcalm, Aurania and Athenia in getting away and the Donaldson liner, which arrived  there the morning of the  10th,  was not  able  to proceed out  until  that evening followed by Aurania.  Athenia  arrived  at Glasgow  on the  18th.

Credit: Daily Record, 10 October 1925.

With 142 Cabin and 324 Third Class  passengers, Letitia  sailed from Glasgow  on 9  October 1925 and Liverpool on the  10th for Canada.  One of six  Atlantic liners  arriving at Montreal that  weekend, Letitia made Montreal the morning of the 18th.

Credit:  Montreal Star, 20 October 1925.

During her  turnaround, Anchor-Donaldson announced their 1926 programme for the Glasgow-St. Lawrence run with 24  sailings  from Montreal by Letitia, Athenia and Saturnia, with  the first by  Letitia  on 30 April and the last by Athenia  on 26  November with all departures  scheduled on Fridays  at 10:00 a.m.

There was also  time for a race between the lifeboat  crews of  Letitia and the Cunarder Ausonia on  the  afternoon of 22 October  1925 with "seven 'Macs' in the Letitia's boat  crew, four  of  them answering  to the name of MacDonald while  three bear the name McPherson." (Montreal Star, 21 October).  Letitia's crew won the day,  "after  a  gruelling  race over a course stretching  round  the  harbor,  the Letitia's boat  nosed  ahead  to win by  a length and  a half."  (Gazette, 23 October).

Letitia  departed  Montreal the morning  of 23 October 1925 with 47 Cabin and 96 Third  Class  passengers and arrived Glasgow on the 31st.

Credit: Daily Record, 24  October  1925.

Making  her  last voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence  for the  season, Athenia  cleared Glasgow 24  October 1925 and Liverpool the  following day  with  70  Cabin and 215 Third Class passengers, and as she had  done all  season,  left  the  Clyde  in company  with Metagama.  Aboard  the Donaldson liner  were a  Salvation Army  party  of nurses, a  group of  women sponsored  by  the  Catholic Women's League  and domestics and a number  of families destined for  farms  in Ontario.  After  experiencing  a "fairly rough passage" over, Athenia reached Montreal on 1  November. Bidding  farewell until the  following  spring,  Athenia  left Montreal on the  morning of  the 6th with 16 Cabin and  76 Third  Class passengers and arrived Glasgow on the 15th.

On 10  November 1925 the scheduled  sailing from Halifax   on  14 December for Glasgow,  an advertised Christmas sailing,  was cancelled,  and there would be  no Donaldson presence  on the  winter Clyde-Halifax-New York run  in 1925-26. On the 17th, in a change of  plans, it  was announced  that  Athenia would make a single Glasgow-Halifax-New York voyage 5 December.

Credit:  Daily Record, 7 November 1925.

Sailing from Glasgow, Moville and Liverpool  to Canada on her final voyage to the St. Lawrence on her maiden year, Letitia  left on 6 November 1925 with 82 Cabin and 343 Third  Class  passengers, including two unaccompanied at opposite ends of the  age bracket: James Bell, aged 81, of  Glasgow, and Master Ewan Brice, of Blackburn, aged 5,  and a party of 65  domestics sponsored by  the  Salvation  Army.  After an incident docking at Quebec on the  15th, when the tug  Ocean King, towing her into her  berth, was thrown directly  into  the liner's path  when the hawser snapped. Quick work by  her helmsmen averted disaster. Letitia  came into Montreal at 10:00  a.m. the following morning.   She  came in late  owing  to  rough weather  across.

The Montreal Star had an excellent write-up  of  Letitia's  maiden year:

When the Letitia, of the Anchor Donaldson line, leaves port on Friday morning, she will have completed her first season's service on this route. that time, with sixteen sailings, and including those passengers leaving Friday, she has carried 6,770 passengers across the Atlantic. 

The liner, one of the most modern on this route, arrived in Montreal her maiden voyage, on May 4 and left on May 8. She completed her last westbound voyage to Montreal for the season yesterday. During the season she carried 1,319 cabin and 3,214 third class passengers westbound, a total of 4,533 passengers to Canada. On her eastbound voyages, she carried 943 cabin and 1,294 third class, a total of 2,237 passengers from Canada. The grand totals are, 2,262 cabin and 4,508 third class, Including eastbound and westbound sailings.

Montreal Star, 17  November 1925.

Departing Montreal for the last time that  year at daybreak on 20 November 1925,  in company with Montclare, with 40 Cabin and 149 Third  Class aboard  the  Donaldson flagship, Letitia  got  into  Glasgow  at noon on the 30th.

Embarking  her  passengers off the Tail  of  the Bank on 5  December 1925, Athenia was off  on her  last  voyage of  the year to Halifax and New York with  the  second largest list  of passengers  she  carried in 1925.  At  Halifax on the 13th,  she  landed 26 Cabin  and 89 Third Class passengers and 226 Cabin and 362 Third Class at New York  on the 16th.  Homewards  on the 13th, Athenia sailed with 80  Cabin and 248  Third Class.  

In 1925, Athenia completed 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 4,978 passengers and four to Halifax/New York carrying 662 and Letitia made 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 6,773 passengers.

That winter, both ships were laid up and underwent their annual  overhauls.

Anchor Donaldson poster, 1926. Credit: University of Glasgow  archives.

1926

Almost six years after being  ordered,  Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson's epic post-war rebuilding programme was finally completed. They  came on the  scene when traffic,  especially  immigrant,  had already  eased off, occasioned by even more restrictive immigration policies  came  into  effect to  the U.S. and so impacted the  Mediterranean market that Anchor Line's service to New York  from Italy ended in 1925.  All this  rendered the sudden surfeit  of  new  ships somewhat  in surplus of requirements.  With  the  seasonal qualities of  the  Donaldson  St.  Lawrence route and  the new Anchor  ships  calling  westbound that  winter at Halifax, would see both Athenia and Letitia, practically  brand new, laid up  for winter 1926.

Final plans for the 1926 season were announced on 4 February 1926. Cassandra and Saturnia made her final voyages in December 1925 being replaced by Letitia and the new Cunarders so that for 1926 there would be reduction from 30 to 24 sailings or a thrice monthly frequency between  Liverpool, Belfast and Montreal by Aurania, Letitia and Athenia. Instead of Moville, Athenia and Letitia would now stop at Belfast westbound as would Cunard’s  Aurania, giving it three sailings a month.  Athenia and Letitia would also offer six eastbound calls at the Northern Ireland capital May-August.  Athenia’s 25 June departure from Montreal  was to be a special Tourist Third Cabin sailing.  

Another of the Scottish themed advertisements for Donaldson Line for the 1926 season. Credit: The Vancouver Sun, 7 May 1926.

Credit: Daily Record, 5 April 1926.

Athenia’s 1926 began with her taking the place of Anchor Line’s Tuscania which had been seconded by Cunard starting that spring for its new London-New York service.   Athenia sailed from Glasgow and Moville (Londonderry)  on 5 April for Halifax. Among her  passengers was the  first Salvation Army sponsored  group of 40  domestics bound for  Canada, "on arrival at Halifax, N.S.,  these  young women will  be conducted  to New Brunswick,  Toronto and London, Ont., and placed in domestic service  at wages  ranging from £5 to £8 a month. All were  eligible for  the reduced fare of  £3 to port of  landing."(Daily  Record, 3 April). She embarked her passengers at the Tail of the Bank and this would  become  standard practice  from  Glasgow.  Athenia landed  15 Cabin and 211 Third Class passengers, 77  of  whom embarked at Moville,  at Halifax on the  11th and proceeding to New York, disembarked her remaining 43 Cabin and 134  Third Class there. Clearing New York on the 17th, Athenia went out with 24 Cabin and 34 Third Class passengers and arrived on the Clyde on the 26th.

Through a spell of mild weather in Canada the ice in the St. Lawrence River is fast disappearing, and the eagerly awaited opening of its waters to navigation will take place next week. This means that the Canadian emigration season will now commence to operate in real earnest. and it's a good start off several big liners are due to leave Great Britain this weekend with large complements of settlers. There will he the usual keen competition to be " first up the River" which always provides something of a thrill for passengers as well as the vessel's officers. From Scotland the first vessel to leave, for the St. Lawrence will the the Anchor— Donaldson liner Letitia and by way of added interest, it is the Letitia's  first voyage this year. She has been laying up through the winter for a general overhaul in preparation for what is expected to he a heavy emigration season. Her complement on Friday when she sails from Glasgow will be close to 800 passengers, which will include a party of 80 domestic servants, the largest group which has yet sailed from the Clyde under the auspices of the Salvation Army. Their passages were booked under the new fare scheme. 

Wishaw Press, 16 April 1926

The first of a series of Scottish themed advertisements for Donaldson Line for 1926. Credit: The Province,  17 April 1926.

Resuming service, opening the Donaldson St. Lawrence run  for  the season and beginning her second year,  Letitia sailed from Glasgow's Princes Dock at noon  on 16 April 1926

The Anchor-Donaldson will open their in Montreal service today with the Letitia, which is due to sail from Princes Dock about noon with a complement of over 700 passengers for Canada. A remarkably large number are youthful settlers between the ages of 12 and 20 years who are going out under the care of various institutions, which include the Orphan Homes of (Bridge-of-Weir), the Catholic Women's League, and the Salvation Army. 

The Letitia will also carry 70 household workers, a record number for any one ship. Several Scots families will be on board, the biggest being one of eleven from Bonar Bridge, that of Mr and Mrs Forbes. This in the Letitia's sailing at this year. The his been generally overhauled, and her accommodation has been freshened up. In addition, a wider range of dock has been installed for the recreation of both cabin and third class passengers.

Greenock Telegraph, 16 April 1926.

Going out with the  Canadian Pacific's Montnairn, between them the two  ships had 1,300 Scottish emigrants for  Canada, and on clearing Moville, Letitia went out  with 102 Cabin and 660  Third Class  passengers.  One of an armada of  six liners arriving at Quebec on the 25th (Aurania  followed by  Montnairn, Letitia, Montrose, Ausonia and  Doric), Letitia like her  convoy mates  encountered icy conditions in the river and initially  had  to anchor  off  before  coming alongside, Letitia doing so  at 4:15 p.m..  Ice between Quebec and Sorel precluded any of  them coming up to  Montreal.  "On board  the  Letitia, of  the Anchor-Donaldson Line, came a very fine lot  of passengers, chiefly  from Scotland and it was noticeable that a considerable  number of men carried their  golf  clubs and some  of  them looked quite capable of putting up a  good  game." (Montreal Star, 26  April). 

On 27 April 1926 it was announced that Aurania  and Letitia would definitely not proceed up to  Montreal  and turnaround  at Quebec with special trains from Montreal's Bonaventure  Station right to  the quayside at Quebec to embark on 4 May.   Letitia went out with 79 Cabin and 164  Third Class for Belfast  and Glasgow,  arriving on the 13th in the  middle of the General Strike. Indeed, she  would not unload  her  cargo of grain and would make her next roundtrip to  Canada "light"  and with the grain still aboard as "ballast". 

Credit: Daily Record, 1  May 1926.

Clearing  the  Clyde on 30 April 1926 on her first voyage  to the St. Lawrence for  the season, Athenia made her  maiden call at Belfast that  evening. 

The Anchor-Donaldson Line inaugurated their  direct  Belfast to  Quebec and Montreal service last  night, when 130 passengers,  mostly  drawn from Ulster, embarked on the magnificently equipped turbine steamer Athenia in Belfast Lough.

Nearly all of  the passengers who left  last night were bound for Canada, only  a few being  book for  the States. Many of them are going out under  the Empire Settlement Scheme, these  including eight  families, the  largest of whom was that of  Mr. Robert Alexander, Fivemiletown, County Tyrone, who was accompanied by  his wife, four sons and four daughters. Another emigrant family, that  of Mr.  James Pickens, Londonderry, consisted  of Mr. and Mrs. Pickens, four sons, and two daughters. The youngest immigrant of the party was an infant of  only  month  old, whose parents are  Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Rasharkin, County Derry. They had  with  them three other  children.

On the arrival of the tender (the Robina) alongside  the liner the transfer of passengers and luggage was carried out  very expeditiously. In the meantime  a number of visitors were courteously  shown over  the ship,  and the  company generously provided supper in the dining saloon… the arrangements for the  embarkation were  so perfect that  from the departure  of the tender until its  return to  the quay only  two and half hours elapsed. 

Belfast News-Letter, 1 May 1926.

Going across with 127 Cabin and 626  Third Class and a heavy mail consignment, Athenia  was delayed arriving at Quebec owing to fog , along with Regina, Montcalm and Ausonia, and expected to  berth  on the 9 May 1926, did  not do so until the following morning and  arrived  at Montreal the morning of 11 May 1926.

Athenia's first turnaround at Montreal that season was marred by  a tragic  accident to one of  her  crewmen whilst  painting ship:

Falling 20 feet when the rope supporting the carriage on which he sat painting the side of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia gave way, shortly after 10 o'clock this morning, W. Simpson, able seaman, of Glasgow, fell head first to the deck of the harbor crane vessel alongside and suffered a. fractured skull. He died at 1 o'clock. 

This morning's mishap represents the first accident along waterfront since the opening of the harbor this season. 

He was taken ashore directly after the accident and the ambulance summoned. Through some delay, however, it did not arrive  for about 40 minutes. it was stated at the docks. The sailor was unconscious from the moment he fell.

Montreal Star, 12  May 1926.

Clearing Montreal at 10:00  a.m. on 14 May  1926,  Athenia had 78 Cabin and 189 Third Class passengers for  Glasgow where  she docked on the 24th.

Credit:  Daily Record, 17  May 1926.

From Glasgow and Belfast on 16  May 1926 and Liverpool the next day, Letitia  had 132 Cabin and 569 Third Class and got away on time despite lingering labour unrest from the just ended  General Strike, but went out light and would go out with her remaining bunkers taken on on in Canada.  One of her Liverpool embarking passengers was  10-year-old Ronald Kingham, travelling along to join his father in Edmonton.    Letitia arrived Quebec on the evening of  the  25th and Montreal at 7:30 a.m. the following morning. 

Owing to the strike in Great Britain the Letitia came out light, the cargo of grain she took over on her previous trip remaining in her holds as ballast, for despite the fact she is an oil burner and the problem of bunkering did not bother her, the tie up of the dock workers prevented her taking on cargo. Another incident illustrating the influence of the strike was that the ship's passenger list, which ordinarily printed, had to be stenciled by hand. 

The ship's officers reported a smooth and uneventful passage. It was perhaps fortunate for passengers that such was the case as travelling light as she was, heavy seas would have tried out even the best sailors among them.

Montreal Star, 26 May  1926.

Fully laden with cargo as well as her now  well-travelled grain, Letitia cleared Montreal the morning of 28 May 1926 with 154 Cabin and 269 Third Class  passengers and arrived Greenock at 5:00 p.m. on 5 June, landing her  passengers off the Tail of the Bank. 

Credit: Daily Record, 2 June 1926.

Canada-bound again on 29  May 1926 (Glasgow and Belfast) and Liverpool (30), Athenia went out with 109 Cabin and 751 Third Class, the latter being the  heaviest complement that season. Indeed, she went out with 30 Scots families, totalling 200 people of  all ages,  a record. After landing 752 passengers at Quebec on 7 June, Athenia berthed  at Montreal at 1:00 p.m.  the following afternoon.  Heading eastbound the morning  of the 11th,  with 126 Cabin and 295 Third  Class passengers, Athenia made the  first eastbound that  season at Belfast on the 19th at 3:00 p.m.  and arrived the next day at Glasgow.

  Credit: The Gazette, 22 June 1926

Among those embarking aboard Athenia at the Tail  of  the  Bank on 25 June 1926 were 40-50 Scottish boys  bound  for the Vimy Ridge Farm, Guelph,  Ont. for  farm tuition until  they  reached age 18.  After her calls at Belfast and Liverpool, she  went out with 76  Cabin and 484 Third Class passengers.  But the discovery  of a case  of smallpox aboard just after clearing Father Point found the ship quarantined on 4 July:

The Anchor Donaldson liner Athenia was held up at quarantine, off Grosse Isle all day today, owing to a case of smallpox, which declared itself just after the ship left Father yesterday. The five hundred passengers had to be vaccinated, and the ship thoroughly fumigated, before it was allowed to proceed. 

The Athenia was due here early this morning, but the news of contagious disease aboard quickly spread along the waterfront, and a physician was sent down Grosse, Isle, to assist the doctors there in taking whatever sanitary measures were necessary. 

Only one case was discovered, but the Athenia was fumigated and the passengers vaccinated as a measure of precaution, the Athenia afterwards resuming inward journey. She arrived here this evening.

The Gazette, 5 July 1926.

Credit: Montreal Star, 8 July 1926.

Athenia arrived at Montreal  at noon on 5 July 1926.  Her homeward  crossing, beginning at 11:00 a.m. on the 9th, included two tour  parties-- a group  of Masons and one sponsored by  Canadian National Railways-- and she  had in all 131 Cabin and, for  the first time classified  as such for her, 347 "Tourist Cabin" passengers. A local Montreal orchestra, The Gaboliers, was engaged to play aboard. She reached  the  Clyde on the 18th.

Credit: Daily Record, 10 July 1926.

Credit: Daily  Record,  10  July 1926.

With 91 Cabin and 297 Third Class passengers, Letitia steamed westwards from  Glasgow  and  Belfast on  10 July  1926 (Liverpool the following day) and with a early Canadian harvest season in  the offing, many  of her passengers were seasonal  harvesters and giving  a high  proportion of  single men in the passenger list. So far that year, the "3,000 families" farm settlement scheme had already been exceeded and 200 additional farms allotted for settlers.  She  also carried more  miners  and their families to  the  Dominion and a  party  of  Scottish  teachers on a Canadian holiday, taking  advantage of the 32 round  trip fare. Calling at Quebec  on the  17th where she  landed 297  Third Class passengers, Letitia arrived Montreal on the  at 8:45 p.m. the  following  evening,  where her remaining 91 Cabin  and 37 Third Class  disembarked.  One of them, five-year-old Catherine  Paris,  travelling alone,  and looked  after  aboard  by the  ship's conductress,  Miss Vause, was met by  her mother at  the dock.  

During her turnaround, the  S.S. Letitia Sports  and Social  Club  held  their  annual field day  at Bout  de I'lle  on 21 July  1926,  a highlight of  which  was the tug-of-war  between the  Deck and Catering teams which,  of  course,  went in favour of  her strapping  Scots seamen.  

Clearing Montreal the morning of 23 July 1926, Letitia went out with 84 Cabin and 221 Third  Class and arrived in the  Clyde  on  the  31st.

There was good list of 111 Cabin and 514 Third Class for Athenia's  sailing  from Glasgow  and  Belfast on 23  July 1926, and Liverpool the following day, as  the  various immigration and assisted passage  schemes  continued the westward exodus  past  the usual spring  "peak":

On board the Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson Athenia, which left Liverpool for Quebec and Montreal on Saturday, were Patrick Curtis, a Liverpool dock labourer, and his wife and four children, who are all going to work on the land in the Dominion. Under the new, cheap scheme to encourage settlement in Canada the transport of the entire family cost only £7 6. 8. Curtis been out of work since last Easter. On same vessel were five wives and twenty children belonging to husbands who left England a year or two ago and have now homesteads, in which they will be by their families.

Liverpool Daily Post,  26  July  1926.

Travelling by  the same vessel were five  wives and 25 children  from  various  industrial areas in the  Midlands belonging to  men who  went out  recently,  and have  secured homesteads in  Canada under  the Empire  Settlement  scheme. A child of  three years was also on board,  travelling unaccompanied  to join its parents at Regina.

Greenock Telegraph, 26 July  1926.

Also aboard were 60 young women  sponsored by the  Society for  the  Settlement of British  Women who  had secured places  in domestic employment in the Dominion.  Athenia and her new Canadians arrived at Quebec the  morning of  1  August 1926 and Montreal at 10:30 p.m. that  evening, landing 111  Cabin Class passengers.  There were 92 Cabin and 125 Third Class tickets sold for  her eastbound crossing  beginning 6 August, "Shed 5 was the  scene of  great activity this  morning when the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia  sailed for Belfast and Glasgow at 11 o'clock."(Montreal  Star, 6  August). And that did  not include a sailor "running amok" the  evening  before departure:

The spectacle of a man running amok was witnessed on the S, S. Athenia yesterday when Albert Timusk, described as an Interpreter and seaman, after what police claim was. a continued drinking bout, took leave of his senses and tearing 'his clothes off, ran wild through the ship. 

Timusk arrived with the ship on Sunday, and gave no indication that there was anything untoward in his condition.Last night as the liner was being prepared for its departure this morning, Timusk broke from his quarters and stampeded. 

He refused to obey the commands of his officers and rushed through the stewardesses quarters and into the cabin accommodation. There he was caught by sailors and put under restraint. 

Fearing that he was affected mentally the hospital authorities at Verdun were communicated with but the reply was that they could only deal with such a case after Timusk had passed through the courts.

This was told to Judge Monet this morning when Timusk was due to appear on a charge of creating a disturbance on board ship. The charge was amended to continually refusing to obey the commands of his superior officers.

Montreal Star, 6  August 1926.

Athenia called at Belfast at 5:00 p.m. on 14 August 1926  and arrived at Glasgow  the  following day.

Credit: Daily Record, 7 August 1926.

Dominion-bound again, Letitia left Glasgow  and Belfast on 6 August 1926 and Liverpool  the following day with 155 Cabin and a good Third Class complement of 769, the best of  the year. 

Fifteen sonsy lasses from tho Orphan Homes of Scotland, Bridge-of-Weir, sailed this forenoon for Canada in the Anchor Donaldson liner Letitia. This is the second party this year, the former consisting of boys. Six of the older girls, from seventeen to nineteen, have already got places as domestic, and the younger members of the party will go to the Brockville Home, Ontario, are in charge of the matron, Mrs Winters, who crossed recently in the Athenia look after the young emigrants. 

The total passenger list is just under 900 and a fair proportion of them are holidaymakers and returning Canadian tourists. So far the harvesters have not responded to the call for workers to gather in the Canadian crops, but no doubt the movement will be seen in subsequent sailings. The Letitia will make her usual calls at Belfast and Liverpool, embarking fifty lads under the Salvation Army scheme at the latter port, before proceeding on her voyage to Quebec and Montreal.

Greenock  Telegraph,  6 August 1926.

Making Quebec at 9:00 p.m. on 14 August  1926, Letitia arrived at Montreal the  following evening. Among those disembarking there were Captain  H.  Findlay, Marine Superintendent, for Anchor-Donaldson,  and Mrs. Findlay, on a quick holiday in the  Dominion,  visiting Toronto and Niagara Falls, before returning in Letitia.  She left Montreal on the 20th with 86 Cabin and 112 Third Class passengers, including Sir Charles and Lady Gordon. Arriving at Belfast at 9:00 p.m. on the 27th, Letitia arrived in the Clyde  the following day. 

There had been some criticism that the various Canadian immigration schemes too favoured agricultural and domestic workers and did not do enough to encourage skilled trades.  Countering this, among those embarking  at the  Tail of the Bank aboard Athenia on 21 August 1926 were 14 engineers (turners) bound for Peterboro, Ont.,  as well as a "considerable number of miners and  mineworkers" and, yes, another  party  of  30  domestics.  Following her calls at Belfast and Liverpool, Athenia went across  with an excellent list of 364  Cabin and 648 Third Class passengers.  She made Montreal late on the  evening of the 29th. Clearing the St. Lawrence late on 3  September, Athenia  had 58  Cabin and 119 Third Class for  the Old Country,  arriving Belfast on the 12th and Glasgow  the next day.

Credit: Daily Record, 4 September 1926.

Departing  Glasgow (embarking her passengers at Greenock) and Belfast on 3 September 1926 and Liverpool on the  4th, Letitia's good list of 323 Cabin and 608  Third Class included "nurses, domestics, steelworkers and miners," among those emigrating to Canada with two large parties sponsored by the Salvation  Army and the Society  for the Settlement of British Women.  Landing her Third Class passengers at Quebec on the morning of the 12th, Letitia arrived at Montreal the following morning in company with Doric. Eastbound, Letitia cast off from Shed 3 at  11:00 a.m. on the 17th,  with 59 Cabin and 128 Third Class, in company with  Antonia  and Montrose, and arrived in the Clyde on the  25th.  

Credit: Daily Record, 18 September 1926.

There were 50 domestics, 15  large families, 20  engineers and 12 miners coming aboard Athenia  at Tail  of  the  Bank on 18 September 1926 and after making the rounds of Belfast  and Liverpool, she  coursed westwards with 206 Cabin and 475 Third Class. Athenia made Quebec at midnight  on the 26th and Montreal that evening.  Sailing  for home  the  morning of  1 October with 62  Cabin and 132 Third Class  passengers, Athenia arrived at Belfast at 9:00 a.m.  on the  9th and Glasgow at 3:30  p.m., landing her  passengers  as usual  at  the Tail of  Bank.   

Credit: Daily Record, 2 October 1926.

With 122 Cabin and 481 Third Class, Letitia was once more  Canada-bound on 2 October 1926 from Glasgow and Belfast and Liverpool the next day. "All manner of  occupations are represented by  the single women who are going out  to settle  permanently. Nurses and household workers figure  most prominently  under the 3  scheme, while  others are described as machinists, waitresses, clerkesses, and one is a commercial  traveller." (Daily  Record, 1 October). Also  aboard were the returning Sir  Charles  and Lady  Gordon and  their grandson, Master Jimmie Gordon after a six-week motoring holiday  in Scotland. Letitia docked at  Montreal at 8:00 p.m. on the 10th.  The Gazette noted that no  fewer than 139  children had been aboard  the ship this crossing. Unusually, she landed 127  Third Class passengers there, mostly returning Canadian tourists. Departing Montreal the  morning of the  15th,  Letitia had 47  Cabin and 101  Third Class  passengers  aboard  for the  Old  Country  and after  touching at  Belfast first thing on the 23rd,  arrived in the Clyde late that same day.

Credit: Daily Record, 16 October 1926.

As a sequel to the wintry conditions last week at the Tail-of-the-Bank, the Anchor-Donaldson Line will, for the remainder of the St Lawrence sailings, adopt the practice of embarking passengers in comfort at Princes Dock on the eve of sailing day. This will also relieve all passengers coming from the North of Scotland of overnight hotel expenses, and at the vessel's call at Belfast enable Irish passengers to be taken on board in daylight. 

The new arrangement was adopted for the first time on Friday, when 400 Scottish settlers for Quebec and Montreal were embarked on the Athenia. The opportunity of spending one on board before proceeding to sea gives passengers a chance to settle down, and consequently will be greatly appreciated.

Greenock Telegraph, 18  October 1926.

Owing to tides and weather conditions, Athenia embarked  her passengers the eve of her sailing in Prince's Dock, Glasgow,  instead off the Tail  of Bank, and this would remain in  effect for the  balance of  the season.  Athenia cleared Glasgow  and Belfast on 15 October 1926 and Liverpool the following day for  the St. Lawrence with 75 Cabin and 375 Third Class passengers.  When  she arrived at Montreal  at  7:30 p.m. on the  24th, it  was said  that she  had  brought to Canada the  largest number of young women and girls  of  any  voyage  that  year:

Under the leadership of Miss Cuthbert, of the Salvation Army, sixty girls disembarked at Quebec, and are proceeding to hostels tin Toronto, and will be provided with positions as domestic servants. Another party of 45, under the direction of the Society of Overseas British Women, is mainly composed of families who intend to settle at various points in the West. The Catholic Women's League also brought out 20 young will be employed here as domestic servants.

The Gazette, 25 October 1926.

Preliminary schedules  for the 1927  St. Lawrence  season were announced on 25 October 1926 with Athenia and Letitia  maintaining a fortnightly  service  commencing with Letitia from Glasgow on 22 April   1927 and Athenia on 6  May, exceptionally  calling  outbound at Moville  instead  of Belfast  that sailing  only.  On 4 November it  was further  announced  that they  would call  at Liverpool on all  eastbound  sailings  so that,  partnered with Cunard's Aurania, they would maintain three sailings a month from Montreal to  Belfast,  Liverpool and  Glasgow.

With  37  Cabin  and  116  Third  Class  passengers,  Athenia  cleared Montreal  on  the  morning  of 29  October  1926. Touching at Belfast at 5:00 a.m. on  6  November,  she  arrived  on  the  Clyde that afternoon, landing her  passengers  off  the Tail of the Bank.

CANADIAN EMIGRATION STILL PROCEEDING APACE. 
Leaving the Clyde for Canada today, the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia will make her last calls at Quebec and Montreal for the summer season. Contrary to the usual falling off in the number of settlers sailing at this period of the year, the Letitia's complement promises to be a very good one; some 400 passengers from all parts of Scotland already having been booked up to the moment of writing. By far the biggest proportion of them are industrial workers; a large number of both men and women hailing from Hamilton and Motherwell. Over 40 young women sailing by the vessel are going out to Western Canada and the prairie provinces for household work, in some of the bigger homesteads. Their wages will be anything from £6 to 4 9 per month, and they are fortunate enough to have qualified for a passage out to Quebec under the Empire Settlement Act. 

Forfar Herald, 29 October 1926

Credit: Gazette, 9 November 1926.

Making her last trip into  the St. Lawrence  for  the 1926 season, Letitia  (commanded on this trip  by  Chief Officer J.H. Reid,  D.S.C., in relief of Capt. David  Taylor who suffered an attack of  pneumonia on arrival of  the ship at  Glasgow on her last crossing),  cleared the  Clyde, Belfast Lough  and the Mersey on 29-30 October with 76 Cabin and 416 Third Class.  "With the  prospect  of wages  from £6  to  £9 per month  and their  keep,  40 Scottish young women, hailing  mostly  from Hamilton and Motherwell, will  leave tomorrow  by  the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia  for  selected  situations in domestic service. All have qualified for  a £3 passage under  the  Empire  Settlement Act." (Daily Record, 28 October 1926). She also had aboard 39  Scottish miners going to the  Cape Breton coal  mines and a large company of Mennonites from Central Europe. 

Coming in company with  Metagama, Letitia arrived at Montreal the  morning  of  8  November 1926, 12 hours late,  after  a stormy crossing. The ship's  night-watchman, A. Fraser, sustained a broken  arm the night  of 31  October when  he was thrown to  the desk as  the  ship  rolled in a heavy beam sea off the Irish coast. "There were two boys travelling alone, John F. Snider, aged eight, and Philip Snider, aged five, who  were in charge  of Purser J. Smellie,  and had the run of  all the ship except the strong room. Both these lads were met at the docks yesterday  by  their grandfather."  (Gazette, 9  November).  Thirty  of her passengers were bound for the Orient  via CP's  Empress of  Asia from  Vancouver which delayed  her  sailing three quarters  of  a day  to permit  them to make their  connection She also brought in 22  birds including two  bantams, eight  pigeons and  12  canaries.

Letitia,  Metagama and Antonia all sailed from Montreal for the last time that season the morning of 12 November 1926.  Letitia landed her 32 Cabin and 117 Third Class passengers at Belfast  and Glasgow on the  21st. "The upper reaches of the Firth of Clyde were enveloped in fog yesterday, and the Cloch foghorn was sounding and the automatic wireless gun at Rosneath Patch was firing throughout the day. About noon the haze lightened considerably, and a number of vessels at the Tail of the Bank proceeded up the river to Glasgow. The Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, which had come in from Montreal, remained at the anchorage.  Later in the afternoon the fog again settled down on the Firth." (Herald, 22 November).

Credit: Daily Record, 13 November  1926.

Credit: Montreal Star, 23 November 1926.

The tide of assisted  immigrants continued right through  the year and  among 58  Cabin and 404 Third  Class passengers sailing  to Canada  on the final St.  Lawrence-bound voyage that season aboard Athenia from Glasgow and Belfast on 12 November 1926, and Liverpool the following day were  almost 400 (70 being  single women) including  a large  number of domestics  sponsored by  the  Catholic Women's League. Athenia had  a  rare difficult crossing with  engine trouble experienced soon after clearing Britain effecting the port  engine  and reducing her speed and encountering "heavy  weather practically the whole way," (Montreal Star, 23  November),  she  did not arrived at Montreal-- the last westbound steamer to do so  before  the  close  of  the season-- 48  hours late on the morning of the  23rd.  

Advertised as  an early  Christmas crossing,  Athenia and Montclare  were  the last  liners  to leave Montreal that year,  going out within an hour  of  one another  the morning of 26 November 1926, with  44 Cabin and 267 Third  Class passengers  aboard the  Donaldson liner. "Both  liners  were the first  Christmas  ships from Canada as a goodly proportion  of  their passengers were 'homeward bound  for  Christmas.' The  scenes  on deck  brought  Christmas  and Santa Claus  vividly  to  mind. Little children stood  on the  decks  of  the liners bidding a  fond  farewell to  fathers and other  relatives, through  the  tears,  they  assured papa not the little sister  or  brother  at  home  when Santa Claus comes around." (Montreal  Star, 26 November  1926). Athenia arrived at  Glasgow on  6  December. .

Back under  the command of Capt.  David  Taylor, Letitia's final voyage  of  the year was her  most  interesting, destination-wise, being the first time  a Donaldson liner would call  at St.  John, N.B. since April 1919, as well as Halifax.   With a small  list of nine  Cabin (!) and 101  Third, she sailed from 26 November  from  Glasgow and  Belfast (11:10 p.m.) Letitia went across with  Metagama and both had 48 hours of  rough voyaging en route.  

Making her first call at the port, Letitia  arrived  at Halifax early on 4  December 1926.   Landing her passengers there, 600  tons of cargo and  1,152 pouches and hampers of Christmas mail for  the Dominion  at Pier 2,  which went out in two  special railway cars, one direct to  Winnipeg and one to Montreal.  Letitia rebunkered there  with 1,100 tons and proceeded to St. John on the 6th, arriving there on the 7th at noon.    

Credit: The Evening Mail, 10 December 1926.

Credit: The Evening Mail, 13 December 1926.

Making the first Donaldson departure from St. John since Saturnia on 19 April 1919, Letitia cleared the New Brunswick port on 11 December 1926, on a special eastbound Christmas  crossing,  via  Halifax,  departing St.John on the 12th with 13  Cabin and 270 Third Class. Facing a snow storm along the coast,  Letitia  was several hours late  reaching the  Nova Scotian port; "with the tide and a strong north wind against her, it was found necessary  to let  go the starboard anchor in  order to  ease…[her into her berth]" (Evening Mail, 13  December).  Canadian National ran a special boat train from Bonaventure  Station, Montreal, right  to  the ship's side at Halifax, departing 9:20 a.m. on the 11th. Embarking 40 Cabin and 270 Third Class there,  Letitia went out  with a good list  for  the season of 50  Cabin and 412 Third Class and a very  heavy Christmas mail consignment for the Old Country. She arrived at Liverpool on 19 December. 

Donaldson managed to have  Athenia crank out  another crossing before the year was out, departing Glasgow on 17  December 1926 to Halifax and New York on the Anchor  Line berth.  She went out with 300 Scottish  immigrants,  about  half for Canada and the other for the  United States. 

Credit: Daily Record, 18 December 1926.

Credit: Daily Record, 18 December 1926

The Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia sails from the Clyde to-day with 300 passengers for Canada and the U.S.A. Christmas at sea will be celebrated by a party for the children, at which will figure all the good things of the festive season, while special arrangements have been made for the attendance of Father Christmas, who will distribute presents. Grown-up passengers are promised an old-fashioned Christmnas dinner, which will be followed by a concert and dance.

Daily Record, 17 December 1926.

As  it  was, Athenia's  passengers anticipated Christmas Day  for she  arrived at Halifax that day,  landing 13 Cabin and 78 Third Class passengers there before  proceeding to New York where  she docked on the 27th at Pier 56,  disembarking 38 Cabin and 165 Third Class  passengers.

The  winter season plans, announced on 10  December 1926,  would see Athenia operate on the Anchor  Line  Glasgow-Belfast-Halifax-New York service, replacing California, Caledonia and Transylvania which were scheduled to  operate cruises  from New York in January-March, whilst Letitia would be laid  up.

In 1926, Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 7,596 passengers and one crossing to Halifax/New York carrying 294 and Letitia made 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 7,674 passengers and 2 crossings to Halifax carrying 566 passengers.

Another Donaldson Line poster (1927) promoting the direct service to Canada not just from Glasgow but from Northern Ireland (Moville at first and then Belfast). Credit: The Glasgow Story.com

1927

Letitia would open the 1927 St. Lawrence season with her 22 April sailing from Glasgow following by Athenia on 6 May, calling that crossing only at Moville instead of Belfast.

On 22 January 1927 it was reported that Letitia’s sailing from St. John, N.B. was sufficiently popular that Athenia would also call there eastbound, leaving 9 April and a day later from Halifax and then to Belfast and Glasgow.

In the 1920s, Athenia and Letitia were promoted along with the greater combined Cunard-Anchor organisation and these early season 1927 adverts highlight Athenia's special spring sailing from Saint John, N.B. "You'll reach the Firth of Clyde all too quickly-- such will be the comfort, attention and entertainment during the trip on this popular, hospitable Scotch liner."

Not enjoying  another winter "off", Letitia, like Athenia, was employed on the service to  Halifax and also filling-in on the  Anchor Line New York  service in the absence  of  its principle tonnage engaged in winter cruising  for the American market.

There was  time  off for  her  annual overhaul at Glasgow  as well  as "extensive  alterations  and  improvements"  in her  Third  Class  accommodation, "in  anticipation of a  big  increase  in tourist  third  cabin travel from Scotland which,  although early  last year  was more  or  less  in the  development  stage,  is  now a  popular  class  of  ocean travel."(Greenock  Telegraph,  8  February). 

Credit:  Daily Record, 14 February 1927.

Although  it had been intended for  Letitia  to  embark  her passengers  on her  first  voyage to Halifax and New York on 12 February 1927 off  the  Tail of  the Bank,  heavy fog in the  Clyde delayed  her departure and,  instead, she embarked  them in  dock  before finally  sailing that evening, after  missing  the  tide.  Spurred by the reduced assisted passage rate  of  2,  she  went out with  some  600  settlers, including single farm and  household workers  and  families. Calling at Moville  the  following  day,  Letitia arrived at Halifax on the  21st,  in company  with  Alaunia  and Stockholm making for  a busy  scene at Pier 2 and the  dispatch  of  two special  ten-car trains to the  west to  accommodate  some  400 settlers. Letitia landed 33 Cabin and 140 Third  Class passengers and 275 tons of  cargo, reporting only  a  few days of bad  weather en route.  One  three-year-old  child developed pneumonia  during  the passage and  was taken to hospital on arrival.  Proceeding to  New  York  in a snowstorm,  Letitia arrived at New York on the  23rd, her maiden call at  the port landing 73 Cabin and 397  Third Class  passengers there at Pier 53,  North  River.

Credit: The Gazette, 18  February  1927.

Embarking 32 Cabin and 83 Third Class for home,  Letitia  cleared New York  on 26 February 1927 and taking on another 17 Cabin and 52 Third Class at Halifax,  left thereat 3:00 p.m.  on  the 28th. Calling at Moville the  evening of 7  March,  arrived  in the  Clyde the  following morning.  The Herald (16 March)  reported on  her ensuing  discharge and loading at  Glasgow:

Exceptionally good work has been done in the discharging and loading at Glasgow Harbour, of the Anchor-Donaldson Line  steamer Letitia. The vessel arrived at Yorkhill Wharf from New York on Tuesday morning of last week with 6650 tons of cargo, including 3100 tons of bulk grain. Discharge commenced at 8 a.m. on' Tuesday and the vessel loaded with 1360 tons outward cargo and baggage for 950 passengers on Friday at 10 p.m. She sailed on Saturday at 5 a.m. The average tons per gang of dock labourers per hour for general cargo was 10.5 and for grain 51. The vessel 'was shifted to three berths during the process of discharge, one of the shifts to unload the bulk grain and the, other- to the loading berth. The shifting was done during the dockers' meal hours.

Letitia's sailing from  Glasgow on  12 March 1927 was the first Donaldson westbound crossing with three classes and henceforth she and Athenia would accommodate Cabin, Tourist Third and Third Class but only  to/from Canada.  In all, Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson would have offer 60 sailings in 1927 with the new Tourist Third Class and of those, seven would offered only that class in addition to Cabin. 

A "party of 20 lads," sponsored by  the  Ontario  Government, were  the  first government-sponsored group from Scotland that year, were among those sailing  from Glasgow in Letitia on 12 March 1927 to Halifax and New  York, embarking off the  Tail of  the Bank.  The  Greenock Telegraph (14  March)  reported that  "Many  male passengers  travelling by  the liner  Letitia which sailed from the  Tail-of-the-Bank visited  a local hostelry to celebrate their  departure  for  the land of  prohibition."  They and  their fellow passengers  had  a dreadful passage over with several  days  of rough  weather and making  Letitia nine hours  late  in  reaching  Halifax on  the  20th, where  she  landed 21 Cabin,  nine Tourist Third (her  first westbound  carryings in  this class) and 297 Third Class,  83  bags of  mail and 530 tons of  cargo.  Proceeding  to  New  York,  Letitia arrived  there on the 22nd,  disembarking 101 Cabin and  365 Third Class passengers. 

Clearing her  North River slip  on 26 March 1927, Letitia  sailed with  33 Cabin and 81 Third Class passengers (noting that to/from  New York  on the Anchor  Line  berth,  no  Tourist  Third passengers  were carried), embarking  another 14 Cabin and 48 Third Class as well as 69 bags of  mail  at Halifax on the  28th.  She  arrived  in the Clyde on 5  April.

Athenia, roused from her winter lay-up, was drydocked  at  Glasgow starting 11  March 1927  and moving to Princes  Dock on the  21st to  load  for  her first voyage  of  the year. On the eve of  her departure, a docker, Allan Brown, 28, was struck and killed when  an empty  cargo tub fell  as it  was being winched out and struck  him, killing him instantly.

Resuming service after a winter idle,  Athenia  would make  one round voyage  on Anchor's  Glasgow-Halifax route before the St. Lawrence navigation season  opened.  Sailing from Glasgow on 25  March 1927, she  went out  well booked under a reduced £2 assisted  passage  fare:

Illustrations of the assistance offered under various schemes to emigrants to Canada are contained in the cases of number of passengers who sail from Glasgow to-day by the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia. The liner is carrying a total of 800 settlers, 60 of whom hail from Campbeltown. In the vessel's complement are included 200 single men paying passage-money of only £2. along with16 families under the 3000 Families Scheme. Also on board are a husband and wife and three children whose fares to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, including the journey by the Canadian National Railway, amount to 1s 2d each. This family is being settled on a farm by the Soldier Settlement Board. Another family of thirteen are emigrating for the sum of £27 10s under the Empire Settlement Act, the cost of full fares to Edmonton, their eventual destination, being £2 62. The Quarrier Homes, Canadian National Railway, and Ontario Government are also sending parties of emigrants by the Athenia.

The Herald, 25 March  1927.

In all, Athenia sailed westwards with 23 Cabin, 18 Tourist Third and 816 Third Class, the latter proving to be  the best carrying  in that  class  for  the two  ships all  year.  Among them were 38 families totalling 262 persons and a large  party  of boys en route  to  Brockville. Calling  at Moville,  Athenia docked at Halifax on 3  April 1927, coming in with  Cedric and  Aurania, the  three having some 2,400  passengers between them and a new record for  the season.  In addition to  landing her passengers there, she  also discharged 610 tons of cargo. Following the lead of  Letitia the  previous  year, Athenia proceeded to St. John, N.B. on the 4th, making her maiden arrival there at 1:00  p.m. on the 5th,  berthing at nos. 2-3, Sand Point. 

Departing St. John on 9 April 1927, Athenia returned to  Halifax the morning of the 11th, embarking passengers at the South Terminals for  Belfast  and Glasgow  and departing after  only  a few hours, going out with  a  total of 11 Cabin, eight Tourist Third  and 36  Third  Class passengers. Reaching Belfast at noon on the 17th, Athenia arrived  in the Clyde that evening, landing her passengers at  Greenock.

Tourist Third Cabin was, in 1920s parlance, the "it" development in trans-Atlantic travel in 1927 and Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson were on top of the Tourist Third game on the Canadian run.  Credit: Calgary Herald, 2 April 1927.

Over 1000 emigrants from Scotland, England, and Ireland are to sail for Canada by the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, which is due to leave Glasgow to-day. Under their respective colonisation schemes, the Ontario Government, Canadian National Railway, and the Salvation Army are con ducting large parties of domestic servants, farm labourers, and boys, the ocean passage in every case being at the reduced fare of £2. A Clydebank family of seven is sailing under the 3000 families scheme for 8 sum of 1s 8d, which covers their ocean and railway transportation through to Florenceville N.B., while another family of eleven from Caithness has been booked through to Calgary, Alberta, for 10s under, the same scheme. 

The  Herald, 22 April  1927.

Bidding  her  time  before  the start  of  the St.  Lawrence  season,  Letitia  departed Glasgow for Montreal on 22 April  1927, and after her  calls at Liverpool and  Belfast went  out  a  very full ship  with 72 Cabin, 110 Tourist  Third and 793  Third (the  best carrying in  this  class  that  year). On arrival at Quebec on  2  May, it  was reported that a passengers, Mrs. Janet  McCall, bound  for  Detroit,  Michigan,  to join her son there, had died  of  pneumonia  aboard  and buried at  sea.  Eight hundred passengers landed at Quebec including  50  boys destined  for Vimy  Ridge Farm,  managed  by the  Ontario  Government.  The ship's Cabin and Tourist Third passengers disembarked  at Montreal on arrival there at 8:30 p.m. that  evening. 

Homewards,  Letitia  cleared Montreal at  11:00  a.m. on  6 May 1927, going out  with Ausonia  and Montcalm. Of  Letitia's 74 Cabin, 107 Tourist Third  and 217 Third Class passengers,  the  Montreal  Star (6 May)  noted that  "of the cabin  passengers there are no  less than 'Macs', not  to  mention such  names as Henderson,  Scott,  Ramsay,  Cameron." The Gazette the  next  day  noted she  went out  with  a record  number of passengers  for  the  time of  year. Letitia reached the  Clyde on the  16th.

Credit: Daily Record, 7 May 1927.

Commencing her first trip to the St. Lawrence that year, Athenia sailed from Glasgow the evening of 6 May 1927. Among her 50 Cabin, 89 Tourist Third and 401 Third Class passengers were three Scottish professional footballers who had been signed  by the  Montreal  Soccer Club and a party  of 50  men and women settlers sponsored by  the British Welcome and  Welfare League  of Toronto. Of  her immigrants, 50 were  destined for the Maritimes, 170 for  Ontario and 150 for the  West. Athenia called  at Quebec on the 15th landing 400 immigrants there, docking at Montreal at 8:20 p.m.  that evening,  disembarking 50 Cabin and 90 Tourist Third passengers there. Homewards the morning of the 20th,  Athenia left Montreal with 76 Cabin, 179 Tourist Third and 201 Third Class passengers for  Liverpool (calling the 28th at 6:00 p.m), Belfast (29) and  Glasgow  (29) (Greenock).  

Continuing  a record number of  Scots emigrating  to  Canada that  season, Letitia's  20 May 1927 departure  from Glasgow including  a  family  of  13  from Blantyre and a bride from  Greenock  and on clearing Liverpool  and Belfast,  she  went  out  with 114 Cabin, 108 Tourist Third and 615 Third  Class passengers.  She  had  no  fewer than 602 landing at Quebec on the 29th, bound  for  Ontario  and the West and  docked at  Montreal at  7:00 a.m. the  following morning, landing her Cabin  and Tourist  Third  passengers." A new type of traveller taking advantage of the tourist third cabin accommodation of the Anchor-Donaldson boats, as is shown by a number of tourist third cabin passengers on board the Letitia who are mostly Scottish people going to visit their sons and daughters who have settled in the Dominion." (Gazette, 28  May).

Letitia went out on 3 June  1927 with  a record 189 booked  in  Tourist Third Cabin as well as 116  Cabin and 304 Third  as the summer tourist season,  which  would  prove among  the  best  ever,  began.  She left in  company  with Montcalm and Alaunia, the  Montreal Star noting that  the CPR liner was the  only  one of  three which  "dressed  ship" in honour  of the  King's Birthday. Letitia arrived at Liverpool at 11:00 p.m. on the  11th  and Glasgow the following day.

A lonely old lady, Mrs. Jackson, of Swinton. Manchester, who is over seventy, was among- those awaiting the arrival of passengers on the Cunard liner Letitia from Canada on the Landing-stage yesterday morning. She was meeting her brother, Mr. James Brackley, of Toronto, whom she had not seen forty years. As the brother came ashore from the tender the old lady quickly picked him out, and they affectionately embraced.

Liverpool Daily Post, 13 June  1927.

Sailing from  Glasgow and Belfast on 1 June 1927 and Liverpool the following day, Athena had 65 Cabin, 80 Tourist Third and 560 Third Class for Canada, including a record number of farm workers for the  Dominion:

The departure of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia for Quebec and Montreal to-day sets up a record in the number of Scottish farm workers sailing for Canada under the Empire Settlement Scheme. The rush of farm workers to Canada at this time of the year, when labourers are being released by their employers, is not uncommon, and the desire to emigrate seems to increase each year. The Tourist Third Cabin accommodation on the Athenia is fully booked by tourists, but these are in advance of the movement which usually begins early in July.

Greenock Telegraph, 1 June 1927.

Athenia  arrived at Quebec the  morning  of  11  June 1927, landing 550  settlers who proceeded  to  the  West  and Ontario via  special  Canadian National trains.  

Among the third-class passengers were the following families from Great Britain: Fred Thomson and family of four, from Alves, Morayshire, for Edmonton; George Smith and family of six, from Fordoune, Kincardineshire; John Wheland and family of seven, a miner from Lesmahagow; James MacDonald and family of seven, woodworkers, from Invergarrie; William Sutherland and family of farm workers, from the Dundee district, who are going to Saskatoon; Arthur G. Milne, with family of ten, farmer, from Little Lour, near Forfar, who is settling near Winnipeg; John Longmuir and family of six, farmer, from Laurencekirk, who is going to Edmonton. Five of these families have come out under the Empire settlement scheme, assisted by the C.N.R. 

Many of the tourist third-class passengers on the Athenia are aged people from the Old Country on a visit to their children and relatives who have settled in Canada. Mr.and Mrs. Black, 71 and 61 years of age. from St. Andrews, are among this number. They are going to visit their sons at Calgary.

Gazette, 11 June 1927.

Athenia arrived at Montreal the evening of 11 June 1927. Departing eastbound on the 17th, she went out  with 138 Cabin, 162 Tourist Third and 167 Third Class passengers, including two tour  parties, one a group of  ladies from Montana State College, and another from Toronto,  travelling  Tourist  Third. On arrival at Glasgow on  the 26th, it  was made known that a young man, Darcy Vincent Russell, 38, from Canada, had fallen  overboard from the  vessel on her approach up the  Mersey  to Liverpool  on  the 25th, and lost.  "It is  stated that the  man,  except  for  some  seasickness,  had been  perfectly happy on the voyage."  (Liverpool Daily Post, 27 June). The next day more details were reported on the  incident:

Further particulars are now available regarding the tragic fate of Darcy Vincent Russell, who, as was reported in the Daily Record yesterday, jumped overboard from the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia near the mouth of the Mersey on Saturday. 

It was understood that Russell, who was about 33 years of age, was a prosperous colonial farmer. According to one passenger's statement, Russell was very moody during the voyage, and took no part in the various entertainments on board the ship. 

While the passengers were at lunch Russell mounted the rails and dived into the sea. A lifebelt was thrown to him, but, it is stated, he made no effort to catch it and a passenger who was about to plunge in to his rescue was held back.

The captain turned the vessel, and every effort was made to rescue Russell, but without success, and the body was not recovered.

It is also stated that Russell had a considerable sum of money in his possession when he went overboard. 

Daily Record, 28 June 1927.

There were some 700  settlers for  Canada aboard Letitia from Glasgow,  Liverpool  and Belfast 17-18 June 1927, an usually high  number for  what was normally  a slack season between the traditional spring  immigrant and summer  tourist periods.  In all,  she went out with 56 Cabin, 93 Tourist  Third and 638 Third Class passengers. Letitia  landed her immigrants at  Quebec on the 27th and reached  Montreal  late  the  same  day. 

Eastbound on Dominion Day, 1 July 1927 (indeed the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation),  Letitia, Montcalm and  Alaunia sailed  from  Montreal "fully  dressed,  every piece of bunting available being used  to  make as  dazzling  display  as possible,  and  signal  flags  strung  to  the  yard arms."  (Gazette, 2  July).  Letitia went out with 271 Cabin (best eastbound list  in that  class that season)  and  533  Tourist  Third,  no  Third Class being carried  on this special summer sailing.    It proved an exciting crossing, beginning the first day out:  

A remarkable story of the rescue of a stowaway who jumped overboard from a liner on which ho was being brought back to this country from Canada was told yesterday by Dr J. G. Ward, of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, on the vessel's arrival at Glasgow. 

The Letitia was sailing down the St Lawrence just after midnight on July 2 when cries were heard from the water about 100 feet from the ship.

 "I was in my bath a the time," said the doctor, smiling, "but I threw on a white uniform and went through the port-hole into an emergency boat which was just being lowered and was opposite my window. I took with me my emergency satchel and some brandy." 

The search party had some difficulty in locating the spot from which the cries appeared to be coming, and it was some tine before they discovered a man keeping himself afloat on the water. Getting him into the boat, they picked up an unlit buoy was discovered to belong to the Canadian Pacific liner Montcalm. 

The struggler was completely exhausted, but Dr Ward managed to bring round, and the following morning the main seemed little the worse of the experience. He. gave his name as Mark Clifford, and said that he was a French-Canadian of 26 years of age.

He had stowed away on the Montrose  at Liverpool on June 10, he said, but was deported by the authorities on reaching Canada. He was being brought back on the Montcalm when he took a chance, grabbed buoy and jumped overboard into 'the St Lawrence intending to swim ashore. The strong current. however, took him further out instead of to the shore. He discarded the lifebuoy, and had been swimming for about an hour and a half when picked up.

The Letitia's officers regarded the man's escape as miraculous. "I don't know how he escaped being sucked down by the propellers, said Dr. Ward. The stowaway was landed at Father Point with the pilot.

Greenock  Telegraph, 12  July  1927.

Both  Letitia  and Montcalm encountered  considerable ice off  the Straits of Belle Isle and fog on 3 July and the CPR liner stuck a glancing blow  off  one, damaging a screw  and causing considerable alarm to her  passengers.  Letitia  arrived off the  Tail of  the Bank at midnight  10-11  July  1927.

Dominion Day (1  July 1927) seemed  an appropriate  date  for  71 Cabin,  98 Tourist  Third and 360 Third Class passengers to embark in Athenia for  Canada from Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast  (2) including  40-50 Scottish  school teachers bound on holidays in the  Dominion. Landing her  360 settlers (including the last of that  season's  "3,000  families  settlement scheme" participants,  at Quebec the morning of 10th,  Athenia  proceeded  up  river  to  Montreal  where  she  berthed at 8:30 p.m., disembarking 70 Cabin and  110  Tourist  Third passengers.

Tourist Third Cabin, "The New Way to the Old World", was proving popular with a new generation of traveller from Canadian ports… Scottish-Canadians visiting their relations back in the Old Country… in addition to tourists and college students.  However, built for two classes, Athenia and Letitia would have to be modified to accommodate three classes on a permanent basis.  With this in mind, among those disembarking from Athenia was Alexander Innes, Chief Engineer Superintendent of Anchor Donaldson, to confer with local agents regarding improvements planned for both ships. Mr. Innes had laid out the original specifications and supervised the construction of both ships.  He sailed home in the same vessel on 9 September and the refit could proceed based on the input of Canadian agents.  

Athenia's compliment (106 Cabin and 327 Tourist Third; no  Third  Class being  carried  on this  special  departure)  for  her 16 July 1927 eastbound sailing from Montreal did not  reflect  the  party of steamship  agents  from Ontario, Quebec  and  Nova Scotia  who  enjoyed a junket courtesy  of Cunard, going  to  Quebec and then  returning to Montreal in  Ascania,  inbound  from Southampton and  Cherbourg.   Athenia's trans-Atlantic  passengers enjoyed extra entertainment  over, provided by the specially engaged Chateau  Laurier Orchestra on this special  "tourist" sailing. Athenia  arrived on the  Clyde on  the  evening of  the 22nd where four young  stowaway were  handed  over  to  the  police and  later fined £3 each.  

Well into summer and  the  tide  of  immigrants into  Canada continued  unabated and one group  of  boys  received a Royal  bon voyage  from the Prince of  Wales upon  Letitia's 15  July 1927 departure for the  Dominion:

'The Prince wishes all success to the boys who are going out to Canada.' This is the message of good will sent by the Prince of Wales to Dr Cossar who has a party of 30 boys leaving by the Anchor -Donaldson Letitia, which sails for Quebec and Montreal. 

Between tourists and settlers the Letitia will carry close on 800 passengers. There are several parties of boys going by the ship and all are under the auspices of one or other of the schemes for placing boys on the land. As usual the Letitia calls at Belfast and Liverpool before finally leaving for Canada.

Greenock Telegraph,  15  July  1927.

Credit: Daily  Record, 16 July 1927.

Letitia  had,  in all, 75 Cabin,  143  Tourist  Third  and 538 Third  Class passengers after clearing Liverpool  and Belfast.  She  arrived Montreal  on  24 July 1927.   Homewards, she and Alaunia sailed  from Montreal at 11:00 a.m. on the  29th, with  50 Cabin, 160  Tourist Third and 114 Third Class passengers and arrived off the Tail of  the  Bank on  6 August.

Credit: Daily Record,  30 July 1927.

Credit: The  Gazette, 8 August 1927.

Athenia was a busy ship on her next crossing to Canada, from Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast on 29-30 July 1927,  going  over with 68 Cabin,131 Tourist Third and 272 Third Class, including the  returning  Canadian rifle  team who embarked at Liverpool after  competing  in the Bisley  championships; Lt. H.W.  Wood, Sgt. B.W.  Beaumont, Sgt. J.H.  Gray, Sgt. G.M. Emslie,  Cpl. E.G.  Stock and Pvt. J. Houlden. Landing her 270  settlers  at Quebec on 7 August,  Athenia  proceeded to  Montreal,  docking there at 9:00 p.m.  that  evening.  Homewards.  Cleared  on the morning  of the 12th with 42 Cabin, 140 Tourist Third and 113 Third Class passengers. She  arrived off Greenock  on the  evening of the  20th.  

Credit: Daily  Record, 13 August 1927.

It proved a busy  summer indeed and on  departure from  Glasgow, Liverpool  and Belfast 12-13 August 1927, Letitia  had aboard 198 Cabin, 453 Tourist Third (a record for this class  to date) and 195 Third Class for Quebec and  Montreal, many  of  them being  recent immigrants returning  from family visits in Scotland.  Letitia arrived at Montreal on the  21st. Clearing for Old Country  on the 26th, Letitia had 59  Cabin, 144  Tourist Third and 104 Third  Class passengers, reflecting the  end of  season "slump"  setting in.   She reached the  Clyde  at  noon  on  4  September. 

Outbound for  the  Dominion from Glasgow and Liverpool on 26 August 1927 and Belfast the following day, Athenia was well-booked and on this trip carried only Cabin (320) and Third (611) Class passengers, those  in Cabin almost  exclusively  returning Canadian vacationists.  Calling at Quebec the previous day, Athenia  made  Montreal the next morning  at 12:45 a.m. on 5  September, landing   her passengers at  7:00 a.m..  Homewards  at  11:00 a.m. on  the  9th,  Athenia went out with 71 Cabin,  165 Tourist Third and  119 Third  Class. There were three  more stowaways  to  turn over  to  the  police  on arrival  at  Glasgow on the  18th, who  had been discovered three days  into the  voyage, near  the  funnel. In court the  next  day, each  was  fined  £4 or 28 days in prison and  the  prosecution noted Athenia's "popularity" with  stowaways  of late, mostly young "lads"who  had  come  over  to Montreal and found it hard to  find employment. 

Of her 153 Cabin, 166 Tourist  Third  and 314 Third  Class passengers  on Letitia's  9 September  1927 westbound crossing, fully 50 per  cent were returning American and  Canadian tourists. She arrived at Montreal with  Alaunia on the evening of the 19th. Departing the morning of  the 23rd, among her 56 Cabin, 177 Tourist  Third and 132 Third Class were 10 missionaries bound for  India.  She went out with Alaunia and Montcalm, the three  having 2,000 between them. Letitia came into Clyde the  evening of 1  October.

There  were 98 Cabin, 200  Tourist Third and 364 Third Class passengers for Athenia's  westbound crossing from  Glasgow and Belfast on 23  September 1927 and Liverpool  the next day.  Forty per cent of the passengers were returning Canadian and American tourists as well as a part of 80 domestics sponsored by the Salvation Army. She  arrived at Montreal early on the morning of 3 October, having  landed 300 settlers at Quebec the  previous  day. 

The Athenia arrived here with over 160 tourist third passengers and an interesting list of cabin passengers, including several prominent Montreal and Toronto people. There were seven brides returning from honeymoon excursions aboard. Seven silk manufacturing experts from the Courtaulds' establishment in Cornwall, England, disembarked at Montreal to view Canada's methods of handling silk. A group comprised seven small children of varying ages, who were crossing the Atlantic unaccompanied, with a great air of independence. They reported a pleasant passage and expressed their excitement at the prospect of seeing Canada. The ages of a group of elderly people averaged 76 years. The two oldest were Mr. and Mrs. Hector, of Toronto, whose ages were 87 and 81 respectively. 

At Quebec large parties of young girls coming to Canada under the auspices of the Catholic Women's League and of the Salvation Army, disembarked. The group travelling under the direction of the Salvation Army was conducted by E.C. Knowles.

The Montreal Star, 3  October 1927.

Athenia's sports minded crew had a busy and winning turnaround, the football team beating McGill 2-1 on 4 October 1927 and her lifeboat  crew won  a three-quarter  mile race against  that  of the Cunarder  Antonia the  next  day.  The two ships were  on the same voyage  pattern and  frequent competitors  and to  equalise  the contest, two identical boats  from Athenia  were used in  the  race. Capt. Black and Donaldson,  appreciating  the  value  of these contests,  awarded a substantial prize to  the  winning crew. Eastbound  at 10:00 a.m. on the 7th,   Athenia left  Montreal with 38 Cabin, 131 Tourist Class  and 137 Third passengers and arrived at Glasgow on the  16th. 

Letitia's passenger list for her 7  October 1927 sailing to Canada from Glasgow was typically varied: 

Among the passengers sailing by  the Anchor-Donaldson  Letitia for Canada, today are eight children, are travelling unaccompanied, to join their parents on the other side. Their ages range from 8 to 16 years, and during the voyage across they will be in the care of the ship's so conductress. A family of nine from New Stevenston, one of seven from Irvine, and one of five from Blackridge, are going out under the British Welcome and Welfare League, Toronto. The total passenger list will he about 650, and all occupations are represented. The Letitia will make calls at Liverpool and Belfast to pick up the last of her passengers.

Greenock  Telegraph, 7 October 1927.

Credit: Daily  Record, 8  October 1927.

On  departure  from Liverpool and Belfast,  there were 72  Cabin,  276 Tourist Third  and 317 Third  Class passengers headed westwards in Letitia which  made Quebec  the  morning of 16 October 1927 and berthed at  Montreal  late that evening. "Officers and passengers of  this liner  reported  a slightly rough  passage,  but the  ship's  doctor,  D.R.R.  Dale,  declared there  were only  two cases of seasickness."  (Montreal  Star, 17  October).  Going out as  the team they were all that season,  Letitia and Alaunia departed  Montreal at 10:00  a.m.  on  the  21st for Belfast,  Liverpool and  Glasgow with 56  Cabin, 177 Tourist Third  and 132 Third Class passengers.  She arrived Glasgow on the  30th.

Departing  Glasgow on her last voyage  to  the St.  Lawrence on 21 October 1927, Athenia's compliment of 53 Cabin, 174 Third Cabin and 277 Third  Class included 300  settlers, among them domestics,  eight large families and five 15-year-old boys headed  to  Dr.  Cossar's  farm after training in  farm work  at the  Craigielinn Farm, Paisley." Athenia reached  Montreal  the  evening  of the  30th "after  a  quick  passage."  (Montreal Star, 31 October).  She  had  a  spot of bother  on departure  from  Quebec early  that  day:

The Anchor -Donaldson liner Athenia severely damaged the breakwater pier as she was pulling out of Quebec on her latest voyage to Montreal. Several of steamer's s plates were stove i in by the impact. 

The liner was working her way out of the pier without the aid of tugs when she  ran head on into the pier. No panic or confusion developed among either her 300 passengers or crew. No one was injured, the liner continuing on to Montreal after backing away from the damaged pier.

Montreal Star,  1 November  1927.

The Athenia brought many new citizens to Canada, including electricians, riveters, boot-operators, motor drivers, furniture salesmen. waitresses and domestic workers. The occupations of others described on the manifest lists include jute weavers, merchants, coat makers, lace darners, machinists, nurses and chartered accountants. In the list were eight families coming to Canada for the first time to settle in the West.

The Montreal Star,  31  October 1927.

Bidding  adieu  to  Montreal for  the  season, Athenia  sailed at  daybreak  on 5  November 1927 for  home with 27 Cabin, 93  Tourist  Third  and 127 Third  Class passengers. She arrived off  Greenock  at 11:00 a.m.  on the  13th.

Credit:  Montreal Star, 21 November 1927.

It  was an exceptionally  late  St. Lawrence  season that year  and  Letitia  would bring  it  to a close, departing  Glasgow  on 10  November  1927 and from Liverpool the following  afternoon. On clearing Belfast, she  went over  with a surprisingly good list for  the  time of year,  comprising 39 Cabin, 178 Tourist  Third  and 369 Third Class passengers.  Making a predictably stormy crossing, Letitia  did  not  get  into Quebec until the 20th ,a day  late and docked  at Montreal late  that  evening.   She  did not sail  for the  Old Country until the 26th, the crossing  being  sold  as  a special Christmas sailing and timed  to  permit  a  "boat  special" from Winnipeg on the  24th to  arrive   in time.  Among the 37 Cabin, 103  Tourist  Third  and 213 Third  Class  passengers aboard Letitia were the Earl of  Cassillis and the  Countess  of  Cassillis.

The Letitia, with nearly 40 cabin passengers for Scotland, excels her record for the last few years for November bookings, She has nearly 150 tourist-third passengers and over 200 third-class, which makes a total of nearly 400, and is regarded as a good showing for the last liner out of the river this year. In the tourist-third division of the Letitia there are several settlers who will spend Christmas with their families in Scotland, and are expected to return with many of their relatives.

Montreal Star, 25  November 1927.

A crowd of  interested  Montreal  people will watch  the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia  as  she sails  this  morning  from Shed 3  on the  last  voyage  of  any  passenger  liner down the St. Lawrence  this  year.  

The  Gazette, 26  November  1927.

Letitia arrived Belfast dawn on  5  December  1927, Liverpool  later  that day and reached the Clyde  on the  6th.

Entering  drydock  for  her annual overhaul on 16  November  1927, Athenia was undocked  on the  23rd and began loading for  her  next  voyage  to  Canada.

Making her  first  voyage  on the  Anchor  Line Glasgow-Liverpool-St.  John-Halifax  service,  Athenia  got  underway  on 25 November  1927, sailing  direct  without calling  en route  at Belfast  or  Liverpool and arrived Halifax on 4  December, landing 13 Cabin, 18 Tourist Third  and 93 Third Class passengers,  before proceeding to St.  John at 11:00 p.m., docking  there  at 9:00 a.m. on the 6th.  Departing St. John on 10 December for  Halifax, Athenia arrived there at noon on the 11th  and  departed that evening for  Belfast,  Liverpool  and  Glasgow,  after embarking about 250 passengers.  Athenia  went across on this special  Christmas  sailing  with 41 Cabin,  182 Tourist Third  and  268 Third  Class passengers. Calling at Belfast on the  19th and  Liverpool  on the  20th,  she  arrived at Glasgow on the 21st, coming  in with 400 bags of  Christmas mail. 

There  was an unmistakable  air  of  jollity  at Prince's  Dock  when  the  Athenia  landed  her 500 passengers.  Many came  down the  gangways bearing  in their  hands sprigs  of holly  and mistletoe  which  they  had  brought  from  across  the Atlantic.

Daily  Record, 22 December  1927.

Much to  the  dismay  of officers,  crew and intending  passengers, Athenia's  next  westbound crossing  commenced  on Christmas  Eve  from Glasgow, embarking her passengers at Yorkhill Quay.  "Preparations have been made  for  celebrating  Christmas on board  the vessel,"  reassured the Daily  Record (24  December).  In the  event, it  was small group  indeed, comprising  just  26 in Cabin, eight in Tourist Third and 156 in Third  Class. Athenia  arrived  at Halifax  on  New Years Eve, but delayed  in berthing owing  to fog and anchored off Chebucto  until  it  sufficiently cleared. Landing four Cabin,  six Tourist  Third  and 43 Third Class and  proceeding  to  New  York, Athenia   arrived  on 4  January 1928,  disembarking 22 Cabin, two  Tourist  Third and 113  Third Class there.  

It  was  reported on 2  December  1927 that Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson would eliminate Cabin Class  on four  of  their  Canadian route  liners-- Andania,  Antonia, Athenia and Letitia-- and effective  with  the  1928 season, operated  them  as two-class  ships  carrying  Tourist Third  Cabin and Third Class  exclusively.  This  would effect  a material  reduction in  fares with rates  for  the  same cabin going  from £62 to £36 10s. by  re-rating it from Cabin to Tourist Third.

So popular has become the tourist third cabin type of steamship passenger accommodation, since it was inaugurated several years ago, that the combined Cunard and, Anchor-Donaldson Lines have decided to allocate four of their Canadian service liners for the exclusive transportation of tourist third cabin and  third class passengers. The four vessels, which have carried cabin, tourist third cabin and third -class passengers during the past season, are the 13,500-ton liners Athenia and Letitia, and the 14,000-ton liners Andania and Antonia. 

The decision of the companies, notification of which was received yesterday by the local office from Great Britain, is a revolutionary change, as tourist third cabin passengers will, commencing with the opening of the 1928 St. Lawrence season, be accommodated in quarters that were designed exclusively for the carriage of cabin class travellers. It is expected, however, a differential tariff will be drawn up, so that passengers occupying the superior class of accommodation will pay slightly higher rates.

Although no definite information has been received by any local steamship office in connection with the deliberations of the North Atlantic Passenger Conference at Brussels, it is fully expected that the anticipated tourist third cabin rate  increases will go into effect. Cunard Line officials deny that the decision to convert four of their liners has anything to do with the tourist third cabin rate augmentation, however. The St. Lawrence-Channel Ports service of the Cunard Line will be maintained next season by the Aurania, Alaunia, Ascania and Ausonia, which will carry cabin passengers, as heretofore.

The Gazette, 3 December 1927.

Making  her  first  voyage on  Anchor Line's  Glasgow-Halifax-New  York  run  to  end  her  year,  Letitia departed Yorkhill  Quay the  morning  of 10  December 1927 and called  at Moville late  that  day.  She arrived  Halifax at 11:00  a.m.  On the  17th, slightly  delayed  by bad  weather  across,  and among the eight Cabin, 28 Tourist  Third  and 122 Third Class passengers  landed there was eight-year-old James Truscott, travelling alone, en route  to Woodstock,  Ont., to join  his  mother and looked after by  Miss L. Livingstone,  conductress and  handed over  to  Canadian  National  staff for his  onwards  journey to  Montreal. Letitia proceeded  to New York  where  she docked  at Pier 53,  North  River, on the  20th,  disembarking  her remaining 90 Cabin, 25 Tourist   Third and 338 Third  Class  passengers.  

Clearing  New York  on Christmas  Eve with 27 Cabin, 32 Tourist  Third  and 123 Third  Class passengers, Letitia headed direct to  Glasgow via  Moville and  arrived  there  on  2 January  1927.

That winter, with California, Caledonia  and  Transylvania all programmed  for cruises,  the  Anchor  Line service  to  New York, via  Halifax,  would be maintain by Cameronia,  Athenia, Andania and  Aurania. 

First advertisement for Letitia's  voyage to India departing 31 January 1928.  Credit:  Liverpool  Daily  Post, 9  December  1927.

In a change of plans, it was announced on 20 December 1927 that Letitia would replace Anchor Line’s Assyria for one round voyage on their India service, sailing from Liverpool on 31 January 1928 for Bombay via Gibraltar, Marseilles and the Suez Canal with her home passage beginning on 8 March.  It was traditional for Anchor to send one of their trans-Atlantic liners on a round voyage to India during the Atlantic off season and the previous year California had been so employed, but when she joined other Anchor liners cruising from America that winter, Letitia was substituted. 

In 1927, Athenia made 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 6,190 passengers and six to Halifax/New York carrying 1,654 passengers and  Letitia made 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 9,470 passengers and six to Halifax/New York carrying 2,408.

1928

In the face of objections from other Conference lines, Cunard announced on 18 January 1928 they would not operate their ships only with Tourist Third Cabin and Third.  Instead, this would only offered on certain summer sailings:  Letitia from Montreal on 1, 29 June and from Glasgow on 10 August and  7 September.

Having arrived at New York on 4 January 1928 on her second voyage on the  Anchor winter service, Athenia sailed for Glasgow at 1:00 p.m.  on the 7th, with  39  Cabin, 42 Tourist  Third  and 100  Third Class passengers. Calling at Moville the evening of  the  15th, she reached  the  Clyde the  following  morning.  

Letitia, which arrived from New York  at Glasgow  on 2 January 1928, underwent a  refit  and drydocking at  Barclay,  Curle's Clydebank yards from  the  11-25th, and sailed to  Liverpool,  docking at Vittoria Wharf, Birkenhead  on  the 25th after having reported losing  her  anchor in  the  Mersey.  

For a ship  whose  ensuing  lengthy and varied career would take  her most  of  the  major  ports of  the  world, save South  America, her first  foray  outside  the North  Atlantic  was  her voyage on the Anchor  Line  service  to  India, from Liverpool on 31 January 1928. In addition to First and Second Class passengers (including Donaldson’s Chairman and his wife making the round voyage), Letitia would also carry British troops in her Third Class accommodation to India.  The sailing attracted 600 passengers and "The passenger list was interesting by reason of the large number of wives and children of regimental officers and others concerned with various public services returning to India after a sojourn in the homeland"  (Exeter & Plymouth Gazette, 8 February). Anchor offered an unusual cruise option to Egypt entailing sailing to Port Said in Letitia, touring Egypt by land and Nile steamer and home in the new Britannia leaving Port Said on 17 February and returning to Liverpool on the 27th.

Clearing the Mersey  on  1 February 1928, Letitia took  the traditional  route out,  calling  at Gibraltar (4), Marseilles (7), transited Suez Canal  (12-13) and arrived Bombay on the  22nd.  Departing  Bombay  on 8  March, she  transited Suez Canal (16-17), called Marseilles (23) and arrived Liverpool  on the  29th. After unloading there, she sailed on the  31st  for  Glasgow and arrived 1  April.  She then was taken in hand by Barclay Curle for  her refit  and internal alterations  to  convert her  to  three classes-- Cabin, Tourist  Third and Third--  as had just  been completed  with  Athenia.  

Departing Glasgow  on 4 February  1928, Athenia  had a "fair" passage across and an eventful, costly and painful arrival  at  Halifax on the  13th.  Coming alongside, she  managed to miss the dock (Pier 2) and crashed into  the face of the  wharf, taking out  a three foot chuck  of the  concrete face.  She then  backed  out into  the stream for  half an  hour and  tried again, when her  stern was carried by  the stiff  wind and towards the Commercial  Cable Co.'s wharf when  the cable ship John W. MacKay was berthed,  forcing her bow against the bumper of the pier  and damaging it extensively. Tugs finally got  control of Athenia and  got  her  alongside Pier 2.  Donaldson agreed to  paying the  $475 assessed cost  in damages. Then that afternoon,  stevedore  James Keeping was struck  on the  head by  a falling boom whilst unloading  Athenia's 475 tons of cargo  and taken to hospital with minor  head injuries. "Considerable damage was  also done  to the deck of the  ship by  the force  of the impact."  (Evening  Mail, 14 February). 

After landing eight Cabin, 33 Tourist  Third  and  73  Third  Class  passengers and 470 tons of  cargo there, Athenia  proceeded  to   New York, arriving  on the 15th, where she disembarked  her remaining 47 Cabin, 25 Tourist Third  and  204 Third  Class  passengers.  Homewards  on the 18th, Athenia went out  with 30 Cabin, 37 Tourist and 101 Third Class and embarking another  five Cabin, eight  Tourist Third  and  60 Third  Class at Halifax, cleared  there  on  the 20th  for  Moville and  Glasgow,  arriving  on  the  Clyde at 5:00 p.m. on the  28th, landing her passengers  at  Greenock before proceeding into  Glasgow on the evening  tide.

Credit: Daily  Record,  March 1928.

Prior to  her  next  departure for North  America,  Athenia officers  and  crew  held their annual staff dance  in the  Charing  Cross  Hall,  Glasgow.

An early start  to  the  traditional  spring  immigrant  season saw Athenia  a busy  ship on  her 3 March 1928  sailing from Glasgow  and Moville for  Halifax and New York, including the first party  of nine  "Cossar Boys" and artisans immigrating to the Dominion: "They  are men mostly  employed in  the building  and  engineering  trades, and the bulk  of  settlers from the  Clyde are still of  the farming  and  mining  classes,  and   women for domestic work."(Greenock Telegraph, 3 March).  On departure from Moville at 11:20 p.m. on the 4th, Athenia went  out  with a good list  of 711 passengers in all.  Delayed by  heavy  weather  across,  she did  not make  Halifax until  Sunday morning, having been expected the previous afternoon. Landing six Cabin, 96  Tourist Third and 114 Third Class passengers there, Athenia proceeded to New York where she  arriving on the 15th, landing her remaining 95 Cabin, 75 Tourist Third and 325 Third Class passengers. 

Clearing her  North  River berth  at  noon on 17 March  1928 with 15 Cabin, 45 Tourist Third and 118 Third  Class passengers, Athenia called at Halifax on the 19th embarking  another 16 Cabin, 27 Tourist Third  and  60 Third Class passengers for Moville (calling 26th) and Glasgow, arriving  there the following morning.

Credit: Edmonton Journal,  21 March 1928.

Another important job in progress  at  the Clydeside  Works [Barclay,  Curle] is alteration on part  of  the  passenger  accommodation of  the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, and similar work  will be  carried  out on the  Letitia, of  the same fleet, when the vessel  comes to  Glasgow on her  next voyage. 

Liverpool  Journal  of  Commerce, 12 April  1928. 

Details of Athenia and Letitia's refits to better accommodate Tourist Third Cabin were released on 31 March 1928.  The Cabin dining saloon on D Deck was partitioned with the starboard side for Tourist Third, seating 144 per sitting and the portside much larger section for Cabin. A separate staircase gave access to the Tourist Third dining saloon from C Deck.  In addition, the Bridge Deck superstructure was extended aft to increase public room and deck space for Tourist Third. Film projectors were now fitted for all classes as well.  The Gazette commented "Although these changes are not radical, they definitely change for the better the accommodation of tourist third cabin passengers as distinguished from third class passengers."

Taking with her "the biggest  contingent of emigrants by  any  one ship from the British Isles this year,"  (Daily  Record), Athenia  left Glasgow  on 30 March  1928 (Belfast the  next day) with 1,147 passengers with no  fewer than 1,037 being immigrants  in Third Class. "A large number  of  men and boys are  going  forward for  farm  work  under  the  auspices  of  the  Govan  Parish  of  Glasgow, Orphan Homes of  Scotland, Bridge  of  Weir and the  Ministry  of  Labour." (Daily Record).  Canadian  emigration  officials had  designated  March  as "Juvenile Month" encouraging free passage the  Dominion for eligible British boys  following  their  17th  birthday. Twenty-three boys belonging  to  the  Aberdeen Lads'  Club, went out together with  the hope  of  being kept together in the  same district  in Ontario on arrival.  This sailing  called at  Belfast  for  the  first  time that year on  the  31st, embarking  300 there. Arriving at Halifax at 9:00 a.m. on 8  April, Athenia landed 22 Cabin, 57 Tourist Third and 930 Third Class  passengers there and four special  emigrant trains  laid  on. It  was the biggest test  of  the  new  expanded immigration facilities at  Pier  21  to date with a  total of three ships (Pennland and Westphalia being  the  others) arriving that day. Athenia continued to New York where  she landed her remaining 15  Cabin, 16 Tourist Third and 107 Third Class passengers.

Making her  final departure from New  York for the season, Athenia sailed  on 14 April 1928 with five Cabin, 13 Tourist Third  and 13 Third Class passengers, embarking another five Cabin, 27 Tourist Third and 30 Third  Class  at  Halifax on the  16th.  This concluded Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson winter Halifax run which carried 10,291 westbound and 2,458 eastbound  passengers to/from the port,  as well as 56,896 tons of cargo landed and 29,586 tons taken out. Athenia  arrived at  Greenock at  5:00 p.m. on  the  23rd.

Credit: Daily  Record, 20  April 1928.

Letitia, fresh  from her refit and as a true  three-class liner,  sailed from Glasgow for  Montreal  on 20  April 1928. The  evening prior to  departure, the  ship hosted an evening reception, whist drive and dance aboard for hundreds  of  Glasgow school  teachers.

Boys and youths are largely represented in the 700 passengers who are off to Canada to-day by the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia. sailing from the Clyde. The Letitia's complement reflects an increase in juvenile emigration going forward to farm work in Canada, and there is every indication that the number of lads going out from Scotland this season will be bigger than any movement previously of this class of settler. 

A party of 30 boys on board the Letitia are going through to Winnipeg under the Manitoba Government scheme. Domestics under the care of the Catholic Women's League and families in receipt of the Government grant of passage money are also among the settlers embarking at Glasgow.

Greenock Telegraph, 20 April 1928.

Reporting "very  little ice and practically no  fog," Letitia berthed at Montreal  just before 11:00 p.m. the evening of 30  April  1928, some passengers  landing at once whilst  other  could  do so  the  following  morning.  She landed her 500 settlers the  previous afternoon at Quebec. Homewards on 4 May, Letitia cleared  that morning with 43 Cabin, 128 Tourist Third and 128 Third Class passengers among them Sir Norman MacLeon,  former chief  justice of  the  High Court of Bombay, and Lady  MacLeon, en route home  from  San Francisco.  Letitia arrived  in the  Clyde  the morning of the  14th.

Prospects for tourist third cabin travel both from Canada and from the United States this summer by the St. Lawrence route, it was said, seem to justify renovations in the interior construction of the two Anchor-Donaldson liners Athenia and Letitia, the latter of which sailed from Montreal yesterday. The Letitia underwent changes this spring which improve and segregate tourist third cabin and third -class more completely.

The Gazette, 5 May 1928.

On her first St. Lawrence voyage  that season, Athenia departed Glasgow,  Liverpool and Belfast 4-5  May 1928, going out  with 46 Cabin, 135 Tourist Third and 486 Third Class passengers, including 11  large  Scottish  families and over 100  single  men and women, under  the  3 passage scheme.  She arrived Montreal the  morning of  the 14th. During her turnaround, Athenia and Ausonia's bands put together a combined performance that was broadcast on Station CNRM, Montreal, on the  15th. Captain Black also  hosted  a dance aboard Athenia the evening  of the  16th to  celebrate the  beginning of  the season.  Athenia sailed for home on the 18th with  a small list  of 48  Cabin, 146  Tourist Cabin and 118 Third, one passenger less after ships surgeon Burns refused  passenger to sail as being too  ill.  Athenia  arrived  off  Greenock the  morning of the 27th.

Of Letitia's passengers (43 Cabin, 148 Tourist Third and 557 Third)  on her 18 May 1928 sailing to  Canada, the  Greenock Telegraph  that  day wrote: "The complement of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, sailing to-day, also includes number of tourist cabin passengers making the round trip holiday of three weeks, The movement is much earlier this year and is mostly maintained by visits to relations and friends living in Canada. Boys from the Orphan Homes of Scotland, Bridge-of-Weir, and a party of young Glasgow lads formed by the Parish Council, are the among the 700 passengers leaving by Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia to settle in Canada."  She docked at Montreal the  evening of the  27th.

Credit: Montreal Star, 31 May 1928.

Credit: Montreal Star, 29 May 1928.

Eastbound  on 1  June 1928, Letitia cleared that morning with 280 Cabin,  260 Tourist Third and 274 Third Class passengers  at the onset  of  the busy tourist season to the  Old  Country.   Among those aboard  was a touring party whose trip would  feature  "a special aeroplane trip  from London  to Paris," who landed  at Liverpool on the  10th.  Letitia  arrived on the  Clyde the  following  day,  landing her  passengers at  Glasgow  rather than off  the  Tail of  the  Bank.

Letitia and Athenia brought more than Scottish settlers to the Dominion... Credit: The Gazette (Montreal) 28 May 1928.

Passengers aboard Athenia sailing  from Glasgow on 31  May 1928 for  Canada had a "grandstand view"  of  the  launching  of  the  steamer Denhohr at  Scott's in Cartsdyke Bay.  In all there were 48 Cabin, 78  Tourist Third  and 491 Third Class  aboard by  the time  she made the rounds  of Liverpool and Belfast.   Among those embarking  at Liverpool  on 1 June was a  party of  100 farm workers  and domestics  sponsored  by the  Salvation Army.  Putting  in what the Montreal Star called a "record trip," Athenia arrived  at Montreal the evening  of 9 June  instead  of the morning of  the 11th, after putting  in  at Quebec  first  thing on the 9th. Ascania and Duchess of Bedford had  also done quick  times over.  On the  crossing over, a passenger, Llewellyn Charlton,  a a former  professor from Glasgow,  fell accidentally heavily on deck  playing shuttlecock  and fractured  his skull. He was landed at Quebec and taken  to  hospital but  died later that day. 

 Homewards the morning of the 15 June 1928,  Athenia went out with 207 Cabin, 215 Tourist Third and 308 Third  Class passengers as the  summer eastbound busy season  set in. "It is noticeable that  the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia seldom fails to  take out  at  least 100 and 200 cabin passengers  of  Scottish  affiliations,  and notably people of  Scottish descent  from the United States,  who  prefer travelling via  Montreal  to  taking  the New York route," observed the  Gazette of 15  June. In all  over 2,000 passengers  sailed  from Montreal  aboard  Athenia,  Duchess  of Bedford and Alaunia, considered by  local papers  to  be  a record number,  and  all clearing  at  the  same time.  Calling at Belfast at 2:00 p.m.  on the 23rd,  Athenia arrived  in the  Clyde at midnight.

Credit: Daily Record, 25 June 1928.

Credit: Daily Record,  19 June 1928.

With some of  the last family  immigrant groups  sponsored by the  3,000 Families  Scheme,  and a large  party  of  boy immigrants  who embarked  at Liverpool,  among  her 37 Cabin, 126 Tourist Third and 332 Third Class  passengers, Letitia left  Glasgow, Liverpool  and Belfast  on  15-16 June  1928. One of the lads, John Elston, of  Rock Ferry, off  to  Guelph and farm training  there,  who  was  assistant  cub-master  of the  Scouts  and Wolf Cubs of  the 27th Birkenhead troop, was seen off at the  Landing  Stage by a parade  of  the  Troop with their  band.  Letitia  made Quebec on the  afternoon  of  the  23rd, landing 350  immigrants there and got  into  Montreal the  following morning.  Letitia  was but  one of eight liners arriving in the St.  Lawrence  that single weekend,  the others being Aurania, Megantic, Montroyal, Empress  of  Scotland, Montrose and  Melita.

The summer tourist exodus to the  Old Country  was  in  full  swing  as  evidenced  by  the record 544 Cabin  and 331 Tourist Third list taken out by Letitia  on 29 June 1928 on her annual Cabin/Tourist  only eastbound  crossing. Among  her  passengers was  a group  sponsored  by  the  University  Travel Club  of Toronto.  Letitia went out  with Aurania, the two having  about 1,600 tourist travellers  between them.  Letitia arrived in the  Clyde on the 8th.

Outbound from the  Clyde, Mersey and Belfast Lough on 29-30 June 1928, Athenia steamed westbound with 59 Cabin, 128 Tourist Third  and 288 Third Class passengers.  During  her call at Liverpool  on the 30th, Athenia was but one nearly  50,000 tons of liners clearing  the  Mersey in 12 hours  that day her and Samaria clearing for North  America and Antonia arriving.  Another  busy scene ensued  on the other side  when Athenia arrived  at Quebec  on 8 July,  one of  seven liners  that  weekend,  landing 3,500 passengers, 2,000  being  immigrants.  The ships were Athenia,  Duchess of  Bedford, Empress of France, Minnedosa, Alaunia, Doric and Albertic.   Athenia after landing  300 passengers there,  proceeded  to Montreal,  berthing that evening.

William Horne, his wife and nine children stepped off the gangway of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, when she arrived at Quebec over the week-end. He had gained a certain amount of notoriety owing to the fact that he, a canny Scot, solved the problem of a "money complex" by booking 11 passages for nine shillings and twopence, an average of 20 cents a head. Interested immigration authorities were disappointed when Horne and family failed to put, in an appearance on the Letitia a fortnight ago, by which ship they had booked. Then it was the Andania-but still no Horne family appeared. "We're here finally,' remarked the Scot, as he gathered the precious ones around him to pose for a photograph.

He remarked that he did not see much change in the conditions. "After all," he said, "I'm a' Scottish farmer going to farm in Nova Scotia, and isn't that Latin, or something, for New Scotland?".

Montreal  Star, 9 July  1928.

With  the  peak summer season to Europe at  its end, there  were but 54 Cabin, 124 Tourist Third  and 99 Third Class fare sold for  Athenia's  13 July  1928 sailing  from  Montreal  to  the  Old  Country. She reached  the Clyde  on the 22nd.

Westbound carryings entered their  slack period and there  were but 37 Cabin, 127 Tourist  Third  and 268 Third  Class tickets sold for Letitia's  13 July 1928  sailing  for  Canada.  Delayed by heavy fog  off  the Grand  Banks, Letitia  did  not  get  into  Montreal  until 7:00 a.m.  On the 23rd.  Sailing for  home on the 27th, she  went out  with 36 Cabin, 177 Tourist Third and 142 Third Class, arriving at Greenock the evening of  4 August.

If eastbound tourist traffic waned, a call for harvesters  for  the  autumn crop spurred a late summer spurt of seasonal  workers  and immigrants  to  the  Dominion.  Athenia sailed on 27 July 1928 with 83  Cabin, 208 Tourist Third and 385 Third Class  passengers including three members of Canada's marksmen  returning from  the Bisley championship.  She  arrived at Montreal at  9:00  p.m. on 5 August "after an unusually  quiet trip." 

Due to depart  Montreal  the morning of 10 August 1928, Athenia (with 25 Cabin, 135 Tourist Third and 59 Third Class), Duchess of  Bedford and Alaunia were kept  at  their  berths when  the  St. Lawrence 30 miles  down river  from Montreal  at Varennes  was blocked  by three  grain-laden steamers,  Alderbarran,  Innteron and  Illingworth had run ashore  in the fog and the latter  vessel initially believed to  be blocking the  channel.  After examination was made and two of the  ships cleared by tugs, Duchess of Bedford sailed at 2:50 p.m., followed by Athenia  at 2:55 p.m. and Alaunia at 3:00  p.m.. Athenia arrived  on the Clyde on the 20th.

Scotland's first contingent of harvesters for Canada sailed from the Clyde yesterday in the liner Letitia. 

There were about 500 of them, men of all ages and trades, and in the faces of many there were signs of mingled feelings- pleasure at having work at last, and the inevitable sorrow with which all leave friends behind.

The younger men, who predominated, went away that in much the same jocular spirit as in which, not many years ago, they went towards the East on a more tragic adventure. 

With their kits they bustled up the gangways to the second deck, after those who had friends had taken leave of them in the dock sheds, and until the ship was lost in the haze which lay over the river they kept waving and cheering to the people ashore. 

There were older men, too, and they went out more soberly. Some had found that the machine had more or less destroyed their handicrafts, and the only alternative to the trek west was a long spell of poverty at home with their wives and children.

There are 2700 men going out within the next few days.

Daily Record, 11 August 1928.

Credit:  Daily  Record, 11 August 1928.

Over 2,000 unemployed men bound for harvest fields of Canada left Liverpool and Southampton on Saturday in the Cunard liners Letitia, Franconia and Aurania.

Inspiring scenes were witness at Liverpool when the Cunarders Letitia and Franconia left with over 1,400 harvesters. The arrivals were twenty miners from South Wales who were so anxious not to miss the ship that they arrived at the Cunard offices at midnight. Accommodation was found for them by shipping officials.

Special trains from all parts of the country converged on Liverpool during the morning. A large party of men from Newcastle-on-Tyne arrived at Liverpool in the early hours, and were given breakfast before proceeding to the landing stage. From Birmingham a special came direct to Riverside Station at noon, whilst harvesters from Oldham, Wigan, Sheffield and Salford contingent carried a letter of good wishes from the Mayor of Salford.

When the Letitia which came round from Glasgow and had over 400 Scottish harvesters on board, appeared in the river there was a storm of cheering from the harvesters.

Embarkation was speedily carried out by tender, and as the men left the landing stage the cheers and counter cheers broke out again from the tender to the shore where there still nearly 900 men waiting to embark Franconia later in the afternoon.

Belfast News-Letter, 13 August 1928

The first 35 Greenock men were among the contingent of harvesters, most of them unemployed miners bound  for Canada on Letitia's 10 August 1928 sailing and in all,  she went out with almost 500 harvesters among her 961 Third Class (largest list that  year) in addition to 101 Cabin and 223 Tourist,  making for  a total  of  1,289 passengers.   Letitia arrived at Quebec on the  19th with   Aurania,  all packed with some 1,200  harvesters and requiring an  equally  impressive number of special trains  to convey them westwards.  Letitia berthed at Montreal  that  evening.  Eastbound at 11:00 a.m. on the  24th, she  went out  with 24 Cabin, 115 Tourist Third and  79 Third Class  passengers which the  Montreal Star deemed  "a comfortably filled passenger list  for  the  time  of  year."  She arrived off Greenock  at 10:00 p.m. on 1 September   and number those  aboard "two  smartly-dressed girls," stepsisters ,who  had  stowed  away and aided  and  abetted  by  three  crew  members.   In  court on the  3rd,  the  girls were sentenced to  a  £4 fine or  20  days  and  the crew  members were  fined £7  each.

Westbound  on  24 August 1928, Athenia  went out with with a big list  of 259 Cabin, 320 Tourist Third and 532 Third Class and arrived Montreal  on  4 September. The  seven liners arriving at Quebec and Montreal over the that weekend, set a record marking the first time the combined Tourist Cabin and  Cabin arrivals exceeded third  class.  

The morning of 5 September 1928, a crewman, Angus MacLeod, 38, was found unconscious  at the bottom of a hatch and taken to Montreal General Hospital but died soon afterwards of a fractured skull.  

With 41 Cabin, 118 Tourist Third and 222 Third Class, Athenia  left  Montreal at 11:00  a.m. on 7  September  1928.  Calling at Liverpool on the 15th, Athenia arrived in the Clyde the next day. Among her passengers, 90  landing at Liverpool and 32 at  Glasgow, were returning  harvesters, disgruntled over their experiences in Canada. "The Scots harvesters  when  they  reached Glasgow yesterday, told similar stories  of  hardship and alleged double-dealing  by  the  farmers  to  whom  they had  been sent. There was no  demonstration in Glasgow when the vessel arrived,  and the  disappointed harvesters dispersed  quietly  to their  homes.   Mr.  Bruce  Walker,  the Canadian Director  of  Immigration in London, pointed out  on Saturday that  only 700  men  so  far had  wanted  to return,  whereas they  had  expected  the  return  of  at least  2,000. Nearly  8,000,  he  added,  were still employed in the harvest  fields." (Daily  Record, 17  September).

Letitia  had  a mix of returning  tourists and many  single  women  immigrants going  out  for domestic  work when  she  sailed  for  Canada 7-8 September 1928 with  a total  of  162 Cabin, 274 Tourist  Third  and 246  Third  Class passengers. She made  Montreal shortly after 10:00 p.m. on the 16th, part of an armada  of  seven arriving  liners that  week, bringing in 4,600 passengers with returning  tourists far outnumbering  immigrant arrivals.   Departing  for the  Old Country  on the  21st,  Letitia  went  out  with 55 Cabin, 85 Tourist Third  and 209 Third Class  passengers.  Calling at Liverpool the morning  of  the 29th, Letitia reached Greenock  the  following  day.

As  if  in  reply  to  the  recent stories from dissatisfied  harvesters, among the  63 Cabin, 202  Tourist Third  and 423 Third  Class passengers sailing  for  Canada in Athenia  on 21 September 1928 were "many young  wives and children of agricultural and industrial workers… further  proof  of  the  opportunities existing in the Dominion for the British  settler."  In all,  there  were some  200  members of families and  single women  among  her  compliment among then "five blushing  brides"  and seven unaccompanied children ranging in age from 4 to 16. Athenia arrived  Quebec the  afternoon of  the  29th  and Montreal the following afternoon.  Homewards, she cleared  at  11:00  a.m.  on  5 October with 21  Cabin, 86 Third Cabin and 343  Third Class passengers.  One of them,  a returning harvester, told the  Montreal Star: "Canada is a  country offering unlimited opportunities  to  the newcomer. There is  a good  living  for  every  man who comes out with the  sincere  desired  to work. The Canadian farmer is  a  reasonable man and pays  a good  wage. If there  is any  fault  to  be found, it  is  certainly  not  with Canada."  Athenia arrived in the  Clyde on  the 14th.

Outbound again for  Canada on 5 October  1928,  Letitia went  over with 41 Cabin, 209 Tourist Third and 159 Third Class passengers.   Calling at Quebec on the  14th,   Letitia  arrived Montreal that evening.  Among those  landing there was Capt. M.N. Gillies, marine  superintendent  for Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson in Montreal  after  a visit  to Scotland.    Among those sailing eastbound the  morning  of the  19th were two missionaries bound  for  India and 280 returning harvesters and in all,  she went out  with 15 Cabin, 46 Tourist Third and 381 Third  Class  passengers.  That afternoon,  she came into collision with  the  steamer Brookton, both  downbound, near Three  Rivers in Lake St.  Peter:

The message received from Captain D. Taylor, of the Letitia, by the Robert Reford Company, agents for the line, was to the effect that the Letitia had sustained only small damage to her superstructure on the starboard bow, and that she was proceeding on Quebec. Captain M. N. Gillies, marine superintendent of the Anchor Donaldson Line, proceeded to Quebec yesterday afternoon, where a survey of the liner and an estimate of the damage were made. It was unlikely that there would be any reason for the Letitia to delay her sailing very long on account of the accident, according to information which was obtainable at the local agents of the Anchor Donaldson Line. 

The Letitia passed Sorel yesterday afternoon at 1.05 after sailing from Montreal with a good complement of passengers for this time of year. The Brookton passed Sorel ten minutes earlier, and the Letitia passed the freighter in Lake St. Peter. The accident occurred while passing, information from the Brookton stating that another boat ahead of the Letitia, not replying to the signal of the liner, caused her to slow up, during which movement the two steamers came together.

The Brookton put into Three Rivers, but later sailed on to Quebec. She was proceeding from the Great Lakes to Quebec with a cargo of 68,000 bushels of wheat.

Gazette, 20 October 1928.

Arriving with Franconia at Liverpool on the  27 October 1928, both ships reported "an uneasy mood of the Atlantic" going across, but both made smart passages and Franconia making her  best time yet.  Letitia arrived at Glasgow on the  28th.

On her  final voyage  to  the  St. Lawrence for the  season, Athenia  departed  Glasgow  and Belfast on  20  October 1928  and  Liverpool  the  next day,  with 30 Cabin, 85 Tourist  Third  and 200  Third  Class passengers:  "Although the Canadian season is now almost finished a month from now will see last St Anchor Lawrence sailing for this year liner, Athenia, which sails. from Glasgow this evening carry good numbers in all three classes. In response to a keen demand for British girls for domestic duties a large number of household workers sailing at reduced rates are included in the Athenia's complement of nearly 300 third class passengers. Amongst other Scottish settlers there are several big families."  (Greenock Telegraph, 19  October 1928).  The Liverpool Daily Post of  the  22nd reported that under  the  Reunion of Families  Scheme, Mrs.  Lillian Nurse  and her  baby daughter, of  South Shields,  was sailing  from the  Mersey  to join  her husband in Ontario and paid £5 4s.  as  opposed  to the  normal fare of £29 11s 6d. Athenia arrived Montreal on the 29th.

Clearing Montreal for  the last time  that year at 10:00 a.m. on  2  November 1928,  Athenia  went out with 23 Cabin, 50 Tourist  Third and 159 Third  Class  passengers and  arrived Glasgow the  morning  of the  11th.

Making her final St. Lawrence trip that season and  closing Donaldson's schedule on it, Letitia  sailed on 2  November 1928 with 32 Cabin, 104  Tourist Third and 166 Third Class  and  berthed  at Montreal at 8:45  p.m. on  the 11th.  She  came  in with  a new surgeon, Dr.  D. Murphy, replacing Dr. D.D.R.  Dale who  was  transferred  to  Cameronia.  Departing with Aurania on the morning of the 16th,  Letitia  had 10 Cabin, 59 Tourist Third and 159  Third  Class passengers.  "Although  no figures are  available as of  yet,  it  is said that the  two  Scottish  liners, the  Athenia and Letitia, have  enjoyed remarkable popularity this summer,"  observed  the  Montreal Star that day. She berthed at Glasgow on the 24th.

Making  her  first voyage on the Anchor  Line  Halifax-New York  winter run, Letitia  cleared Glasgow and Moville  on 29  November 1929. Among her  passengers were 15  families sailing to  Canada under the  reunion scheme for  family  of industrial  workers already  in  the Dominion.   Under  the  discounted fare scheme, the entire group  paid £106 instead  of  £770 with  a per adult fare  of  just  £3  15  s.  And children under  17  travelling  free.  Arriving at  Halifax the  afternoon of  7  December, Letitia landed 20 Cabin, 40 Tourist Third and 267 Third Class passengers and 1,000 tons of mail there. Among those  landing was Capt. F.H. Walker of  Donaldson Line who would  relieve  Capt.  Moody  of  Dauntless  there.   Letitia proceed  to St. John, N.B. whence she departed on the  13th  on a special Christmas  voyage  to Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow,  calling en route at Halifax.  She arrived there the  morning  of the 14th and embarked 250  passengers arriving by special train from the west and another 50  coming by  other means.  Sailing that afternoon, Letitia  went out  with 27 Cabin, 110 Tourist Third and 261 Third Class passengers. 

More than twenty kiddies, passengers on the Letitia, were gladdened yesterday afternoon when Santa Claus appeared on board the ocean liner with a store of gifts for each and every child, Many nationalities were represented by those upon whom gifts were bestowed--all going to their homes in England and the continent to spend the yuletide, for the Letitia was making a Christmas galling. Steamship men etated that this was probably first time in the history of port that the Kris Kringle had climbed aboard an ocean liner for the purpose of distributing gifts. While on board, pictures, both "still" and motion were taken of the group of happy children who surrounded Santa.

The Evening Mail,  15 December 1928.

The Christmas Ship made Liverpool  on 22  December 1928 at 8:00 p.m. and Glasgow the following day. 

Athenia resumed  service  on her  departure from  Glasgow  on 22 December  1928 for New York via Moville and  Halifax.  

All the traditional Yuletide festivities will attend the Christmas voyage of the Anchor from the Liner at Athenia the which weekend with Scottish settlers for Canada and the United States. Special Christmas fare on the usual liberal scale has been put onboard the liner, and festoons of holly and misteltoe and coloured streamers with which to decorate the public rooms have net been forgotten. The children, as right and proper, are the special attention of the ship's officers, and nothing is left undone to make them feel that it is really Christmas. The Athenia first calls at Halifax, N.S., with Canadian. She will then "first foot" America, being due to arrive at New York on New Year's Eve.

Greenock  Telegraph, 24  December 1928.

Athenia made Halifax on the  evening of 31  December  December 1928,  landing four Cabin,  two  Tourist  Third  and 34  Third  Class passengers and  300 tons  of  cargo there.

Credit: Daily  Record, 28 December 1928.

An ideal setting for their annual dance was found last night by the staff of the Donaldson Line--the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, moored at Princes Dock, Glasgow. 

Flags hung picturesquely on every deck, augmented by  a novel scheme  of lighting. 

The company numbered 300, and included Mrs. Charles Donaldson, Mr. Fred Donaldson, Captain and Mrs. Finlay, Miss Louise Wilson, Mrs. Buchanan, Mr. Fred, Mr. Frank and Miss Betty Rowan Thomson, Mr. Harold Latta, and Mr. John Aspin.

Dancing place over, the ship." exceptionally bright gramophone music being brought to every part by a system of amplification,

Daily Record, 27  December 1928.

Newspaper advertisement for a "first" (and last as it turned out): a Donaldson Line cruise to the Mediterranean direct from the Clyde.

Letitia got another unusual assignment that winter when it was announced on 19 December 1928 she would undertake Donaldson’s first Mediterranean cruise and the first to originate directly from the Clyde.  This sailed from Glasgow on 7 March 1929 and called at Southampton two days later before continuing to  Lisbon, Algiers, Palma, Palermo, Nauplia, Athens, Candia, Rhodes, Larnaca, Haifa, Port Said, Naples, Monaco, Gibraltar and back to Southampton and Glasgow.  Fare for the 45-day, 8,000-mile voyage started at £65.

In 1928, Athenia made 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 7,272 passengers and 7 crossings to New York/Halifax/St. John carrying 3,021 and Letitia made 16 crossings to Montreal  carrying 8,677 passengers and two crossings to Halifax/St. John carrying 725.

Typical for the era, even a one-off cruise like that of Letitia to the Mediterranean in March 1929 was afforded its own delightful poster. 

1929

Bridging the Atlantic as well as  the  years, Athenia  which  arrived at Halifax from Glasgow on New Years Eve,  arrived  at New York on 2 January  1929,  landing her remaining two  Cabin, two  Tourist Third  and 38 Third Class passengers  at Pier  56. That winter found Athenia oddly shared by Anchor and Cunard Line.  She arrived at New York  on Anchor Line’s account but her eastbound crossing beginning on the 12th was for Cunard and the remainder of her voyages that winter season were on their account.  She sailed  with 22 Cabin, 27 Tourist  Third and  30 Third Class for Queenstown and Liverpool, arriving at 9:00 a.m.  on  the  21st.

Original caption:  Four hundred and fifty  dancers attended the whist drive and dance on the  T.S.S. Letitia at Princes Dock,  Glasgow, in  aid of Nessitous Children's Holiday Fund. Above  are some of the  dancers. Credit: Daily Record,  2 May  1929.

Letitia  squeezed in one voyage  on  the  Anchor  Line  winter service from Glasgow  to  New  York via  Halifax before  setting  out  on her  novel  Mediterranean cruise.   Departing  Glasgow on 12  January  1929, she was the  first of  the  Donaldson twins to  go out  with  passengers booked  under  a  new  flat  10 Third  Class one-way fare to  Canada as well  the  first bound  for  the  U.S.  under  that  year's  "quota"  for  immigrants  from Britain.  After clearing  Moville late the  same day,  Letitia  went out  with  only  229 passengers reflecting  the  time of  the year more  than  the  state of immigration.  She  made  Halifax on the  21st,  landing four Cabin, 17 Tourist Third  and 92  Third  Class passengers  and 600 tons of  cargo  there and proceeded  to  New York where  she  docked  at Pier 54,  North  River, the morning of the 22nd,  disembarking 12  Cabin,  18  Tourist  Third  and  86  Third  Class passengers.  Homewards, she  cleared  New  York  on the  26th with 15 Cabin, 28 Tourist Third and 80  Third Class and  proceeded direct to  Moville  and  Glasgow, arriving 4 February.

Clearing the  Mersey on 26  January 1929, Athenia  was coursing to  new destinations for  in addition to calling at Queenstown  (27) and destined for  New York,  she  would also make  her (and  Donaldson's) maiden  call at Boston on 4  February which would be  a regular westbound  call  for  her  that winter  season. Athenia got in nearly  a day  late there owing to  "heavy  seas  and strong westerly winds with  occasional gales,"(Boston Evening  Globe, 4 February), coming alongside  Pier 4, East Boston, just  before 9:00  a.m.  where she  landed 13 Cabin, 9  Tourist Third  and 43 Third Class. Proceeding  to New  York  that afternoon, she docked  on the  5th,  disembarking 21 Cabin, 19  Tourist Third  and 70 Third Class  passengers. Departing New  York on the 9th for Queenstown and Liverpool, she  went  across with 27 Cabin, 14 Tourist  Third  and 37 Third  Class passengers, arriving in the Mersey  on the afternoon of the  18th.

Boston and New York-bound on 23  February 1929 from Liverpool, via Queenstown (next day),  Athenia arrived Boston at 11:00 a.m.  On  the  5th, once  again delayed  by  heavy  weather  en route and indeed,  by 48 hours "because of westerly  winds,  gales and head  seas encountered in crossing.  Further delay was occasioned by the  fog which  held  the  liner  in  the  lower  harbor nearly three  hours  this morning." (Boston Evening Globe, 5 March). Of  the 22  Cabin, 13  Tourist Third  and 43 Third Class  passengers  landed there, were two brides,  both  from Scotland, coming  over  to  wed Americans and three orphans, Walter Rodgers, 12,  Veronica,  8  and Patrick, 7,  who  had been  living with  relatives  in England  and met on the pier by  their  aunt Mrs.  Rita  Reed with  whom  they  would live.   They were  looked  after  on the crossing  by  the  ship's stewardesses.  Clearing that  afternoon for New York,  Athenia arrived there the  next day,  landing her remaining 29 Cabin, 28  Tourist  Third and 91  Third Class passengers.    

Athenia at Boston in March 1929 (a first for a Donaldson liner) en route to Liverpool on her final crossing that season on the Cunard service. Credit: The Mariners' Museum

Departing New York on 9 March 1929 with 22  Cabin, 12 Tourist  Third  and  42 Third Class passengers,  Athenia  arrived  at  Queenstown on  the 18th  and Liverpool the following  morning but  not until  having a minor  collision  in fog  off  Mersey Bar:

During a fog the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia (13,000 tons) collided with the Belfast roasting steamer Corteen (500 tons) at Mersey Bar early yesterday morning.  The Corteen was damaged above the water line, but the Athenia had only point scraped off her bows. Both steamers proceeded up the river when the fog lifted. No one was hurt. Passengers in the Athenia, who included Grand National visitors; did not notice the bump and continued to sleep.

Greenock  Telegraph, 29  March 1929.

The coaster was struck near the foremast, and suffered damage to her upper structure and lost her anchor.  She was able proceed to Liverpool for repairs. Athenia, too, was slightly damaged and arrived several hours late.

The big event that  year  was doubtless  Letitia's first (and Donaldson's) cruise, the ship joining  the  ranks of her fellow Cunard-Anchor "intermediates" which proved remarkably  adaptable  and popular inter-war cruise  ships beginning  with  Laconia's 1922  world  cruise.  Departing Glasgow on 7  March  1929, Letitia's 45-day Mediterranean  voyage  was  also  the  first overseas  cruise  directly  from a Scottish  port,  although  also calling  at  Southampton on  the  9th.  Calling  at Lisbon, Algiers, Palma,  Palermo,  Nauplia,  Athens,  Candia, Rhodes,  Larnaca,  Haifa, Port Said,  Naples, Monaco,  Gibraltar and return  to  Southampton  and Glasgow.

Bailie and Mr: J. D. Cuthbertson are among a large number of prominent Glasgow residents who are availing themselves of the Letitia's cruise to the Mediterranean from Glasgow. Passengers are due to go aboard the liner to-night at the Anchor-Donaldson berth, Princes Dock. At Southampton, where the Letitia calls on Saturday, other passengers will embark, and the vessel will then leave immediately for sunnier climes.

The coast of Spain will be sighted two days later, and after a brief stay at Lisbon the Letitia will head for North African coast, and then through the Mediterranean as far as Port Said. About 8,000 miles will be covered, and many shore excursions made at the ports of call. 

The cruise will take 45 days to complete, and this includes a week for sightseeing in Egypt.

Greenock Telegraph, 7  March 1929.

Year by year the number of tourists visiting the Mediterranean increases largely as the result of the attractive cruises arranged by the shipping companies for shore journeys from the various ports—one of the many bye-products this motoring age. 

For the first time a tourist steamer— the Anchor-Donaldson turbine driven Letitia —has left Scottish waters for such a cruise. Amongst the ports to be visited are Lisbon, Algiers, Athens, Candia, Haifa, Port Said, Naples, Morocco, and Gibraltar. From Haifa, which is reached on Wednesday, 27th inst., the party will journey by motor along the base of Mount Carmel and across the Plain Esdraelon to Nazareth, where the night will be spent. 

On the following day the journey is continued to Nablus, and after a visit to Jacob's Well the party will proceed to Jerusalem. Returning by rail from Jerusalem to Haifa on Saturday the proceed to Port Said for sightseeing in the land of the Pharaohs. 

Amongst the local passengers are Alexander Potter, Dundee, and Mr and Mrs Thomson, Strathmiglo. 

The Letitia is due back in the Clyde on April 20.

Dundee  Evening  Telegraph, 15  March  1929.

Clearing Prince's Dock the evening  of 7 March 1929, Letitia embarked  her additional cruise  passengers by  tender from Berth  46, Southampton, from noon  to  5:00 p.m. on the 9th.  Letitia called at Lisbon (12),  passed Gibraltar at 8:45 p.m. on the  13th,  called at Algiers (15),  Palermo (18), Nauplia (20), Athens (Phaleron Bay, 21-22),  Larnaca (25), Haifa (27), Port  Said (29 March-5 April), Naples (8), Monaco (10-11) and Gibraltar (14), before returning to Southampton (18) and returning to  Glasgow  the following afternoon (Greenock).  Her return  was  marred by a  case  of  smallpox  being  discovered on board  towards  the  end  of  the  cruise who  was landed at Naples:

Intimation was received by the health authorities in Glasgow last night that a suspected case of smallpox had been discovered on board the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, and landed at Naples. When the vessel arrived off Greenock this forenoon number of doctors and sanitary officials from Glasgow went on board with the intention of vaccinating passengers members of the crew who had not previously been inoculated. 

The boat proceeded immediately to Glasgow, the vaccinations taking place on the way up the river. 

When the vessel left Naples all precautions were taken to prevent the spread of the suspected outbreak and if word is received that the case is one of smallpox, steps will be taken to have the ship fumigated. 

It is understood the Letitia will not be quarantined at Glasgow, but the names and addresses of passengers and crew will be taken and authorities at their destinations will be notified to keep them under observation.

Greenock Telegraph,  20  April  1929.

Then on 22 April  1929 word  was received from Naples  that the  case had been  confirmed  as not  being smallpox  but  one  of chickenpox and  the patient  expected  to  be released  with  a day  or  two.

On her next voyage Athenia transitioned back to  her Anchor-Donaldson route even if still making this  last  voyage  of  the  winter season on the Cunard New  York  service,  but sailing from Glasgow (23 March 1929), Liverpool  and  Belfast, to  Halifax and  New York.  She embarked at Glasgow a  large party  of  35 boy immigrants, aged 14-19, for Canada, including 30 from the  Aberdeen Lads'  Club,  for farm  training in Ontario. Athenia arrived at Halifax at 11:00 a.m. on 1 April on a very busy  day  for  the  port with United  States, Ascania, Rosalind and Silvia  in.  There, she  landed 21 Cabin, 12  Tourist Third  and 609  Third Class passengers. Continuing to New York, Athenia  docked at Pier  56 on the 3rd, disembarking 21 Cabin, 18 Tourist and 60 Third Class passengers there. Homewards on the 5th, Athenia cleared  at 11:00 a.m. with eight Cabin, 22  Tourist Third  and 22 Third Class  passengers.  She called at Boston at noon the following  day at  noon, and went out  with  a total list of 85 Cabin, 75 Tourist  Third and 93 Third Class. Calling at Queenstown on the 14th, Athena arrived Liverpool on the following morning.

An almost unprecedented rush to Canada will mark the opening of the St Lawrence season by Clyde liners this weekend and it is stated by a  Line official that the demand for accommodations on the company's Athenia has assumed such proportions that the Cunard has been asked to take the vessel's overflow. 

The Athenia was full a fortnight ago, when 1,100 third class and nearly 200 cabin and tourist third cabin had been hooked. It was, added that, although the Athenia always has been popular on the Glasgow-Montreal service and incidentally has recently undergone some extensive and original improvements to her cabin and tourist third cabin accommodation there has been, nothing like, this rush for many months.

There appears to be no particular reason for it unless it is that would-be settlers are beginning to realise the advantage presented by the new £10 rate to the Dominion.

Greenock Telegraph,  12 April  1929.

Arriving at Glasgow  from Liverpool  on 17 April 1929, Athenia  prepared for  her  first voyage to  St. Lawrence and her  first  Donaldson voyage  that  year just two days  later. She went out,  after calling also  at Belfast and Liverpool, with  a sell-out list of 44 Cabin, 119 Tourist and no fewer than 1,139 Third  Class  or double  the number the same period the  previous year, spurred  by a new flat  £10 fare.   As if not crowded enough, when Athenia arrived at  Quebec on the 29th, she  landed five survivors of the French fishing schooner Chevalier Bayard, rescued off  Newfoundland, by another schooner:

Five survivors of 36 members of the crew of the wrecked three-masted schooner Chevalier Bayard arrived here yesterday on board the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia, after having been picked up off Newfoundland by the liner following a night at the mercy of the elements. 

The men were met here by H. R. de Saint Victor, and were taken to his office, where Joseph Brussat, acting as spokesman for the rescued men, told of the schooner leaving St. Malo, Brittany, on March 11, for the cod fishing season off the Grand Banks.

Following a stormy crossing, the Chevalier Bayard reached Newfoundland on April 11, under command of Capt. Frelaux, and fishing operations started. We had started fishing," declared Brussat, "when on the night of April 16, a large volume of water made its appearance in the vessel's hull. We did everything we could to block the opening, but it was impossible to do 50. The leak was below the waterline, and was probably caused through the vessel striking some submerged wreck, as the vessel was threatening to go down every minute, the captain gave the order to launch the boats.

We took our places in the 14. boats, and then cut loose from the ship. "We were steadily losing hope when a three-master finally hove into sight, It was Captain Huette, commanded by Captain Gervals, who took ug aboard his vessel.'! Asked as to the fate of occupants of other boats Brussat stated that he didn't know, but he thought that they had been saved, because there were number of vessels in the vicinity, as could be ascertained in the clearness of daylight. The five were then transferred to the Athenia, and brought to Quebec.

The Montreal  Star, 30 April 1929.

Among those landing at Montreal at 8:30 p.m. on 29 April 1929 was N.F. Donaldson, a director  of  the  line.

It was fortunate in one way that the Athenia was not delayed on this crossing because there was in the holds a consignment of airplane parts which were being rushed to port. They were to be placed on the ground floor of the shed to facilitate their removal. 

The rush of immigrants from Scotland has undoubtedly commenced, according to the experience with the Athenia which from Glasgow. There were so many applicants for passage to Canada from that port that it was impossible to book them all and orders had to be issued to agents that all accommodation was taken up and to book no more for that sailing. The disappointed "would-be" settlers will have to wait for the Letitia due to sail from the same port next Friday.

Speaking of his trip across Captain Black, who has one of the longest records as a visitor to the port of Montreal of any navigator calling here, said that it was unusually quiet for this time of the year and he likened it to a summer crossing. This season he has with him in the capacity of chief officer, A. Murray, who succeeds M. Brownlee, on the Athenia.

The Gazette, 30 April 1929

Sailing for home on 3 May  in company with Ascania,  Athenia  went out with 41 Cabin, 148 Tourist and 212 Third Class passengers, not enough  to  keep her extra stewards and  catering staff signed on for  her  packed  outward  crossing.  They went out three hours late  awaiting the  late  arrive of Canadian  National boat train specials from Toronto after heavy  rains caused a wash-out on the  line. Calling at Belfast at 5:00  p.m.  on the 11th, Athenia arrived in the Clyde the  next day.

Letitia underwent  a  further refit  to improve  her now  separate   Cabin and Tourist Cabin facilities, "result is almost identical with  the  refitted and renovations which  were  recently carried  out on the Athenia."(Greenock Telegraph, 2 May 1929).

Credit:  Daily Record,  4 May  1929.

Back  to the mundane duties of  a trans-Atlantic  liner,  Letitia commenced  her  1929 St. Lawrence season with  her 3 May  departure from Glasgow. Among her passengers was who  was "believed to  be  Scotland's tallest man, Mr. Andrew Kellighan of Lesmahago, who only  an inch and a  half under seven feet and turns  the  scale at 17  stone," (Greenock Telegraph, 4  May) who  was among the  party  of  120 Ministry  of Labour  farm trainees on their way to  the  Dominion, the  first group  of unemployed trained at the new farm school  in Carstairs.  In all,  Letitia went out  with 28 Cabin, 78  Tourist Third  and 1,043 Third Class, the second  best list  in Third that season. She arrived at Quebec on 13th and Montreal the  next day. Homewards,  she cleared at 11:00 a.m.  on the 17th with 20 Cabin, 120 Tourist Third  and 71 Third Class.  Arriving Liverpool on the 25th, Letitia  made the  Clyde the next day.

Citing a "lull in emigration,", the Daily Record of 17  May 1929 characterised Athenia's  complement of 600 odd  passengers, "comparatively small", when she  sailed that day  from Glasgow. On departure from Liverpool and Belfast, she  had 14 Cabin, 60 Tourist Third  and 573 Third  Class passengers, including more boy immigrants and domestics and three unaccompanied  children, aged nine, eight  and seven  respectively,  joining  their parents in the  Dominion. They  arrived in Canada on  the 27th (Quebec that morning  and Montreal late evening) "deeply  tanned as a result of the hot run which they  encountered  during most  of  the voyage across."(Montreal Star, 28 May). She came almost in tandem with  Ascania. Clearing, too, in company  with the Cunarder and Duchess  of  York from Montreal at 11:00 a.m. on the  31st, Athenia went out  with 35 Cabin, 254 Tourist Third  and 184  Third Class passengers.  Calling  at Liverpool at  7:00 p.m.  on 8  June, she arrived  in the Clyde  the following day.

There was a family of 12 from Cawdor, and two of 11 each from Burnbank and Mid-Calder, among the farming families embarking Letitia  for Canada on 31 May  1929, and she  had a total of  27 Cabin, 105 Tourist Third  and 839 Third Class for  the  Dominion on her second voyage  of the  season.  "Canada's population will  be increased by nearly  1,000 when the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, now  steaming  westward from Glasgow,  reaches  Quebec Saturday. The new arrivals are chiefly British immigrants who will disperse to  begin life on  farms  in every  section of  Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific."  (Gazette, 6  June).  Letitia was one of ten liners arriving at  Quebec that weekend with some 10,000  passengers between  them and arrived there on 7 June and Montreal the  next  day.  

At the onset  of  the  tourist  season, Letitia, Alaunia, Duchess  of Bedford  and Melita departed Montreal the  morning  of   14 June 1929  with  some 3,000  passengers between them.  The  Donaldson liner's share  being 114 Cabin, 361 Tourist Third and 332  Third Class.

Aboard the Letitia there was scarcely breathing space, Every passenger brought his or her friends to the ship and the gangways became almost impassable. Deck stewards had the worst of it. Their job " is to keep a clear gangway, and at times they were to be seen fighting through a press of passengers and visitors in an attempt to find their stations again, having been swept forward by a sudden rush aboard.

Montreal Star, 14  June  1929.

Letitia made Glasgow on  24  June 1929. 

Advertisement for Letitia's planned world cruise in January 1930. which did not take place.  Credit: The Vancouver Sun, 12 October 1929.

Even broader horizons briefly beckoned for Letitia when on 13 June 1929 it was announced that the University Travel Association had chartered the vessel for their third around the world cruise.  This epic voyage was to take 111 days and depart  from New York on 28 December 1929 and also from Naples 12 January 1930, returning to New York  17 April, calling at Mediterranean ports,  Egypt, Bombay, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco,  Panama and Cuba. Fares started at 286 guineas from Naples.  

Athenia sailing from Glasgow.  Credit: The Evening Telegraph, 4 July 1929

Sailing from Glasgow  on 14 June 1929, Athenia, "contrary to what  might be expected following  the usual  spring rush  to  Canada," went out  with  some 500  passengers, and "some splendid types  of  Scottish settlers were  included, principally acceptances for  farm work and domestic posts in connection with  the  Empire  Settlement Scheme."  (Greenock Telegraph, 15 June).  After her calls  at  Liverpool  and Belfast, Athenia went over with 29 Cabin,  66 Tourist  and 408 Third Class passengers.  She  arrived at Montreal the morning of  the 23rd. 

At the  height  of  the  busy eastbound  tourist rush,  Athenia did not  disappoint, leaving Montreal on 28 June 1929 with 145 Cabin, 387 Tourist Third and 361 Third Class passengers, departing  with an equally  well-booked  Ausonia.

Gay scenes marked the departure of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia for Scotland this morning, with one of the largest passenger lists ever carried by a ship of her size from the local port. There was no doubt that the peak period, for eastbound shipping had for every available inch of deck space seemed to be occupied.

Every section of the American continent was represented on the Athenia, and in addition she carried a group of 175 Orangemen who have been in convention here. Altogether well over a thousand passengers sailed on the Scottish liner, which pulled out promptly to schedule at 11 a.m.

Montreal  Star,  28 June 1929.

What the Daily Record called "the American invasion of  Glasgow" reached a  climax  with  the  arrival of  Athenia on 7 July  1929 and Caledonia the next day.  Three hundred of Athenia's  passengers  had  already  landed at Liverpool  on the  previous day.

Westbound on  28  June 1929,  Letitia offered  a bit more  "elbow  room"  than her  recent completed  eastbound,  going out  with 32 Cabin,  156 Tourist  Third and 529  Third  Class passengers, her  list buoyed by the  traditional  exodus  of  school teachers on holiday trips  to the Dominion  as well  as  delegates to  the National Council  of  Nurses of  Great  Britain  attending the  International Congress of Nurses in Montreal.  Also aboard was an orchestra of five  Cambridge Blue musicians making the roundtrip.  Ending "of the most pleasant  voyage on her records, " (Montreal  Star, 8 July),  Letitia arrived Montreal  the  morning of 7 July.  

"Hymns and  tears, or  jazz songs and laughter-- there was a struggle between these for  supremacy  among the  crowd  which  sent  off  the  Anchor-Donaldson liner  Letitia  from here  to Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow today. Pressed against the rail  was a comely  young  woman in  fawn with  red on her  fawn heat attempting  to make  her  tears  look like  a  smile.  Mrs.  Davey  was  going  out  as  a  missionary to Liberia, to join her missionary  husband  Rev H.L.  Davy  who  went out  last fall.  She  is leaving her four year  old son in Canada."  (Montreal Star, 12  July).   In all,  Letitia  cleared with 28 Cabin, 193 Tourist  Third and 145 Third Class passengers. Letitia arrived Liverpool on the  19th and Glasgow on the  21st.

Athenia left Glasgow for  Canada on 12  July 1929 and after  calling at  Liverpool  and Belfast, had 23 Cabin, 111 Tourist Third and 432 Third Class  passengers. One of the  25 "Cossar Boys" headed for  Dominion for farm  training, Charles  Mix, "who  is half  brother of Tom  Mix,  the  film 'star', and Mexican  birth,  professes to be  able  to  throw  a steer  and  sit  a buck-jumper  with  anybody,"  was  denied boarding owing  to  some irregularity with his  papers.  On this occasion, the 22 "hardy  lads" who  made the  passage were accompanied by  Dr.  George Cossar himself. Athenia arrived at Quebec  on the 21st and Montreal the following day. Homewards, Athenia cleared Montreal  on the 26th with 26 Cabin,  156 Tourist Third and 93 Third Class passengers, including a returning group  of 30 Scottish excursionists who  had visited the Canadian  West. Calling  at Liverpool (where she landed 150 Americans and Canadians bound for  the Eisteddfod in Wales)  on  the afternoon of 3 August, Athenia made Glasgow the following day.

The Dominion-bound Letitia had 86 Cabin, 281 Tourist Third  and  505 Third  Class  on departing  Glasgow, Liverpool  and Belfast on  26-27 July 1929 including three generations  of  a  family named  Mackay, father, son and grandson whose  ages  totalled  only 69 years.   Letitia docked  at Montreal the  afternoon  of 4 August.

A glance at the cabin list of the Letitia, Captain David Taylor, Anchor-Donaldson liner, which arrived in port yesterday afternoon, suggested that some unusual change at the time of sailing must have taken place for there was a specially large number on her passenger list. This change was a swelling of the Letitia's complement of passengers by bookings from the Alaunia, the sailing of which was cancelled. She went into drydock on the other side for slight repairs due to a minor accident which happened when leaving Canada after her last call here.

When the passenger liner docked, she made the third Donaldson or Anchor-Donaldson liner in Alexandra Basin at one time, a rather unusual occurrence. The Kastalia and Salacia, freight liners, had already docked., On the Letitia were several parties of tourist third and third-class passengers, among these being a Lady will cross addition to Teachers' Association, tour, which these there was a number of boys who represent the first party to come out from Beverley, Hull, training centre in the Old Country, recently opened, at which boys are given six weeks' training to fit them for farm work in Canada. They are in charge of the British Immigration and Colonization Association. Another group was composed of household workers under the auspices of the Catholic Women's League.

The Gazette, 5 August 1929.

Credit: Montreal  Star, 7  August 1929.

Some compensation for the lonely week the Scottish liner Letitia has spent in port here comes in the form of a heavy passenger list ready for her when she sails Friday morning for Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow. Usually the Letitia and her companion liner, the Alaunia, both of the Cunard, Anchor-Donaldson alliance, reach Montreal simultaneously and sail down the St. Lawrence together with their Canadian passengers. This week there has been nothing where the Alaunia should have been. It is explained that it is the first, and the last time during this St. Lawrence season that a liner of the Cunard fleet will lack a companion liner in Canadian waters. 

Each year, officials explained today on of the eight big Canadian service liners of the company must undergo overhauling and her interior fittings brought up-to-date. 

Thus was the Alaunia taken away from the Letitia. But "Letty," manned by a Scottish crew and staff, will have to mourn the absence of the Alaunia even more this winter, although again amply compensated.

The Letitia is going to make a round-the-world cruise as a floating university, complete with students, classrooms, professors and with the added advantage of exhaustive examples of historical and geographical subjects.

Montreal Star, 7  August 1929.

Carrying 31 Cabin, 122 Tourist  Third and 88 Third Class passengers,  Letitia cleared Montreal  "on her own" the  morning of  9  August 1929, called at Liverpool on the 17th  and Glasgow the  following day. 

With a good  list  of 69 Cabin, 247  Tourist  Third  and 357  Third  Class  on her 9  August  1929 westbound sailing, despite there being call for harvesters  that  season owing  to a light grain crop  in the  Dominion, Athenia docked at Montreal the  morning of the 19th.  The Montreal Star reported this would be the last trip  for ship's surgeon, Dr.  D.D.  Dale,  after several years  service,  who was taking up  a shoreside  practice  in London on his return.   Athenia sailed for the Old Country the morning of the 23rd with 22 Cabin, 98 Tourist  Third and 92 Third Class  passengers.   Calling at Belfast on the  31st and Liverpool on 1 September, Athenia reached  the  Clyde  on the  2nd.

The westbound  Letitia  was busy  ship on her 23 August  1929 sailing, going out  with 159 Cabin, 350 Tourist Third  and 542  Third  Class passengers:

The Anchor-Donaldson liner, Letitia, which sails this afternoon from Greenock for Quebec and Montreal, is booked to capacity. Cabin tourist third passengers are mainly returning Canadians and Americans, but A fair number are holidaymakers from this country bound for a tour on the other side. Third passengers, numbering 600, include domestic servants, assisted passage travellers, and a sprinkling of returning visitors.

A party of 170 Canadian Boy Scouts are also travelling third class in a section specially devoted to them. The Letitia will have over 1,100 passengers when she starts across Atlantic after calling at Belfast and Liverpool.

Greenock Telegraph, 23  August 1929. 

The Canadian Scouts aboard were  returning  from the Jamboree at  Arrowe  Park, Birkenhead,  and seen off from Princes Dock  by Lord Blythswood, president of the Glasgow  Scout Association:

They were addressed by Lord Blythswood on the Letitia before their departure.  Standing below the navigating bridge, Lord Blythswood, who is president of the Glasgow Scout Association, spoke to the enthusiastic crowd of boys who faced him. They had swarmed on to every accessible place at the end of the boat deck, and some of the more adventurous spirits clung to funnel stays above their comrades' heads.

Every point made by the speaker was loudly cheered, and at the conclusion of the address the shouts which were raised attracted the attention of the passengers and crews of nearby vessels.

You, who are the scouts of today, will be the men of tomorrow and the backbone of our Empire of the future. You are the Ambassadors of the Empire. You have met representative scouts from all the world over, and can do far more than any statesman to maintain and foster the peace of the world, 

"I wish you God speed and a safe to your native shores, with voyage the added joy of relating your adventures in the linking of hands of the great Brotherhood of the greatest of great Empires of which Britain and Canada form such magnificent part."

 Greenock Telegraph, 24 August 1929.

Credit: Montreal Star, 7 September 1929.

Letitia arrived Montreal the afternoon of 1 September  1929, after passing a burning tug (the Gaetan) in the  River  off Sorel that morning: "Crackling loudly  enough to head on the Letitia  several hundred  yards  away,  a  burning  tug  passed the liner opposite Sorel at 9.15 o'clock  yesterday morning,  the flames reaching high into the sky. The spectacle  presented a novel sight,  as the passengers lined the railing to  watch  the blaze."  (Montreal  Star, 2  September).   Canada's returning Scouts were greeted on arrival by Sir  Arthur Currie:

Original caption: Upper picture shows,  from left to right: Sir Arthur Currie,  who welcomed the Scouts; Glayer Duncan, and  his  father G.R.  Duncan of  Fort  William;  Sanduf  Stewart;  F.T. Duncan, Montreal,  and  Mrs. Nelson Coxon. Lower  picture  shows  Scouts  leaving  ship.  Credit:  Montreal Star,  2  September 1929.

Clad in green and yellow sweaters, 175 boys, representing Canada's contingent of Scouts returned from the World Jamboree at Arrowe Park, England, on the Anchor Donaldson liner Letitia yesterday afternoon, bringing back with them an assortment of interesting memories and innumerable trinkets. They were met at the dock by Sir Arthur Currie, principal of McGill University. As the vessel neared the shore. the Scouts crowded to the ship's railing and broke out into a series of loud shouts, following up with O Canada. Marching in double column with military precision, they disembarked and were whisked way to the station at once.

The Montreal boys, consisting of 13 Scouts and two leaders, under the supervision of Rev. Geoffrey Guiton, of Christ Church Cathedral, returned to homes, escorted by triumphant relatives.

The Montreal Star 2 September 1929.

Credit: Daily Record, 7 September 1929.

With  the  largest group  of  Salvation Army  sponsored  settlers that year, totalling  some  100, Athenia departed  the  Clyde on 6 September 1929.  On departure from Liverpool  and  Belfast,  she  steamed for  the  Dominion with a balanced  list of  settlers and returning  tourists, totalling 115 Cabin,  296 Tourist Third  and  566 Third Class.  Athenia docked at Montreal  on the  morning  of  the  16th. 

Athenia's Montreal call there was marred by the extraordinary  death of two  crew  members on 17 September 1929.  William Mitchell, aged  19, the fourth butcher, was  fatally injured when he slipped and fell down an open hatch.  Taken to Montreal General  Hospital,  he  expired shortly  thereafter. His shipmate, Joseph McLaws,  aged 61, on hearing of  his accident and death,  suffered a fatal heart attack and died  in the  same hospital. Both men were afforded  a double funeral at  the  Sailors'  Institute:

The service at the Institute was conducted by the Rev. Malcoim Campbell, D.D., minister of First Presbyterian Church, and was attended by nearly 500 officers and men in uniform from the SS. Athenia, Ausonia and Regina, and numbers of citizens from our shipping interests. The caskets were draped with Union Jacks and covered with floral tributes sent by the Anchor-Donaldson Line, the officers and crew of the Athenia, the engineer-officers of the Athenia and various other friends from the city. Comspicuous among the floral tributes was a beautiful bunch of Scotch heather placed there by the stewardesses of the Athenia.

The service was most impressive |and included the singing of the hymns "O God Our Help in Ages Past" and "Abide With Me." About 65 men proceeded to the cemetery, where a brief service was held at the graveside. The committal was recited and a verse of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" was sung. After the benediction was pronounced, Bugler Longstaffe, of the Athenia, sounded the "Last Post." A party of men in uniform from the SS. Athenia and Ausonia acted as pallbearers under the direction of Bo's'n O'Connell and Bo's'n's-Mate Reeves. Among those present were: Capt. Malcolm Gillies, marine superintendent of the  the Anchor-Donaldson Line; Malcolm Gillies, Capt. John Black, SS. Athenia; Chief Officer Murray, Second Officer Clinton, Third Officer Stewart, Purser McQuidd, Dr. Lynch, Chief Engineer Carnegie, Second Engineer Jenkins, engineers McGregor, Vass, Napier, Graham and Molson, wireless operators McDonald and Kennedy, Second Steward Rankin, all from the Athenia; Capt. Brown, port warden; Rev. A. W. Drysdale, Presbyterian Immigration chaplain; customs officers P. Keane and D. Farney; J.G. Baxter, victualling superintendent, and W. Blair, of the Robert Reford Co.; J. Ritchie Bell and C. Stanley Baggett. Interment was made in the sailors' plot in- Mount Royal Cemetery.

The Gazette, 20  September  1929.

With 22 Cabin, 98 Tourist Third  and 98 Third Class passengers, Athenia sailed  for the  Old Country  on 23  September 1929 and arrived on  the  Clyde on the 29th. 

Credit: Evening Record,  5 October 1929.

Athenia's   4 October 1929 sailing to Canada from Glasgow,  Liverpool and Belfast went out with 53 Cabin, 216 Tourist  Third and 418 Third Class which was a pretty fair  for  the  time  of year  and her  second to last  trip to Montreal that season where she  docked  the  evening  of the  14th. Among those  landing was the  Rev.  Dr.  A.F.  Scott  Pearson, newly appointed professor of Ecclestastical  History  at Montreal Presbyterian Collage and his family.   The eastbound Athenia sailed at 11:00 a.m. on the 18th with 21 Cabin, 73 Tourist  Third  and 227  Third Class, going  out  with  Ausonia. The Donaldson liner called at Liverpool on the 26th and arrived  Glasgow  the next  day.

St. Lawrence-bound for the  last time on 1 November 1929 from Glasgow  and Liverpool and Belfast on the next day, Athenia  had 26 Cabin, 55 Tourist Third and 313 Third Class aboard and arrived Montreal late on  the 11th in company  of Ausonia. The two  left together  for the last time that season the  morning of the  15th with 11  Cabin,  57 Tourist Third and 165 Third Class.  

Opening  the winter season,  Athenia  departed  Glasgow on 29  November 1929 for  Halifax and St. John,  N.B.  Coming  into the  Nova Scotian  port on 9th, she  landed a solitary Cabin passenger, 11 Tourist  Third  and 152  Third  Class  at a harbour bursting at the  seams with 13 ships,  with 25,000 of cargo  discharge of  which Athenia contributed 2,000  tons, which  was reckoned  to be  the  biggest ever consigned  to  the port on a  trans-Atlantic.  She was occupied  there discharging  until the 11th.

Twenty sturdy English boys, ranging in age from 18 to 20 years, arrived in Montreal from Woodstock and Smith Falls, Ont., early last evening and departed at seven o'clock for Saint John, N.B., by special train, where they will embark for Liverpool on the liner Athenia, this afternoon. 

The group constitutes part of a number of 5,000 boys brought to Canada as farm hands under the Salvation Army Boy's Scheme, and will be joined here by several more boys. At Saint John the party will be further augmented by boys from that district and many parts of the east. 

Trained at the Salvation Army Headly Farms, Essex, England, the lads were sent out here several years ago, and are now on their way home for a vacation of three months, They will return to their jobs in the spring. 

During their stay in this country the boys have saved up sufficient money to make the trip, and carry with them additional savings running Into several hundreds of dollars, and memories of beautiful Canadian farm lands.

As the train slowly pulled into the station, the boys disembarked and were greeted by a delegation of the Salvation Army under Major Dray, of the Immigration Department. They were in good spirits, plainly showing enthusiasm in anticipation of the voyage back home. 

The group includes: Charles Durand, Wm. Coleman, Wm. a Holyhead, Harry Barsley, Harold and Stanley James, two Welsh boys, George Cobb, William Dodd, James Firmin, who has managed to save enough money to carry out his desire to bring his parents back to Canada with him; William Prentice, a city boy who was born in London and never saw the country until he came to the training school in Essex, William Randall, Albert Woodman, Walter Hand, Lionel Cobbelstone, Oliver Ingram, Norman Smallbone, James Halliday, and William Willmott.

Montreal Star,  13 December 1929.

Clearing Halifax on  11 December  1929, Athenia arrived  at St.  John the  next day, leaving  there to  return to  Halifax on  the  afternoon of  the  13th. That morning the  C.N.R.  Special departed Bonaventure  Station, Montreal, for  Halifax.  "This is the last sailing  of a Cunard or  Anchor-Donaldson passenger vessel  from a Canadian port which  will land passengers  on the other side in  good  time  for  the  Christmas  holidays." (Gazette, 14 December).

Scores of happy youngsters on board the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia received a surprise visit from Santa Claus just before the great ship galled from Halifax on Saturday night for Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow. Bearded and garbed in the traditional manner, he dispensed gifts to all the children among the Christmas ship's passengers, after being greeted at the gangway by the liner's officers and Canadian representatives of the line.

The Athenia carried 450 passengers from all parts of the Dominion, destined for various points in Great Britain and Ireland. Among them were parties of Christmas excursionists under the personal escort of George Reddin, of the Cunard Winnipeg office. They Included many large families home-going Britishers, one numbering fourteen.

The sailing the Athenia timed to bring passengers home to the British Isles in plenty of time for the holidays. Passengers of note included Hon. Vernon Cave, of the C.N.R. engineering staff in Toronto, who is going home to spend Christmas in England and will return to Toronto, early in the new year. one of the foremost master bakers in Britain and for years chief baker for the Anchor Donaldson Line, was also among passengers.

After five years' service in Newfoundland in business for himself, he is rejoining the line to act as chief baker on the Letitia on her forthcoming round-the-world cruise.

Gazette, 16 December 1929.

With the largest number of passenger (475) to  embark for  overseas from Halifax since  the war, Athenia sailed late on the evening  of  14  December  1929 with  a total  of 90 Cabin, 362 Tourist  Third  and 319  Third Class  passengers  and 1,500  barrels of  apples and 100 tons of  general cargo  loaded  there.  Athenia  came into  the  Mersey on the  22nd.

Seventeen young farmworkers arrived at Liverpool yesterday from Halifax  in the Cunard-Donaldson liner Athenia to spend Christmas with their parents. During the past five years these young men have been numbered amongst the parties of boys, arranged by the Salvation Army under the free passage scheme for youths, to take up farm work in Canada. Smartly dressed, having paid their own passages, and with Christmas presents for parents in their bags, the lads looked perfectly fit and- well. One of the boys, who was bringing $400 home, said that although he had to work harder in Canada than he had ever thought he would, he was more than ready to go back again. In the Athenia, also, were four young women, household workers in Canada, who had saved enough money to come to spend Christmas with their parents in England.

One hundred the boys who went out from this country under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A. to Canadian farms during last spring and summer, many of them from the depressed mining areas have sent the Migration Department sums of money to pass on to their parents as Christmas presents. The sums sent vary from eight shillings to four pounds, and total £172 10s, an average of nearly £2 a boy. The Y.M.C.A. Migration Department hopes to send out another 600 boys under the same scheme in the coming spring.

Liverpool Daily  Post,  23  December 1929.

Letitia  had almost  a month  off undergoing  a  refit in  anticipation of  her round-the-world cruise. 

A host  of  decorators  and furnishers  have been  working  on  the  liners for  a month getting  her  ready  for  the  American university  student  who  going  around  the  world in her,  leaving Naples on  January  12. 

It  has  been planned that,  on her return to  Glasgow for  the  final touches, an hour  or  two's work will turn  her  into a floating university.

 Some 250 Glasgow  teachers  and students who made a tour of  the liner  prior  to  her  departure  yesterday were  amused at  the  plans for  transforming  the  lower deck rooms into  class  rooms,  with  every  convenience  for students and lecturers.

Two large swimming  baths,  a  gymnasium, an entire  deck covered in with netting for sports, and a cinema,  are some of the attractions for the  students' leisure hours.

Daily  Record, 7  December 1929.

Rather more mundanely, Letitia cleared the Clyde on 7 December 1929 for Halifax  and New  York via  Moville. Arriving at Halifax on the  15th, she  landed five Cabin, 16  Tourist  Third and 49 Third  Class passengers and carrying  on  to New  York, disembarking 22 Cabin, 21  Tourist  Third and 129 Third Class there on the 18th, after being considerably  delayed by thick fog that  paralyzed the port.  Clearing there  on the  20th, Letitia sailed direct to  Glasgow, arriving on  the  29th, landing  her  passengers at South Pier, Princes Dock at 10:00 a.m.. 

In 1929 Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 8,712 passengers and eight crossings to New York/Halifax carrying 1,241 and Letitia made  14 crossings to Montreal carrying 8,732 passenger and five crossings to Halifax/New York carrying 748.

Yorkhill, Glasgow and Prince's Dock was still Scotland's Gateway to the World in the 1930s... here Athenia departs with Anchor Line's Cameronia (left) and Transylvania (right) alongside. Credit: https://www.benjidog.co.uk/

Like all of the 1920s  intermediates,  Athenia and Letitia came of  age in  the troubled 1930s, denied  of much of their  intended  trade  and instead obliged  to  find their  place  and profit  on  roles for which  they  were  never designed or  built  be it  cruising, trooping  or  pilgrimages  or  indeed  periods  of  plain  idleness.  Persevering  through  it  all, they  proved  their  true  qualities as maids  of  all work whilst  still   true to  their duties linking  their  native Scotland  and the Dominion.   By  their varied service in  unaccustomed roles,  Athenia  and Letitia made a  turbulent  era their own and saw Donaldson's  trans-Atlantic  operations returned to  full independence by  mid  decade.

Hard Times. During the Depression, trans-Atlantic traffic and trade, both emigrant and tourist, passenger and cargo, east and westbound, declined dramatically.  With the election of a new Conservative Government in Canada under Prime Minister R.B. Bennett, the 1922 Empire Settlement Act lapsed in 1930 (in 1929, under its provisions, 25,697 Britons  settled in Canada) with resulting substantial and immediate reduction of British immigration to the Dominion. The  figures for  total  passengers  carryings Glasgow-Canada for Anchor-Donaldson  (Donaldson-Atlantic  from  1935  onwards)  show the  impact  felt by  the Depression and resulting severe  reduction in  immigration:

1930   15,218 passengers

1931   10,042 passengers

1932   12,330  passengers

1933   10,008  passengers

1934   11,240  passengers

1935    6,724  passengers

1936    9,230  passengers

1937    11,139  passengers

1938    10,486 passengers 

1939    6,660  passengers

The effects of the Depression were striking: in 1929, Athenia and Letitia between them carried 19,433 passengers.  By 1933 that had dropped 51 per cent to just 9,427.  For the associated Anchor Line, it was even worse with total carryings going from 26,913 in 1930 to 9,593 in 1933.  Anchor had, in fact, always had one more ship than they knew what to do with after U.S. immigration restrictions killed off its Mediterranean-New York route.  Out of necessity, they had developed their cruise business out of America very early on, a trade that the two-ship Donaldson operation had hitherto ignored.

As the slump set it, Donaldson prospected more for alternate employment, especially in the long winter off-season. Despite  or  rather  on account of  the  economic  rigours  of  the  decade, it  was in  many  ways  the  most  interesting phase  of  these ships  careers  to  date.  Letitia  in particular due to her winter charters to the  Hellenic Travellers' Club  beginning  in 1933 and lasting through to  1939,  which had  hitherto associated with  the  carriage  of Scottish  farm  boys,  domestics  and Presbyterian ministers suddenly appeared in the society pages of  The  Tatler  and The Bystander as the  most exclusive  and sought after of cruise  ships.  Athenia, too, found  occasional employment  on Catholic   pilgrimage cruises  to Lourdes  (Le  Verdon  in  France) and  trooping.  Moreover, the Depression had "flipped" the balance of Donaldson's trans-Atlantic passenger traffic so that by 1933, their eastbound carryings were far greater than westbound and assumed a more tourist orientation which, at least, was ideal for its already well developed Cabin and Tourist Third Cabin product.

Anchor  Donaldson poster,  late 1920s. Credit: University  of  Glasgow archives.

1930

For Donaldson,  the sudden onset  of  troubled  times  came within  the  first  days of  1930 when,  with  nary a  notice  or  announcement, Letitia's  ambitious  world  cruise was  quietly  cancelled.  Indeed,  as early  as 4 January 1930 the  Southern  Daily  Echo reported  that  Letitia "will  sail  from  Birkenhead with  details for  India,"  which did  not materialise as well.  Instead she  was  listed for  a 1 February  departure from  Glasgow  to New York on the  Anchor  Line  service.   This, too,  was cancelled by mid  month  and  Letitia remained  laid  up in  Glasgow, initially  at Princes Dock and from 14  January,  Shieldhall.

On 5 March 1930  Letitia was first listed for  her actual return to  service:  28  March  Glasgow and Liverpool (29)  to  Halifax via Liverpool,  Moville and  St. John. She went out  with three Cabin, 31 Tourist  Third  and 304 Third Class  passengers, including 44 British boys for  farm work and another 24 lads from  the  Quarrier Orphan Homes at Bridge  of  Weir.  She arrived  at  Halifax at 7:00  a.m.  On 6  April,   in company  with  Caronia and an hour  before Ausonia. After refuelling,  Letitia sailed for  St. John  on the  7th.  Eastbound,  she  cleared there on the  12th  for  Halifax, Belfast and Glasgow.  On departure  from  Halifax,  Letitia  had five Cabin, 18 Tourist Third and 27  Third Class passengers. She arrived in  the  Clyde on  the  20th.

Hard times meant more advertising and marketing. For 1930, Donaldson commissioned a delightful series of advertisements for the Canadian market highlighting the "Scottish country house" charms, Scottish hospitality and "ocean den" qualities of Athenia and Letitia.

Athenia, denied  the  prospect of voyaging round the  world that  winter  and spared  the  disappointment of  it  being  cancelled,  spent a quiet  winter  laid up in Glasgow.   Following  drydocking,  she opened  the Donaldson St. Lawrence  season on her 18  April 1930 sailing from Glasgow.  She went out with Minnedosa and would  be among the veritable flotilla  of British  liners  coursing to the Dominion, vying for  the  honour  of being the first up  the  river  to Montreal.  Aboard the  Dominion were 18  Cabin, 82 Tourist  Third  and 576 Third Class with 500 new settlers. Among those aboard  was Frank Ogden,  leader of  the Lads Club in Aberdeen which  had brought more than 100 boys to new lives in the  Dominion. Liverpool, too,  was busy with liner that weekend  and  when Athenia  called  there  on  the  19th,  she was joined by  Caronia,  inbound from New York. Athenia came  into  Montreal on the  28th  in company with  Ascania and joined by  Laurentic  and  Calgaric.  

Athenia  and  Ascania  cleared  Montreal  together  at 10:00 a.m. on 2 May 1930 for  the  Old  Country,  and anticipating the  onset of  the  busy eastbound season, the  Dominion liner  went  out  with 32 Cabin, 127  Tourist  Third and 208  Third Class  passengers. Calling at  Liverpool  on  the  11th, Athenia made  the  Clyde  the next day.

Credit: Daily Record, 3  May  1930.

Bound for  the St.  Lawrence the first  time  that season,  Letitia  sailed from  Glasgow  on  3  May 1930  and after  her  Belfast  and  Liverpool calls,  had 26 Cabin, 95 Tourist Third and 400 Third  Class  passengers,  including a party  of 10 British  Boy  Scouts, aged 14-17, bound for  the Ontario Agricultural College,  Kemptville, as winners of  the  Whitehead Scholarship.   Letitia  arrived at  Montreal  the morning  of  12th, after calling at Quebec  the  previous day, berthing minutes apart in company  with  Ausonia.  For  unspecified reasons, both ships made their  departures for  Britain  a  day earlier than usual,  going  on Thursday (15th)  rather than the  Friday.  Letitia  cleared her  slip  at 5:30 p.m. with 25 Cabin,  157  Tourist Third and 115 Third Class passengers, among them over 100  member  of  the  Toronto Sons  of  England  Association on their  fifth  annual excursion to  the Old  Country.    Letitia arrived in the  Clyde on  the  25th.

Departing Glasgow on 16 May 1930 and Liverpool  and Belfast the following  day, Athenia's second voyage  of  the  season attracted 26  Cabin, 83 Tourist Third  and 395 Third Class  passengers and little press  attention,  the growing economic  slump, the end of  the  Empire  Settle  Scheme and the  diminished  opportunities  in the  Dominion  ended the  cheery departure  photos and  hopeful accounts  once  lavished  on these  ships by  the  Clydebank papers. Canadian papers were  a bit more  attentive  and upbeat  for  a while and when  Athenia docked at  Montreal "in a drizzling  rain" at 7:00 a.m.  On the  26, the  Montreal Star  reported that "At  Quebec Athenia discharged over  400  third  class  passengers the majority being for  absorption  in  Quebec,  Ontario  and the  best, and  a  sprinkling bound  for  points  in the  west. A number  of  these  passengers are  destined  for settlement in  the  Canadian West."  Outbound on the 30th,  again in company  with  Ascania, Letitia  pulled  out with 55 Cabin,  283 Tourist Third  and 269 Third  Class passengers. Getting into the  Mersey at 4:00 p.m. on 7 June, Athenia reached  the Clyde  the  following day.

Among the 25  Cabin, 97 Tourist Third and 489 Tourist  Third  passengers sailing westwards in  Letitia  on 30 May  1930 were nearly 100  settlers, young men and families, sponsored by  the  Salvation Army, half embarking  at Glasgow  and  half at Liverpool. The  youngest passenger was eight-month-old  Zoe Leger,  travelling  alone to join her  parents in Canada and in the  care  of  Miss  Rose  Sey who was going out  as  a  domestic  and  volunteered  to  act as the  baby's  guardian.  Letitia made Quebec on the morning of 8  June, landing her  480  settlers there, 294 destined for  Ontario, 89 Quebec, 46  Western Canada,  45 Maritimes and 15 for  the  U.S..  Letitia  berthed at Montreal  that  evening. She was one of four liners sailing  on the  13th--  Duchess of York, Ausonia and  Megantic being  the  others-- and  Letitia  went  out  with 99 Cabin, 381 Tourist  Third and 168 Third Class.  She arrived at Glasgow  on the  22nd.

When Athenia  departed Glasgow on 13 June 1930  for  Canada with 30  Cabin, 58 Tourist Third  and 201 Third Class, the  Daily Record managed an old fashioned write  up  on one of  her "colonists" bound for  the  Dominion:

"Never too old at seventy" is the motto of Mr. Alexander Henderson, of Aberdeen, a septuagenarian colonist passenger who sails to-day for Canada by the Anchor-Donaldson liner, Athenia, from Glasgow. 

He is travelling quite unaccompanied, and when he arrives at the port of Quebec he has to face a five days' rail way journey of 3,000 miles, across the North American Continent, to the Pacific Coast. 

But then it is all worth while for Mr. Henderson is looking forward to retirement amidst the blossomed valleys of New Westminster, British Colombia, after many years of toil as a postman in Aberdeen.

Daily Record,  13  June 1930

Athenia docked  at Montreal  at  9:00 p.m. on 23 June 1930. Among those  disembarking  there was Austrian violinist Yvon Chircosky, who was carrying a prized  Stradivarius  violin,  valued at $30,000, with  him for his concert  tour of  American  cities.  Homewards, Athenia sailed  at 11:00 a.m.  on the 27th  with a good  list  of  132 Cabin, 449 Tourist Third and 323 Third Class. The  "Lonely  Letty" went out  without  her usual  companion Ascania  whose sailing  was put back to  accommodate  a large party of  Rotarians  returning  from  their  Chicago convention.   After calling at Belfast the evening of 5 July and  Liverpool the  morning of  the  6th, Athenia reached the Clyde late that  same day.

Letitia's list for  Canada on 27 June 1930  was augmented by  the annual exodus  of  teachers bound for  holidays in the Dominion and as the  previous season, the Cambridge Blue Five Orchestra specially  engaged  for the  trip who also  had  a wireless  engagement  during  the  turnaround in  Montreal.  

With the prospect of two months' holiday and not a care in the world a large number of the teaching profession of both sexes are embarking on the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia at Princes Dock to-morrow Friday evening for Canada and U.S.A. Old timers amongst the crew of the popular Clyde liner regard the first annual sailing following the close of the Scottish schools for the summer vacation as the jolliest in the whole year. There is always some new form of amusement on board, and although the crew are naturally barred from participating they equally enjoy the fun from their position 26 onlookers. The cinema on the open deck at night is believed to have started many a romance; and on the voyage this year the usual aide to mild flirtation are to be added to by the Cambridge University Blue Five Orchestra engaged specially for the trip. 

The talented performances of the 'varsity syncopators have earned for them an engagement on the wireless when the Letitia arrives in Montreal.

Greenock Telegraph, 26  June 1930.

Steaming westward with 46 Cabin, 153 Tourist Third and 139 Third, Letitia  arrived Quebec  the  morning of 5 July  1930 and Montreal  the next day. Homewards on the 11th, Letitia and Ausonia were  again a "matched  pair," with 58  Cabin, 279 Tourist Third and 183 Third Class aboard  the  Donaldson  flagship. Calling at  Belfast the  evening of the  18th and  Liverpool  the  next morning, Letitia made  the Clyde  the  evening of  the 19th.

Athenia, for Canada and Caledonia for  New York,  both sailed from Glasgow on 12 July 1930:

No fewer than five  big ships of  the  Anchor and Anchor-Donaldson Lines will have been engaged in embarking and discharging passengers at Glasgow harbour this week after the Caledonia  sails tomorrow.

Among the  arrivals have been the Britannia, from Iceland, the  California yesterday, from New York; and the Antonia with passengers from Canada, is due in the Clyde to-morrow. 

The  departures are the  Athenia for  Canada to-day,  and the Caledonia  for New York to-morrow. In tonnage, something  like 61,000 gross tons is  represented.  

Daily  Record, 11 July 1930.

Credit: Telegraph-Journal, 19 July  1930.

Calling at Liverpool at  1:00  p.m. on the  12  July  1930, Athenia was approaching the  northwest  coast of  Belle  Isle  on the 18th  when Capt.  James Black wired that he had  gone to the assistance  of  the  British cargo  steamer Dalryan  11  miles  of  Belle  Isle  after  she  had been  stranded  on  an ice berg in heavy fog and  had  been standing  by  in the  same fog for  24  hours.  He reported that Dalryan  had two  holds  leaking  and would attempt  to  tow her  off  when  the  weather  clears. Dalryan (2,821 tons)  left  Swansea  a  week previously on her  maiden voyage  with  a cargo or 7,300 tons  of Welsh anthracite, commanded  by Capt. John Stevenson. Managing to  pull herself  free on her  own power,  after 30 hours on the  berg,  at noon on the  18th, the next day it was reported that Dalryan was proceeding  to  Montreal with Athenia as  an  escort.  

Credit: Montreal Star, 20  July  1930.

A full account  of  the  incident awaited  Athenia's  arrival at Montreal on the  morning  of  21 July  1930:

Credit: Montreal Star,  21 July  1930.

A vivid description of the movements on the collier Dalryan, which was caught in an ice-berg in the Straits of Belle Isle, and the reaction of passengers on board the Athenia which stood by ready to offer assistance, was obtained in an interview with Chief Officer A. Murray, of the Scotch liner this morning. "The first notice of the plight of the Dalryan came to us about 9.30 p.m. on Thursday evening," Mr. Murray said. "At the time we were steaming slowly in a heavy fog through the Belle Isle Straits and had reached Pointe Amour when an S.O.S. reached us from the collier. The report said, Struck an iceberg and held fast in ice. Assistance required.

"From the reports which reached us, It appeared that the ship was 50 miles astern, between Cape Norman and Belle Isle. Capt. Black at once ordered the Athenia back, and we slowly turned and made our way in the tog, looking for the grounded freighter. From time to time it was found necessary to wire the Dalryan to send up rockets to light the way, and we finally sighted her about mid-night after a hard search in the dense fog."

Mr. Murray, said that during the entire trip,  passengers on the  Athenia lined the decks, refusing to go to sleep. "The next message from the Dalryan stated that the men and boats were all ready in case the ship sunk,' Mr. Murray continued. "All night we remained in the fog about a mile off, waiting for the clouds to lift, keeping as close as possible and always on guard in case the stricken vessel should suddenly go under.

"Then when the weather cleared about 9:30 on Friday morning, we found that small icebergs were clustered all around us. During the night we were in constant communication. A late message from the freighter said that they would try to get off when the fog cleared, as they were afraid of running into something else in the mist. "

About 10:30 on Friday morning, the Dalryan floated off, after considerable work on the part of her engines. She was found to be very much by the head and her pumps were going full force. The crew were all in lifebelts ready for a quick departure. Captain Black was asked to stand by as escort until it was determined whether the ship was too badly damaged to proceed. 

"Slowly making her way among the icebergs, the Dalryan went ahead while the Athenia followed in the rear. A further message asked for bearings to straighten out her compasses, and then noon Friday, we left her after receiving notice that an attempt would made to reach Quebec. At 1:30 p.m. 'all o.k.' reached a us, dismissing our services," the chief officer concluded.

Montreal  Star,  21 July 1930.

Credit: Montreal Star, 21 July  1930.

Athenia had come  over with 52 Cabin, 129 Tourist Third and 179 Third  Class  passengers  and departure from Montreal the morning  of 25 July 1930  went out "in a drizzle of rain" with 51 Cabin, 132 Tourist Third and 200 Third Class. The day  before Dalryan arrived in port. As for  Athenia,   she concluded a most  eventful voyage  at Glasgow  on 3  August.

Sailing from  Princes  Dock, Glasgow,   on 25 July 1930 "with her biggest complement this  season  of Scottish tourists," (Greenock  Telegraph, 25 July),  Letitia  had,  after Liverpool  and Belfast,  a fair list  of 73 Cabin, 261 Tourist Third and 361 Third  Class  passengers for  the  Dominion. She berthed at Montreal on 3  August. Homewards,  Letitia  cleared on the 8th  with 22 Cabin, 140 Tourist Third  and 204 Third Class and arrived Glasgow on the  17th.

Embarking on a rather  less  adventurous  westbound  crossing  than her  last, Athenia  and  her  98 Cabin, 315 Tourist Third and 211 Third Class passengers were  Canada-bound on 8  August 1930.   In reporting her  departure, the  Greenock  Telegraph  (8 August)  reported that  "Most  of  the 500 passengers sailing  in the Athenia  are returning Canadian and American visitors  who  are  making  their way home after  several  weeks on this  side. Scottish  emigrants  to Canada have  not  been coming  forward  for  the  last  month  or two but  things  in this  direction are gradually improving,  and  the  Athenia  carries a  fair  number. Among  them  is  a party  of  Ministry  of  Labour  trainees." Among her  passengers was Dr.  Neil Munro, famous  novelist  and journalist.  Athenia arrived at  Montreal late on the  17th.  She sailed  on the return  leg  of  her voyage on the  22nd, with 37 Cabin, 138 Tourist Third and 196 Third Class and arrived  at  Glasgow  on the  31st.

Benefitting from the traditional and yet  unabated  returning tourist exodus for  home, Letitia's 22 August 1930 westbound crossing attracted  143 Cabin, 370 Tourist Third and 319 Third Class passengers.   Arriving at Montreal  on the 31st, Letitia's  complement was  among  the more  than  4,000  returning  tourists that weekend aboard her,  Doric,  Megantic  and Ausonia.  Homewards on 5th, Letitia cleared with 27  Cabin, 112 Tourist  Third and 228 Third Class  passengers. Calling at  Liverpool  on the  13th, Letitia arrived Glasgow  the  next day.

In the absence  of  immigrants, there were  enough returning  tourist  travellers  to  give  Athenia enough  trade on her 5 September 1930 westbound  crossing with 70 Cabin, 339 Tourist Third  and 235  Third  Class aboard.   She  made  Montreal the  evening of  the 12th. In company  with Duchess of  Richmond and Ascania,  Athenia cleared  for  home  the morning of the  19th with  14  Cabin,  100 Tourist Third  and 185 Third Class, returning to the  Clyde  on  the 28th.

Catching the last of the tourists homeward traffic,  Letitia  had 61  Cabin, 207 Tourist Third and 192  Third Class aboard after clearing Glasgow,  Liverpool and Belfast on 19-20 September 1930. She reached the  other side on the 28th. Going out with a predictably small list of 26 Cabin, 72 Tourist  Third and 177 Third Class on 3 October, Letitia called at Liverpool at  10:00 a.m.  On the  11th  and  reached  the  Clyde the  next day.

Most institutions which send boys to Canada have been asked to call a halt meantime, owing to a temporary falling off in the absorption of settlers, Dr. Cossar, who trains young Scots lads at his farm at Craigielinn, near Paisley, has been granted special permission to send out 30 boys before November 15 to work on farms in New Brunswick. The first four of these will sail to-day from Glasgow with the Anchor-Donaldson liner, Athenia. Each boy has his fare paid and is provided with an outfit land a sum of money to carry on with.

Daily  Record,  3 October 1930.

Credit: The Montreal  Star, 20 October  1930.

The  traditional  slack  season and  the settling in of depression that autumn  was reflected in  passenger  lists and  Athenia's  for  Canada on 3  October  1930,  even with the lucky four Cossar lads, was a scant 52  Cabin, 216 Tourist Third and 123 Third  Class.  She  got  into  Montreal late  on the  12th.  Clearing for the  Old Country  on the 17th,  Athenia  had 15 Cabin, 64 Tourist  Third  and 191 Third  Class  passengers.  One  of Donaldson's regular outbound cargoes were  Canadian  eggs and she  went  out  with 1,300 cases.  Athenia reached  the  Mersey the  morning of the  25th and the Clyde at 2:00 p.m.  the  following afternoon.

On her final crossing to the St.  Lawrence for  the  year,  Letitia sailed  from Glasgow on 17 October 1930."Scottish cooks are evidently welcomed with open arms in Canada. Many young women left for the  Dominion last night on board the Anchor-Donaldson liner  Letitia to  settle on homesteads in the  prairie  provinces." (Greenock Telegraph, 18  October). In all, she left with 27  Cabin,  139 Tourist  Third and 110 Third Class aboard.  She reached  Montreal late on the  26th. Bidding  adieu to the  St. Lawrence,  Letitia  cleared on the 31st with Ausonia, the  Donaldson liner  having aboard 28  Cabin, 79 Tourist Third and 212  Third Class  passengers. Touching at Liverpool  on 8  November, Letitia arrived Glasgow  that evening.

"This  ship, on her  return from Canada, will in all probability lay up  for  an overhaul,"   correctly  surmised the Daily  Record on 31 October 1930, the  day  Athenia  sailed on  her  last voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  On clearing Belfast, she  had eight  Cabin, 60  Tourist  Third  and 81 Third  Class passengers aboard and berthed  at  Montreal  the  morning of the  10th. On the 13th  the  ship hosted a luncheon in  honour  of Captain M.N.  Gillies,  marine superintendent of Anchor-Donaldson Line,  Montreal, who was retiring.   Athenia cleared the morning  of  the  13th with Ascania, both making their  last such  departures that  season.  The Donaldson liner had 10  Cabin,  34 Tourist Third  and 181 Third  Class and arrived at Glasgow  on the  24th.

Making  her first (and only) voyage  on the winter run to  Halifax, via  St.  John, Letitia departed  Glasgow on  27 November 1930 although  given her  passenger list-- none in Cabin, two  in Tourist Third and six in  Third-- one wonders  why  she  bothered.  It was, in fact,  the  smallest list  she would every carry  on a scheduled voyage  in her  35-year  career.  Indeed, on her arrival  at Halifax on 6  December, The Montreal Star found  the  50  Russian  finches, consigned  to  Mr.  J.  Laforest  of  Quebec  of more  interest, "the  animals were  fed on Scotch  porridge during  the  entire  trip  from  Belfast, Glasgow and Liverpool."  Departing  that  day  for  St. John,  N.B.,  Letitia arrived there on  the  7th.  Departing there on the  12th, Letitia made  Halifax  the  next  day.  Having  essentially  deadheaded  all  the  way  across,  she  was  at least  afforded  a fair  list  of  15  Cabin, 100 Tourist  Third and 320  Third  Class, including the  Earl of Aylesford, on her  Christmas sailing  from Halifax that  commenced that evening.  Stopping  at  Liverpool  the  evening  of  the  20th, Letitia  was in her home port well in  time  for Christmas the  next  day.

For 1930, Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 7,264 passengers and Letitia completed 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 6,896 passengers and 4 crossings to Halifax carrying 833.

Tourist Third Cabin continued to be focus of Donaldson's advertising in 1931 and certainly Athenia's club-like Smoking Room, once the preserve of Cabin Class passengers, was enticing. Credit: The Gazette, 8 April 1931.

1931

Both ships were again idle in the winter and laid up in Shieldhall Basin, Glasgow, as business slacked off considerably for the 1931 season.

The St Lawrence River now being clear of ice and open to navigation, the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia has left her winter position in the Shieldhall basin at Glasgow for Princes Dock, where she has been prepared for her opening voyage to Quebec and Montreal. She will be followed by a sister ship, the Letitia.

The Herald, 24  April 1931.

By 1 April  1931,  Athenia was  in Princes  Dock, Glasgow,  loading  for  the first  voyage  of  the season to  the  St.  Lawrence commencing on the  24th,  Antonia inaugurating  Cunard's  share  of the joint  service on the 18th.   Andania would  follow on 2 May  and finally  Letitia  on the  8th.

The Athenia sails to-day for Canada with a fairly large complement of Scottish settlers. Agricultural workers from Banffshire and Aberdeenshire, in family parties of 11 and 12 members, are included in the passenger list. They have been selected by the Canadian Government to take over farms still available under the New Brunswick Colonisation Scheme. Also aboard is  a number of boys for farm training in Regina.

The  Herald,  24 April 1931.

Athenia had 10 Cabin, 101 Tourist  Third  and 191  Third  Class for  her  first  voyage to Canada, which the  Greenock  Telegraph allowed was "a  moderately large complement of  Scottish settlers," and in reality,  reflected  the  almost complete  cessation of  meaningful  westward  immigration as the  Depression truly  set in North  America, and indeed,  occasioned reverse immigration  as conditions were worse  "on the other side"  as  the  boom turned  bust  in dramatic  fashion.  Athenia docked  at Montreal  the evening of 3  May.  With 16 Cabin,  64 Tourist Third and 140 Third Class to her  credit,  Athenia  sailed  for  home at 10:00  a.m.on the  8th, going out with  Ascania. Among her  passengers were a couple, Mr. and Mrs. J. Laming making their  second round  the  world  tour which  commenced  in Australia. Athenia reached Liverpool on the morning of  the 17th and the Clyde the next morning.

Drydocked  at Barclay,  Curle  at  the  beginning of the  month, Letitia  resumed  service with  her sailing  from Glasgow to the St. Lawrence on 9  May  1931 "with a fair number  of  Scottish  settlers  for  the Dominion.  This  is the  liner's  first sailing following  a period  of five  months inactivity in Shieldhall Dock,  Glasgow. Advantage was taken, however,  of  this  laying up  period by  having Letitia  overhauled,  and any  improvements, where necessary, effected in the passenger  accommodation." (Greenock Telegraph, 8  May).  She went over  with just  13 Cabin, 63 Tourist  Third  and  59  Third  Class  passengers.  Letitia berthed at Montreal  at 8:00  p.m. on the  18th, beating the Alaunia in by two  hours.  Going out on the 22nd with  Lady Rodney, Alaunia  and Duchess  of Richmond, Letitia had 22 Cabin, 132 Tourist Third and 99 Third Class passengers.   Letitia arrived Liverpool on  the 31st and Glasgow  the next day.

Among the 15 Cabin, 75  Tourist Third and 105  Third Class  passengers on Athenia's  23 May 1931 westbound crossing were two children from  Dundee, aged 3 and 5,  travelling alone to join their  parents in Toronto.   She  also carried the last  of  the  small quota of farmers sponsored  by  the  New Brunswick Colonisation Scheme,  one of  the  last remaining such susbidised  programmes. When Athenia docked  at  Montreal at  the ungodly hour  of 3:00 a.m. on 1  June,  her  passengers got  to  finish  their  night's sleep  and  have  breakfast  before landing later  that  morning.  Outbound  for the Old  Country on the 5th, Athenia numbered  among  her 75 Cabin, 160 Tourist  Third  and 230 Third Class  passengers the  Argentine  tennis  team which  finished a series of matches in North  America  and  now bound  for competition at  Wimbledon and  the continent. Athenia would be  the  first eastbound liner that  season to take the  shorter route through  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle. She put in a quick passage,  arriving  at Belfast at 10:00 a.m. on the 13th, Liverpool that  evening at 7:00 p.m.  And Glasgow the  following  morning.

That  year's Civic  Week in  Glasgow brought crowds and rain and among  the attractions to half-day crowds and school children getting a  holiday, were tours of Caledonia and Letitia on 2 June 1931, attracting no fewer  than 14,000 visitors with 6,000 clambering over Letitia lying at Prince's Dock. 

The shipping display in the harbour was another great attraction, and, protected from the weather in the saloons, lounges, and cabing of the fine Atlantic liners, the sightseers manifestly enjoyed the inspection of the luxurious surroundings in which the modern ocean traveller forgets his seasickness. Some 8000 persons were admitted to the Anchor liner Caledonia, berthed at Yorkhill Quay, and over 6000 were shown through the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, which is moored in Prince's Dock. 

A considerable number of those visitors were boys from the Western School Management area, in which the schools' were closed for the day. The High School and Hillhead sent many emissaries of intelligent youth, and no more avid students of the romantic environment in which men follow the long, long trail, the trail that is ever new, could possibly be mustered in the space.

The Herald, 3  June 1931.

Rather less crowded on her departure  for  Canada on 6 June 1931, Letitia went out with 18 Cabin, 77 Tourist Third  and 92 Third Class  passengers. She was the  first liner to  successfully negotiate the  Belle  Isle  Strait  that  season on  the  11th  followed  by Alaunia the  next day and  tied up  at  Montreal's Shed 3 the  morning  of  the  14th.  With her first quota  of  the  annual  tourist busy season (relatively  speaking in  these  early Depression times), Letitia  cleared Montreal  at 11:00  a.m. on the  19th  with 39 Cabin, 244 Tourist  Third and 231 Third Class passengers  which was  indeed  a  fair  list  indeed.  She  arrived at Liverpool on the  27th and  Glasgow the next day. 

Continuing the new Depression era  trend  of  better  eastbound  traffic  than  westbound,  Athenia's 20 June 1931 list  for Canada  totalled just  16 Cabin, 69 Tourist   and 39 Third Class. "Owing to United  States immigration  regulations  and Canadian restrictions on  agricultural workers, the  liners  are carrying  few  settlers," observed  The  Herald (19 June) whilst the  Greenock  Telegraph  the  following  day, reminded that if  normal  conditions  prevailed  as just  a year  ago,  she  and Transylvania (bound for New  York)  "would  be  sailing practically  full." Ausonia and Athenia were the matched pair again that season  and both  docked within  an hour  of one another  shortly  after midnight on  the 29th, landing their  passengers at 7-8:00 a.m. later that morning.  Dominion Day saw all of  the vessels  in harbour  "dressed" for the  occasion including Duchess  of York ("presenting the finest appearance,"), Ausonia, Montcalm, Beaverdale, Lady  Somers and  Athenia dressed overall.  Athenia sailed eastward on  the  3rd  with 75 Cabin, 281 Tourist   and 204 Third Class aboard. Calling at Liverpool first thing  on the  11th,  Athenia arrived on the Clyde  that  evening.

Credit: Gazette, 16  July  1931.

There were 22  Cabin Class, 107 Tourist    and 67  Third  Class travellers  to  Canada aboard  Letitia  from  Glasgow,  Liverpool  and  Belfast on 3-4 July  1931. Letitia got them into  Quebec the morning  of the  12th  and Montreal that  evening.   During her call there, she  hosted a luncheon for  officers of the French  naval sloop Ville D'Ys, also  attended by  Edouard  Carteron, consul-general of  France in Montreal. Letitia departed  Montreal on the 17th  with 33 Cabin, 130 Tourist   and 127 Third  Class  passengers  and arrived Glasgow  the  morning of the 26th.

Athenia's meagre list of 15 Cabin, 110 Tourist  and 107 Third  from Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast on 16 July 1931 included the Scottish delegation, numbering  34,  to  the  world conference of  the  Y.M.C.A. in  Toronto. Athenia berthed at Montreal on the morning of  the 26th. To spur the tourist trade, new reduced roundtrip excursion fares of $129  in Third Class came into effect that summer through 15 October.  This seemed to work  for there were a total of 19 Cabin, 88 Tourist Third and 433 Third Class tickets sold for Athenia's 1 August eastbound  departure.  It was a busy day  for  the  port with four  liners  departing,  the others being Ausonia, Duchess of Bedford and Montcalm.  Included in Athenia's cargo  was the first consignment of  Canadian apples-- 18,000 cases--  that season. She reached the  Clyde on the 10th.

Dominion-bound  again on 31 July 1931, Letitia went out from Glasgow with "a fair proportion  of Scottish tourists  for  Canada  and the  United  States. Holiday  traffic  westbound across  the Atlantic is  now  past the  height  of  the  season, and subsequent sailings  from Glasgow will be confined  mostly  to  returning  American  and Canadian  tourists." (The Herald, 31  July).   In all, Letitia  had aboard 36 Cabin, 156 Tourist   and 101 Third Class  passengers and her  list  was augmented  by  a number of  returning Rotarian  from  Chicago who had  attended  the  International Congress of Rotarians  in Austria.  Letitia  got into Montreal  early on the morning of  9  August.  Departing  there  on the  14th  for  home, she had 31  Cabin, 95 Tourist   and 125 Third Class aboard and arrived  in the  Clyde  on the 18th.  Her cargo  discharged  there  included 1,000  tons of  general, 11,500  cases  of  applies and 2,700  tons of  grain  and flour.  

With little  to  report of  her few westbound human passengers that that  season, the Clydebank press  relished Athenia's  unique animal passenger list going out on 18 August 1931 for  the  Canadian National Live Stock Exhibition in Toronto:

Malted milk and honey; live mealworms; ripe pears and sponge cake; minnows, mice, and raw eggs. 

These are items in a menu, not extracted from some crazy fairy tale, but actually in the victualling of the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia for her voyage from Glasgow to Montreal, beginning on August 18 with a strange passenger list which includes leopards and marinosette monkeys, iguanas and white mice. 

This live stock consignment is for the Canadian National Live Stock Exhibition which opens in Toronto on August 28 and is being despatched hy a Glasgow naturalist to be on a profit sharing basis. 

The sunbirds are to be fed on malted milk and honey; the birds of paradise on live mealworms, ripe pears, and sponge cake; the lizards and alligators on minnows; "Bebe," a pet leopard, on 8 lb. of fresh meat daily; "Mick,' the chimpanzee, on two dozen bananas, apples, and oranges daily; vegetables; "Kinky" the  little kangaroo, mice; and the iguanas on fresh, raw eggs

Greenock Telegraph, 10 August 1931.

Also of  interest among her cargo was the  latest model  racing yacht being brought  over to compete  in in the Canada Cup Race by  the Royal St. Lawrence  Yacht Club:

Details were made available this morning of one of the latest type of racing yachts which is being brought to Montreal on the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia to compete in North America. She will be here sometime during the week-end. An eight metre racing yacht she has been built for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and will be used in competition for the Canada Cup at Rochester, N.Y., next year. Her design has been according to the instructions of George H. Gooderham, last year's commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and now chairman of the management committee.

Her dimensions are: length 48 feet, water line 80 feet, beam 8 feet 6 inches. 

She will be taken to Toronto by one of the Canada Steamship Lines vessels, possibly the City of Montreal, on Tuesday.

Montreal Star, 21 August 1931.

Athenia sailed on 14  August 1931, numbering among her human passengers 71 Cabin, 201 Tourist   and 183 Third Class and arrived  Montreal on the 23rd. Homewards at 11:00 a.m. on the 28th, Athenia cleared  with 46 Cabin, 131 Tourist  and 228 Third Class passengers.  Calling at Belfast very early on 5 September and Liverpool later the same day, she made the  Clyde on the  6th.

It  was  not  just  tourists  returning  to Canada  and the United  States aboard  Letitia  from Glasgow  on 28 August 1931:  "Four children,  whose  ages  range from 18 months to  six  years,  are travelling unaccompanied in the  Letitia  which  sails  this  forenoon. They  will be claimed by  the  parents  when the ships reaches Quebec and taken to  their  new  homes in  various  parts  of  Canada." (The  Herald, 28 August).  On departure from Liverpool and Belfast, she  went over  with 63  Cabin, 229 Tourist   and 139  Third  Class passengers.  Another unaccompanied child, Stewart Kelso,  who  embarked  at  Liverpool and bound  for  Canada to  join his  mother  and stepfather, celebrated  his third birthday  at  sea  on the 31st.   Letitia  landed  her  young charges and other  passengers  at Quebec and  Montreal on  6 September.  Letitia, along with Lady Rodney  and Alaunia, sailed  from Montreal  the morning  of the  11th, the  Dominion liners having aboard 17 Cabin, 53  Tourist   and 175 Third Class passengers.  Letitia put in a capital  passage across on this trip. Making Belfast at 5:00 p.m. on the 18th, she called the  next morning at Liverpool, to  reach  Glasgow that  evening, a full 12 hours ahead of schedule.  She had 350 tons of fruit, 1,300  tons of grain and 1,700  of  general cargo to discharge.

There was not much a  returning tourist "rush" that season, certainly  compared with previous years, with  but 60 Cabin,  151  Tourist Third and 150 Third Class booked on Athenia's 11 September 1931 voyage to  Canada.  "Scotland is now  almost  depleted  of  her tourists from across the Atlantic,"observed  The Herald that day.  After  "an uneventful trip,"(Gazette), Athenia made Montreal the  morning of the 21st.  Bound for the Old Country  aboard her on the  25th were 32 Cabin, 116 Tourist   and 246 Third Class passengers  who  landed on  3-4 October.

Catching the last  of  the returning vacationists, Letitia  cleared  for  the  Dominion on 25-26 September 1931 with 39 Cabin, 112 Tourist   and 141 Third Class  passengers.  Letitia got  into Montreal on 4 October, arriving with Montrose. Outbound at 10:00 a.m. on the  9th,  she  went out  with Alaunia,  Letitia  having 11 Cabin, 71 Tourist  and 313 Third  Class for  the Old Country. Reaching Belfast at 3:00 p.m.  on the 17th, Liverpool at  7:00 a.m. the following morning, Letitia  arrived  in the  Clyde  that  evening.

"The numbers of tourists  returning  from the  Clyde  to  Canada  are still being well maintained, probably  due  to  the improved  weather in September persuading  them to prolong their stay,"  said the  Daily  Record on 9 October  1931 reporting the  departure  of  Athenia  for  Montreal, going  out  with  14 Cabin, 135  Tourist  and 122 Third  Class  passengers.  She reached Montreal early on the 19th.  Passengers ebbed but  the  flow  of liners in and out  of  the St. Lawrence did not  and Athenia was one of three  ships,  the others being Duchess  of Richmond  and Lady  Somers, the morning of the  23rd with  15  Cabin, 65 Tourist  and 279  Third  Class  aboard  the  Donaldson liner.  Among those aboard, possibly to the  disappointment of the smoking room stewards, was Mrs  Katherine Stevens,  temperance  worker  from  Edinburgh who told the Gazette "I  find that  the people of Scotland  are  gradually giving up the  drinking  of distilled  liquors."  Athenia made Liverpool at daybreak on the 31st  and  the  Clyde late  that  day.  Her 6,500-ton cargo  discharged at Glasgow  included 1,300 tons of apples, 1,500 tons  general, 2,200 tons of  grain and 1,500 tons of  flour and reckoned to  the  best freight  landed that  season.

As  first advertised on 16 October 1931, Letitia  would make her second voyage on Anchor  Line's Bombay service in winter 1932, from Liverpool  on 23 February. 

Making her last foray  into the St.  Lawrence that  season, Letitia  cleared the  Clyde  on 23 October  and the Mersey  and Belfast Lough  the  following  day, going  over  with  nine Cabin, 76 Tourist  and 122 Third  Class passengers.   She got into  Montreal the  evening of  1 November.  Both Alaunia  and Letitia  said  their  farewells  to  Montreal for  the year  on departure at 10:00  a.m.  On  the  6th, the  Donaldson liner going out with  10  Cabin,  47 Tourist  and 251 Third Class passengers. Calling at  Belfast at 1:00  p.m. on the 14th, Liverpool at 7:00 a.m., Letitia had more  adventure getting into Glasgow than on any of  her entire voyages all year owing to dense fog which  enveloped Clydebank on the  evening of the 15th:   

Serious hindrance to shipping was experienced on the river. The Anchor Donaldson liner Letitia, which had arrived during the night from Montreal and was to have landed passengers and mails at Yorkhill at eight o'clock yesterday morning, was detained at the Tail of the Bank. The tender Paladin, while proceeding to the Letitia, was involved in a collision with a tug, and though not seriously damaged did not continue the journey. At noon, when there was no sign of the fog lifting, the Letitia's passengers and mails were disembarked at Prince's Pier, Greenock, by tug-boat.

About nine o'clock last night a clearance over the Clyde valley was reported, and hopes were held that the Letitia would be able to proceed on her way with the first tide this morning.

The Herald, 17 November 1931.

When she  finally got  into  Prince's  Dock the morning of  16 November 1931, Letitia had 3,000 tons of  grain and flour, 1,300 tons  of  apples and  1,650  tons of  general  cargo  to discharge.  She then underwent an overhaul by  the Blythswood Shipbuilding Co. before making her  last voyage of the year on the winter Halifax-St. John run.

Closing out Donaldson's  1931 St. Lawrence season, Athenia left  Glasgow on 6 November  1931. The celebrity of her eight Cabin, 38 Tourist  and 90 Third Class  passengers was Master Ian  McPherson, aged 18 months, "who  won the  gold medal  for the  'perfect baby' at the  Canadian  National Exhibition in  Toronto  last  year."(The Herald, 6 November) or possibly Capt.  F.W. Frith, a "big game hunter," returning  to  Illinois from a  expedition  in Indo-China. Athenia safely landed  them all at Quebec and  Montreal on the  16th.  Homewards,  she  left on  the 20th with four  Cabin,  32 Tourist   and 222 Third  Class  passengers and arrived Glasgow  on  the 28th.

With no little  understatement,  The Herald of  27 November 1931, the day  Letitia  sailed from  Glasgow for Halifax, noted: "The  passenger list outwards is very light, as is to  be expected at  this  season, but her  homeward sailing suits people returning  to  this  country  for  Christmas, and already close to 500  passengers have  booked, mostly  Scots  crossing  to spend  the  holidays with  their families."  Her compliment outbound: four Cabin,  six Tourist   and 23  Third  Class  so that,  as the previous  year,  she  essentially  deadheaded  over.   

Arriving Halifax  on 4 December 1931, Letitia proceeded to  St.  John, N.B., at 9:00 p.m. on the 5th.and docked  there  at 8:00  p.m.  on the 7th.  There, she loaded the first big export of  grain from the port that  season, totalling 17,000 bushels, and departed on the 11th for  Halifax, arriving the  next day.  As before, a special boat  train was  run from  Montreal  which  arrived on the 12th  at noon and Letitia  cleared  that  early  evening  for  the  Old  Country  with four Cabin, 32 Tourist    and 221  Third Class passengers.  Arriving  Liverpool  on the  20th, Letitia reached the  Clyde the  following day.

In 1931, Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 5,375 passengers and Letitia completed 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 3,951 passengers and two to Halifax carrying 320 passengers.

1932

There was sufficient anticipation of  trade that  winter to  restore  Athenia to  the  winter Halifax/New York  run with Anchor Line's  Cameronia,  Transylvania and California although most of the Anchor Line ships were also  engaged on cruising from American ports and Athenia and Cameronia were the  only  constants on the  route  that season. 

Unsually, Athenia and Transylvania cleared Glasgow together on 16 January 1932 as explained  by the Greenock Telegraph:

Two sailings from Glasgow. to New York on the same day by ships of associated lines might suggest that business is booming, but unfortunately this is not the explanation of the departure of the Transylvania and Athenia to-day. 

The former, on her arrival in New York is going on a cruise to the Mediterranean, and the Athenia, after landing passengers at Halifax (N.S.), proceeds to New York to take the Transylvania's homeward sailing and maintain the schedule. 

Lady Torphichen is a passenger, by the Transylvania, and the Athenia carries the largest complement of Canadian passengers since the closing of the St Lawrence.

Athenia went out  with all of three Cabin, four Tourist   and 32 Third Class passengers so  "largest"  seems a generous if hopeful  adjective.  Reaching Halifax on the 23rd,  she proceeded  to New York where  she docked  on the  26th.  Clearing there on the 30th,  Athenia  had a fair embark  there  of  nine Cabin, 43 Tourist   and 198 Third Class passengers, embarking  an additional two Cabin, one Tourist  and 43 Third Class at  Halifax on 1 February to go  across  with  337 passengers and calling  at Moville on the 8th, berthing  at Glasgow  Princes Dock the morning of the  9th.

Making  her  second trip  to  New  York,  via Halifax,  Athenia  left the  Clyde  on 12  February 1932,  and after  her  Moville  call(13), steamed  westwards for  Halifax where  she  landed one Cabin, six Tourist   and 15 Third  Class  passengers  on the  20th before  resuming  passage to  New  York where she docked  at Pier 56 the  morning of  the 23, disembarking her  remaining four  Cabin, 24  Tourist   and 37 Third  Class passengers. 

Homewards, Athenia passed out  of  the  North  River  on  27 February 1932 with three Cabin, 39 Tourist   and 216 Third Class passengers,  embarking another four Cabin, three Tourist   and 25 Third  at Halifax  on  the 29th and 290 westbound in  mid winter back  then was  as good  as one got.  Among her passengers was Capt.  Robert  Brown,  formerly  a commander with  Donaldson, who  was not  Port  Warden of Montreal,  and Mrs. Brown, visiting  their native  Scotland. Athenia  called at  Moville the evening  of  7 March  and arrived  Glasgow  the  next  day.  Whereas both Donaldson ships  carried good westbound  cargoes in 1931, 1932  proved  different:

The Anchor liner Athenia, which arrived at Yorkhill Quay, Glasgow, yesterday, from New York, carried only some 800 tons of cargo, which was a striking contrast to the heavy cargoes being brought to the port just before the tariffs became effective.

The Herald, 9 March  1932.

Credit: The Montreal Star, 14 March  1932.

On her  final winter route voyage, Athenia departed  Glasgow  on  11 March  1932 and Moville  the following  day. Landing seven Tourist Third  and 27 Third Class passengers at Halifax on the  19th, Athenia  had another four Cabin, 24 Tourist   and 81 Third Class disembarking  at New York on the 22rd.  She left there on  the  26th with a fair list  of 12  Cabin, 28 Tourist Third and 161 Third, joined at Halifax on  the 29th by another  two Cabin, seven Tourist and 28 Third  Class at Halifax on the 29th.  She made Greenock at 6:00 p.m. on the 6th.  

Credit: Liverpool Daily  Post, 16 October 1931.

Diminished trans-Atlantic trade and  overtonnaging in the  American cruise  market, saw Anchor Line's  Bombay run enjoy a positive heyday  the  winter  of  1932 with  the  deployment, for  one voyage  each, of  Letitia and Tuscania  on it.  

Letitia in the Mersey in Anchor Line livery, rather easily accomplished by painting over the white band on her funnel in black.  This was done for her voyages on the Anchor Line Bombay Mail.  Credit: Author's collection.

Departing the  Clyde the  morning  of 17 February 1932,  fresh after a refit  and the  white band  on her  funnel  overpainted  in  black  to effortlessly  assume  Anchor Line  livery, Letitia arrived in the Mersey the next day  to load  for India. Embarking her passengers  at Prince's Landing  Stage, 2:30-3:30 p.m., on the 23rd,  Letitia  cleared  the  Mersey  that  early  evening. On this she carried First and Tourist Class and was said to have to “embarked a large party of military passengers, including women and children… as well as civilian passengers.” Calling at Marseilles  (29),  she transited the  Suez  Canal (5-6  March) and  arrived at  Bombay  at  4:00  a.m.  on the 15th. Sailing  for  home  at  noon on the  24th,  Letitia went out with  a shipment of  gold worth  13,391,000  rupees  (£1,004,325). Passing through the  Suez Canal, 1-2 April, she called  at Marseilles  on the (7-8) and Gibraltar (9-10) and arrived at Liverpool  on the  14th at 12:30  a.m., landing her passengers  at  Prince's  Landing  Stage at 7:08  a.m.  where  her  gold consignment  occasioned  the  only  press attention of  her  arrival:

The Anchor liner Letitia arrived in the Mersey from Bombay shortly after midnight carrying shipment of gold of value of £1,000,000, consigned to the Bank of England. 

Contained in 165 boxes, and weighing seven tons, the bullion was stored in a temporary strong room on the vessel. and was closely watched during the 6,000 miles voyage from India. The Letitia drew alongside the Liverpool Landing stage about one o'clock this morning. but the gold was not discharged immediately.

Preparations were made for this operation to be carried out at about six o'clock this morning, when the gold will be unloaded into covered motor-vans and, guarded by detectives, conveyed to the railway station for despatch by train to London.

Liverpool  Daily  Post,  14  April 1932.

Clearing  the Mersey  for home  at 5:50 p.m. on 15  April  1932, Letitia arrived in the  Clyde  on the  16th.

Following a refit by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Co., Athenia opened  Donaldson's  1932 St. Lawrence season,  with her sailing from Glasgow on 22 April.  To spur trade during the dismal economic  times, fares on the route had been slashed in all classes: 'The recent reduction  in fare, and especially  in roundtrip  rates, is  reflected in the  numbers  carried in tourist  class,  30 per cent of whom  have return tickets  on  this  side. The majority of the  third  class passengers are  Canadians returning now  that  winter  is over and the country  is  opening up  again  for  outside work."(The Herald, 22 April).  After  calling  at Liverpool and  Belfast,  Athenia  headed  for  the  St. Lawrence with six Cabin, 94 Tourist  and 143 Third Class passengers.  Delayed by fog rather than ice,  Athenia which was expected in Montreal on 2 May, arrived the following morning.  

With 106,000 bushels  of wheat as well as 19 Cabin, 131 Tourist and 316 Third Class passengers (described by  the Montreal Star as "a very cheerful list"), Athenia sailed for  home on 6 May 1932, going out  with  Duchess of Atholl and Aurania.  Arthur Randies of Cunard  pointed out  that Athenia and Aurania  left  with "fully  50  per  cent"  more  passengers  than their  comparable departures the previous  year.  Athenia arrived on the  Clyde on the 15th.

On 10 February 1932 a unique role for Letitia had  been announced: that of an official Scottish trade mission ship on her first voyage that season to Montreal from Glasgow on 5 May with a party of Scottish industrialists, business men and manufacturers in addition to her regular passengers. The ship would showcase Scottish goods during the week she was in Montreal 16-20 May.

The Letitia will sail for Canada on May 5 under the best of auspices. The messages from the Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister will cheer our business men on their way. Their enterprise deserves commendation. Broadly, all that the statesmen can do to promote Empire trade is to provide opportunities for the business men to follow up. Scottish business men have not waited upon Ottawa, but with admirable spirit have set about creating their own opportunities.

The  Herald, 18 April 1932.

Letitia’s Scottish Trade Mission voyage was the big story for 1932 and on 26 March it was announced that 78 exhibits had already been arranged and 41 firms were sending representatives. 

The Prince of Wales and Minister have sent messages Anchor-Donaldson Line commending their enterprise in organising an exhibition of Scottish goods on board the Letitia. The Letitia is to leave Glasgow on May 5 for Montreal, where the exhibition will be open for inspection from May 16 to May  20.  The  message sent by the Prince of Wales is as follows: " I am glad of this of opportunity of commending the Scottish exhibition ship to my friends in Canada. I feel sure that this venture is a happy augury of the Imperial  co-operation  which the conference at Ottawa will bring, and that when the Letitia sails she will carry not only a representative display of British  goods but also a full cargo of goodwill. As a master mariner I admire the enterprise of those who have organised this effort, and I know that the Letitia will be assured of a warm welcome steams up the St. Lawrence." 

Ramsay Macdonald states: "I admire the spirit that has led a number of my fellow-countrymen to organise and despatch to Canada an exhibition of Scottish manufactures in the Letitia, with the object of increasing export trade to Canada by showing the people of that great. Dominion that to buy Scottish goods is to spend wisely. No more appropriate year could hate been chosen than that in which the Imperial Conference will be held at Ottawa, and I hope that through this exhibition ship and those who sail in her the ties which bind the people of Scotland and Canada together will  be  strengthened to their mutual well-being." A catalogue has been issued by the Anchor-Donaldson Line of the exhibits which the Letitia will carry.

Liverpool Journal of  Commerce,  19 April 1932.

When the Scottish trade mission " ship, the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, enters the port of Montreal on May 15 a novel link of Empire will be forged. 

The visit of this vessel will make a much more personal appeal to the thousands of Scots in Canada than any trade fair or exhibition. 

The Scot is not famed for his loquacity, but for once he will forget his reputation and show the world that he can talk as well as the next when the cause is good. 

For six days, from May 15 to May 20, every Scot in Canada will become publicity agent for the good ship Letitia.

There's no room for sentiment in business, they say, but it will be surprising if the visit of the Letitia does not show that this generalisation is as false as most of its kind. 

Because the trade ship carries a pipe band it does not mean that the reason for which the trip was arranged, to further trade between Scotland and Canada, is being forgotten. By no means. 

Eighty-eight Scottish firms will have their wares brought to the notice of the Canadian people during the Letitia's stay at Montreal. The exhibition will be opened by the Hon. H. H. Stevens, Minister of Trade and Commerce in Canada. 

All the products for which Scotland is so justly famed throughout the world will on view. Bagpipes, tweeds, golfing outfits spring to mind at once, but if you think that's all your country can do, well —puir auld Scotland ! 

No ship big enough to display the engineering wonders of the Clyde has ever been built, but the Letitia will do her best. A dynamo is an awkward kind of sample even for a liner to carry about, so the next best thing is to send model. That is what the Clydeside manufacturers are doing. 

All the latest developments in engines, ship design, and other branches of engineering will be represented in miniature on the Letitia. 

And to show that Scotland is up-to-date as the times, selections from her "repertoire" will include manufactures far apart as cigarettes and a baby food. It, is a pity that very Scotsman and Scotswoman cannot see the amazing variety of products which will be shown to the people of Canada. There would be fewer " doubting Thomas's " in Scotland to-day they could. 

The four decks of the ship will be utilised for display purposes, and among the goods on view will be architectural hardware, boots, canvas, building trade appliances, biscuits, chemical manufactures, lace, linens, oilskins, pottery, drums, yachts, coal, and cornstarch.

People in the most responsible positions, the Prince of Wales, the Prime Minister, the civio heads of our cities, and the heads of Chambers of Commerce have sent messages of goodwill to the Letitia. 

As the Letitia sails up the St Lawrence in the middle of May the tunes of her pipe band will be answered by the pipers of the famous regiment, the Royal Highlanders of Canada.

It will be a great day for Scotland and for the great army of Scots in Canada. The Letitia leaves Glasgow on this memorable trip on May 5.

Dundee Courier, 26 April  1932.

In all, some 88 firms participated in  the trade  ship  enterprise and the considerable quantity  of display stands, materials and samples constituted much  of Letitia's  cargo  on her otherwise routine outbound  voyage  to the  St. Lawrence, her  first such  that year, and no alterations or  changes were effected until  her  arrival  on the  other side as  not  inconvenience  passengers. 

Stowed away in the holds of the Letitia are hundreds of cases and crates containing probably the greatest variety of Scottish manufactures which have ever been shipped from the Clyde on a single vessel. Nearly 200 commodities appear in the classified list,  and the  whole of Scotland is presented. There are such things as adhesives and alternators, costumes and convertors drums and dynamos, engines and earthenware, infant and invalid foods, and industrial furnaces and gas producers, mar malade and motor generators, and a great variety of articles illustrative of the wide range of manufacture in the country.

The light and heavy industries are well represented and, just 89 important, the "missionairies" sent by the various firms are individuals well equipped to push sales and make contracts.

Greenock  Telegraph, 6  May 1932.

Credit: The  Herald, 4  May 1932.

On the eve of  her departure, a dinner was given aboard  Letitia lying in Princes Dock, Glasgow, attended by the Duke of Montrose, honorary  president of  the Scottish Trade  Mission, and Mr. George  A. Mitchell for guests  and representatives of  the participating firms. Guests included the Earl  of  Elgin and Lady  Elgin, Mr. N.P. Donaldson, Mr. W. Betts, Mr.  Charles  Donaldson and ex-Bailie Swan. 

A large  crowd gathered at Princes  Dock,  Glasgow,  to witness  the  departure of  the  vessel,  which was gaily  decorated, and she slowly  left the quayside the  skirl of  the  pipes on board  livened matters. 

Greenock  Telegraph, 6 May  1932.

The departure  of  the  Letitia from the  Prince's  Dock attracted a large number  of citizens,  who  watched the ship  set  out on her  historic voyage.

The Herald, 6  May 1932.

Credit:  The  Herald, 6 May  1932.

Credit:  The  Herald, 6 May  1932.

Credit:  The  Herald, 6 May  1932.

To the  skirl of pipes and looking quite excellent,  freshly  painted and her Donaldson funnel colours  restored after her Anchor Line duty, Letitia sailed the evening of  5  May  1932 for  Montreal amid more  acclaim than even her  maiden  voyage.   Lost  in most  of  it  was that  this  a routine passenger carrying  trip out and after her usual calls at Liverpool  and Belfast, she  had 110 Cabin, 29 Tourist   and 68 Third Class although  it  did  not take much surmising  that almost  all  her  Cabin Class passengers  were participants in  the  trade  mission. 

Credit: Montreal  Star, 13 May  1932.

On "the other side," Canadian papers reported the  progress of Letitia minutely and the Montreal Star of 11 May  advising their readers she was nearing  Cape Race and expected at Quebec by 10:00  a.m. on the 13th and at Montreal the  morning of  the 14th. She passed Father Point at 9:00 p.m.  On the 11th after reporting "admirable weather" across. Press and line  representatives boarded her for  the run into Quebec and Montreal and she made the Ancient Capital by  9:00 a.m.  on the 13th, ahead of schedule.

Scottish airs rendered by six of the foremost pipers and drummers from the land of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, featured the arrival here at 8.30 o'clock this morning of the most important exhibition of manufactures and other products from North of the Tweed, accompanied by leading representatives, of the firms participating in this initial Trade Mission to Canada aboard the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia. 

The ship was "dressed" for the occasion, with the Royal Standard of Scotland flying from the jack staff at the stem, and presented a fine appearance as she rounded the Levis Point and was warped to the quay, beneath the frowning cliffs of the citadel. The weather was warm, and the cloudless skies supplied a happy background for the warm reception and welcome to Canada extended by the Quebec Board of Trade, La Chambre de Commerce of Quebec, and the Quebec Harbor Commission.

The Gazette,  14 May 1932

Credit: Montreal  Star, 16 May  1932.

Credit: Montreal  Star, 16 May  1932.

Credit: Montreal  Star, 16 May  1932.

The arrival of the  Scottish trade  ship  Letitia eclipses  totally all  events along  the harbor front  today.

The Montreal Star, 14 May 1932.

Departing Quebec the evening of  13 May  1932, Letitia arrived in Montreal,  berthing at Shed 3 at 7:00 a.m. to much  acclaim and tremendous  press attention at  Montreal the  following morning in brilliant weather.  Work began to set up  her many exhibit  areas en route up the river so that she  was ready  in time for  the  opening at  noon on  the  16th. The  exhibit stands were erected  on the Cabin promenade deck, writing room, corridor lounge, Tourist smoking room and promenade on "A" Deck, Tourist lounge on "B" Deck, midships on "C"  Deck foyer and in  the Tourist dining saloon on "D" Deck.  The Montreal  Star included a multi-page illustrated feature  on the  exhibit  that day.

Deck Plan showing  location of exhibit booths on "A"  Deck.  Credit:  Montreal Star, 16 May  1932.

Deck Plan showing  location of exhibit booths on "B", "C" and "D"  Decks.  Credit:  Montreal Star, 16 May  1932.

There are eighty-seven separate exhibits, and 120 delegates in the mission. These will be placed on view on the promenade decks of the steamer, and in other booths erected in several of the public rooms. In addition, there are eight dogs on board, two Cairn terriers, two Scottish terriers, West Highland terriers and two rough-haired fox terriers. No retail sales will be made by the individual exhibitors, but it was pointed out that the various products could be produced on a wholesale basis.

There are many article on board not produced in this country, such as lace goods, fine china, bleached linen, woollen pipes, etc., all of goods, Shetland wollens would be of interest to Canadians, it was thought.

The Gazette,  14 May 1932

Credit: Montreal Star, 16 May 1932.

Credit: Montreal Star, 16 May 1932.

During her stay in port  (not departing  until 20  May 1932), Letitia hosted  more dinners, lunches,  receptions, school and official parties than she ever would for  the  rest of  her  long career and one  suspects  her  officers  and crew longed to put to  sea before  it  was over. 

This was the crowd queuing to get aboard Letitia at Montreal during her trade ship visit to the port. Credit: The Scotsman, 31 May 1932

From the Gazette (Montreal) 18 May 1932

With 87 displays erected over four of the ship’s decks, there was much on offer for the considerable crowds trying to get aboard and 5,000 were turned away the second day owing to the popularity of the exhibition. In all, some 35,000-45,000 visited the ship and the displays and it was reckoned a great success by  all concerned, netting an estimated $500,000 in orders for Scottish goods and services. 

The exhibit closed  at  6:00 p.m.  on the 20  May  1932  with fast  work  needed to dismantle everything and restore  Letitia  to  a passenger liner scheduled  to sail  for home at 11:00 a.m. on 21st.  As a  final gesture, the  Port of Montreal hosted all  of the representatives to a two-hour harbour cruise  aboard Sir High Allan on the 20th. 

Pipers,  drummers and large  gathering of  Canadians bade  farewell  on Saturday  morning to  members of  the  Scottish  Trade  Mission returning home aboard the  Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia.

The Gazette, 23 May 1932.

With the Duke  of Montrose returning aboard her and others from the  trade  party, although  many  stayed on to  complete deals and make sales, Letitia  cleared Shed 3 on schedule  on the 21st, going  out  with 80 Cabin, 113 Tourist   and 294 Third  Class  passengers.  Her  eight Scottish dogs, however,  almost "killed by kindness," during  the visit did  not  make  the voyage  and  found  new  homes in Canada.  She arrived in the Clyde on the morning of the 30th:

The Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia arrived in the Clyde this morning from Montreal after completing her trade mission. 

The vessel, which was bedecked with bunting, appeared round Fort Matilda point about 7:30 and passed up the river on her way to Glasgow.

The liner was given a rousing welcome home by a large crowd who lined Princes Pier.

Greenock Telegraph, 30 May 1932.

Credit: The Herald, 31 May 1932.

Original caption: Top: The Scottish trade mission ship Letitia photographed on her arrival in the  Clyde yesterday  from Canada. Bottom-- a group  on board the liner, including  the  Duke  of  Montrose who headed  the  mission;  Captain  David  Taylor, who commanded  the  vessel; Mr Graham  Donaldson and  Mr  Charles  Donaldson. The mission met  with  every  success,  many  orders  being  received during  the visit to  Montreal.Credit: The Herald, 31 May 1932.

Whilst her  sister grabbed all  the attention  and  headlines, Athenia  plied  her ways in relative  obscurity.  Her second voyage to the St.  Lawrence attracting  17  Cabin,  43 Tourist  and  58  Third Class,  it  did  not auger  well for  a busy  season, as Athenia passed out  of  the Clyde on 20  May 1932. She made Montreal  on the  morning of  the  30th.   Among those embarking for  Britain on  3 June  were a number  of  participants in  the Scottish  Trade Mission voyage  of  Letitia  including its  chairman  George  A.  Mitchell who  "expressed satisfaction in  the excellent results  achieved by  the mission during its  stay here."(Gazette, 3  June). In all, Athenia cleared that  morning  with 48 Cabin, 197 Tourist   and 478 Third  Class,  as  well  as 100,000 bushels of  wheat  in  her  holds,  which  compared to her  inbound list was  cheering  indeed and furthered the comparative  strength  of eastbound traffic vs. westbound. It certainly  cheered  the Montreal  Star which lauded: "Pre-Depression days  were revived in  the  port of  Montreal  this morning…"  with Duchess  of Atholl  going out with  1,020,  Aurania  with  455 and Athenia  with  723 passengers. Traffic  to Britain was stimulated  by  the  depreciation  of  sterling and the  cut  in  fares. Athenia  called at Liverpool at  4:00 p.m. on the  11th and arrived  the following morning at Glasgow, berthing  in Prince's Dock.

Having established  her  bona  fides  as  Scotland's  Ship  of  State, Letitia  resumed  her  duties  as Atlantic  Ferry.  Clearing  the  Clyde on 3  June 1932, "her numbers are an indication of the  dull times  in shipping,"  reported  The  Herald  that  day and  she went  over  with seven Cabin,  48 Tourist Third  and 73 Third Class.  She  made Montreal late  on the  evening of the  12th.   Eastbound,  her  carryings were rather  more  encouraging and Letitia cast  off from Shed 3 on the 17th with 49 Cabin, 224 Tourist    and 530 Third  Class and going out  with  the equally  well-booked Ausonia  and Duchess  of York, the season's  tourist  traffic  showed  at  least  some promise  and combined,  they  had nearly  2,500 passengers between them.  Among those aboard Letitia  was  Capt. F.W. Wallace,  author  of Wooden Ships  and Iron  Men,  and other  sea stories.  Calling at Belfast at  7:00  p.m.  on the  24th and Liverpool  at 7:00 a.m. on the  25th. Letitia reached  the Clyde  that evening.

Letitia's turnaround in Princes  Dock  was marred  by  the  death of  a  young joiner  who  whilst  working  on  one of  the  ship's upper decks,  slipped  and fell  into  the  water and  presumably  drown on  30  June  1932.

Slipping  out  of  Glasgow un-noticed  by  the  press on 17 June 1932  with  21 Cabin, 78  Tourist   and 90 Third  Class  passengers, Athenia  was alongside  Shed  3, Montreal,  the  evening of  the  26th.  Dominion Day, 1  July, saw  Athenia,  dressed  overall and going  out  with  an  excellent list  of  102 Cabin, 328 Tourist  and 645 Third  including travel parties organised by the  University Travel Club,  Keller Travel  Club, Students' Travel Club,  Students'  Travel  Club and the  Orange  Lodge.  Indeed,  The Gazette  said  it  was  "a record sailing for  this  year."

The Anchor Donaldson liner  Athenia  sailed  for  Glasgow, Belfast and Liverpool yesterday  morning  with  upwards of  1,200  passengers,  the  largest  total  ever carried  by  the  ship from Montreal in all  the  seven years she  had  been on the  St. Lawrence service.

The story of the crowded sailing was summed up outside the purser's office,  "Steamer fully booked up: no vacant berths." 

Ordinarily it is possible for people desirous of making a change to select different accommodation when they reach the ship to sail but with the Athenia full of passengers this was out of the question. 

Owing to the Dominion Day holiday, hundreds of friends of travellers were able to visit the ship before she left yesterday and the consequent congestion on board was great. At times it was impossible to move on the decks so intense was the crush.

The  Montreal Star, 2 July 1932.

Touching at Belfast at 3:30 a.m.  on 9 July 1932 and Liverpool  at 2:00 p.m.,  Athenia arrived Glasgow on the 10th.

Dominion Day, 1 July 1932, seemed an appropriate date for  Letitia to  sail from Glasgow for  Canada.  With school summer holidays, she went out  with  a fair  list of  26  Cabin,  113 Tourist  and 100 Third Class passengers, including  more  than  a  few  teachers  on  their summer vacations.  Letitia berthed  at  Montreal's Shed  3 on the afternoon of  the 10th.  Clearing for the Old Country  the morning  of the 15th, Letitia  had 59 Cabin, 215 Tourist  and 440 Third  Class  passengers as  the eastbound  traffic  was  at its  height.  Touching at Liverpool  the morning of  the  23rd,  she got  into the  Clyde  that evening.

Coursing westwards on 15 July 1932,  Athenia  had another desultory list  of 14 Cabin, 74  Tourist   and 84 Third  aboard  for  her  efforts.  Making Quebec early  on the  24th,  she  got into Montreal late  that  evening.   Among her passengers were "more  people tremendously interested in the  Imperial  Economic Conference now  being  held in Ottawa," and W.C.S.  McGlashan, one of the best  known curlers  in Scotland,  being  senior  vice-president of  the  Royal  Caledonia Curling Club." (Montreal  Star, 25  July).  Less notable but more numerous, there  were 42  Cabin, 113 Tourist   and 371  Third Class headed eastbound  on  the 29th.  Athenia  sailed  in company  with  Aurania and Lady Somers  and pausing at Liverpool the  morning of  6 August, reached the Clyde the next  day.

With a decent westbound list of 63  Cabin, 173 Tourist  and 147 Third Class from  Glasgow on 29 July  1932  and Liverpool and Belfast  the  next day,  Letitia  coursed to Quebec and Montreal. Among  those  embarking  at  Glasgow were ten women  proceeding to the Overseas  League Holiday Camp  at Wolfville,  Nova  Scotia." An effort is being made to popularise the Canadian camping holiday, and with a view to experiencing personally the ocean comfort available at the lowest rates the party is  travelling third class. There is the possibility such holiday parties being organised on a large scale next year." (The Herald,  30 July).  Letitia  arrived at Montreal on 7 August. 

Letitia outbound in the St. Lawrence, 1932. Credit: Clifford M. Johnston / Library and Archives Canada / PA-056566

Clearing  Montreal with Ascania  and  Duchess of  York on  the morning  of 12 August 1932,  Letitia's 36  Cabin, 79  Tourist  and 233 Third  Class  passengers included  H.H.  Black, official  photographer,  for Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson,  "who  is  leaving to photograph beauty sports  in England and Scotland.  He will  also  take typical  views  of  life aboard  the liner  while  the ship is  going across." (Montreal  Star, 12 August). Also  aboard was Douglas  Milles,  aged 9,  travelling  alone,  who landed at Liverpool  on  the  20th,  and near the end of  a  4,000-mile  journey  from Windsor,  Ont., to his  grandparents in Birmingham, for  a two-month holiday. Letitia   arrived  in Glasgow on the  21st.

What she  brought  over, she brought back and the tourists who came over in early  summer, began to  drift home later  in the season so that  when Athenia cleared for Canada on 12-13 August 1932, she  went out with  best westbound list  so  far  that year: 39 Cabin, 163 Tourist  and 148 Third Class.  Truly  the matched  pair  they  were  that  season,  Athenia  and Aurania  berthed  at Montreal  with  minutes  of  one another  the evening of the  21st. Setting off for  the  Old  Country  on the  26th, Athenia managed a fair  list  of 11  Cabin,  58 Tourist   and 226 Third Class including returning  delegates from the  Imperial  Economic Conference aboard, including Sir Stephen G. Tallents, K.C.M.G., secretary of  the  Empire  Marketing Board.    Athenia landed her  Liverpool passengers at noon on 3 September  and got  her  Scottish debarks into  Glasgow first thing  the  following  day.

Tom Low, former  Rangers  footballer and now  a  professional golfer  with a California  club was among  the tide  of those returning  from the  Old  Country  after  vacations aboard  Letitia on  26 August 1932 and she had a  good list  of  67 Cabin, 300 Tourist   and 289  Third Class passengers  by  the time she  cleared Liverpool  and Belfast.  Letitia  berthed  at Montreal at 9:00  p.m. on  4 September. Sailing  from Montreal  on  9  September 1932  with 18 Cabin, 89 Tourist  and 267 Third  Class, Letitia  also went out  with a magnificent  12-foot  model  of  her predecessor, Letitia  of  1912, which  had  long  been displayed  in the  Montreal  office  but was now  destined for  a museum in Liverpool.  It  and her passengers  arrived safely  at  Liverpool at 9:00  a.m.  on the  17th.   Letitia  reached Glasgow  the  next day.

Two  great Scottish  liners passed down the  Clyde  together  the  evening  of 9 September 1932: Anchor's California, bound  for  New  York, and Athenia, Dominion-destined, both with  fair  lists  of  returning  North  American tourists whilst  Athenia  also  had  a  party  of  14  Scottish  travel agents off  on a short tour  of  the  Eastern Provinces (Montreal, Ottawa, Niagara Falls,  Hamilton and Toronto!), returning on  her after a true  whirlwind junket. Athenia berthed at Montreal at noon on  the  19th.  Off again  the morning of the  23rd,  Athenia cleared with 38 Cabin, 64 Tourist  and 251 Third Class passengers and a good  cargo including 100,000 bushels  of  wheat, 24,000 bushels  of oats, 17,450 sacks  of  flour and general  merchandise. Calling at Liverpool at 6:00 p.m. on 1  October  and Glasgow the next day.

Scotland had sent  its  products  to  the  Dominion in  May  aboard Letitia  and  now  in September,  she  would  send  its character  and talent  when  Sir  Harry Lauder,  accompanied by  his  niece, Miss  Margaret  Lauder, and  Mr.  Harry  Vallance,  bound  for  Canada  and the  United  States  for  an  indefinite stay  of six  to seven  months, return  from  New  York. Sir  Harry and party  were among the  37 Cabin, 150 Tourist   and 239 Third Class  sailing from Glasgow  on 23 September 1932.

Sir Harry Lauder left Liverpool on Saturday  for [24 September] Quebec and Montreal in the liner Letitia. He had embarked at Glasgow. At Liverpool he was greeted by Messrs. Sandy Fraser and W. Cochrane (of Manchester) and James MacFarlane (Blackpool), members of the Lauder Cronie Club,' two Liverpool Scottish pipers, and Miss Moriarty, a Liverpool Irish piper.

On the liner, the pipers rendered selections two children in kilts danced to the great enjoyment of Sir Harry Lauder, who. with a sprig of white heather in his tam o' shanter, bade them all farewell. He is going for a six months' tour in Canada and U.S.A.

Liverpool Daily Post,  26 September 1932.

Letitia  got  into  Montreal the  evening  of  2 October  1932,  berthing as usual  at Shed 3.  interviewed  by  the  Gazette on arrival, the  paper  reported:  "Sir  Harry, who  was the  life of  the party  coming  over  on the boat, is  leaving here  today  for a days  rests before  commencing his Canadian  tour  that opens  at  His  Majesty's Theatre on Friday  night."  With 100,000 bushels  of  wheat  and 17 Cabin, 64  Tourist   and 254  Third  Class, Letitia  sailed  for  the Old Country  on  the 7th, going out  that morning  with  Ascania and Duchess  of  York. Letitia left with 48,260 boxes and 5,068 barrels of apples for Scotland, the largest single consignment  in two years. Calling at Liverpool at 9:00 a.m. on  the  15th, Letitia reached the  Clyde on the 16th.

With the late summer "rush"   over, Athenia  had only 17 Cabin, 94 Tourist  and 138 Third Class to  take  to Canada  on 7 October 1932 which,  rather  optimistically,  was described  as  "numbering  nearly  400" and  a "large  list" by  the Montreal Star  when  she  docked there  on the  17th along with  Lady  Somers with  which  she  seem to  frequently  share  arrivals  and  departures  with that  season.  Homewards on the  21st, Athenia cleared with 13 Cabin, 41 Tourist  and 332 Third Class passengers  and  after calling  at Liverpool on the  29th,  reached  the  Clyde  the next  day.

Making  her  final trip to  the  St.  Lawrence  that  year,  Letitia  cleared  Glasgow  on 21 October 1932 and after her  intermediate  calls,  had 13 Cabin,  67 Tourist  and 115  Third  Class  passengers aboard. She  made  Montreal  the  morning of  the  31st.  Homewards  on 4  November,  Letitia's list  comprised nine  Cabin, 33 Tourist   and 211 Third Class,  including  to  the  regret  of  local  fans, Bob  Calder, full-back  of  the  Carsteel  Soccer  Club  who  was  going  over to  join  the Glasgow  Rangers.  Although Clydebank  native of  Clydebank,  he was  a product  of  Canadian clubs.  Another  sportsman aboard was the professional  golfer James  Rimmer of Jasper  Park  going  to Britain on holiday  in the off  season.    Letitia  went  out  with Ascania  and Duchess of York,  all  making  their farewells  for  the  season.   The Donaldson liner  got  into  Belfast  at 6:00  a.m.  on  the 12th,  Liverpool and Glasgow  on the  13th. 

On her final voyage of  the year, Athenia  left Glasgow  on 4  November 1932 for  Montreal with  10 Cabin, 66 Tourist  and 71 Third Class  passengers.  Her  fortune  as  a  "good  weather ship"  deserted  her on this  trip and  she  arrived Montreal late  on the evening  of the  14th, reporting "a rough  crossing"  and  "high  seas  were  encountered  most  of  the  time on the  Atlantic, passengers said."  (Montreal  Star,  15  November).   For  the last  time that  season, Athenia  cleared  Shed  3, Montreal,  for  the  Old  Country on the  18th, going out  with eight Cabin, 20 Tourist   and 307 Third  and with  her familiar  sidekick,  Aurania.  Athenia   berthed  at Glasgow at 11:35 p.m.  on  the  27th.

For  Halifax  and St. John, Letitia  departed Glasgow on 24  November 1932 with  a  desultory   list  of  three Cabin, six Tourist   and 34 Third Class passengers.  She arrived  at  Halifax  on the morning  of  2 December and sailed the following day  for St. John where she  docked  on the  4th.  Eastbound, Letitia  cleared on the 9th with  passengers and no fewer than  38  deportees,   among  the  150  being  sent out, the others  being aboard  Montcalm. On departure  from Halifax,  Letitia's  Christmas  sailing had 15 Cabin, 42  Tourist   and 185 Third  Class as well as her  38  deportees.   Calling  at Belfast at 5:00 a.m. on the  18th, Liverpool at 4:00  p.m.,  Letitia reached  Glasgow  the next  day. 

The first "Christmas liner" to arrive in the Mersey during the week-end was the Anchor-Donaldson steamer Letitia with over 200 passengers from Canada bound for all parts of the British Isles to spend Christmas in the old country. They were landed at stage by tender, yesterday morning, and it was noticeable that the majority were family parties. All carried a generous quota of presents in addition to their usual luggage. The "Christmassy" touch was fostered by the shipping company throughout the voyage with special dishes and festive decorations, while the menu and lists were tastefully decorated with holly and mistletoe motifs.

Liverpool Daily Post, 19 December  1932.

Credit: Daily  Telegraph, 9  November 1932.

One  voyage  that  Letitia  did  not make  in 1932 was first advertised in the  Daily  Telegraph on 9  November: a  12-day  Christmas Cruise to Morocco, Spain and Portugal operated  by Sir Henry Lunn Ltd. To  have  called  at Lisbon, Ceuta and Gibraltar,  with  fare  from 12  gns.,  it was a bit suspect  in not giving  a departure date and with  Letitia's  already programmed Christmas trans-Atlantic crossing  not arriving  in Britain until  the 19th,  it  would  have been a very short  turnaround  to set  off  on anything  before  Christmas.  In  any  event,  like so  many  Depression era cruises, it never  came about. 

Plans for the 1933 season were finalised on 26 October 1932 with 62 crossings to the St. Lawrence by Athenia, Letitia, Andania and Antonia amid rumors that they would offer only Tourist and Third Class accommodation pending approval from the Conference.  Letitia and Athenia with Antonia and Andania maintain a weekly service from Montreal and Quebec to Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow (the Cunarders calling at Greenock).

In 1932 Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 5,856 passengers and six to New York and Halifax carrying 212 passenger.  Letitia completed 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 5,548 passengers and two crossings to Halifax carrying 285 passengers.

Splendid poster for Athenia and Letitia in the St. Lawrence, c. 1933 by Walter Thomas. Credit: The Mariners' Museum.

1933

Beginning her  year  with  a round  trip  on  the  winter  service  to  Halifax  and  St.  John,  N.B.,  Letitia sailed  from  Glasgow on at 3:15 p.m.  on 20 January 1933 and on leaving Belfast the  following  morning,  had all  of  four  Cabin, eight  Tourist   and 38 Third  Class passengers to  show  for  it. She  arrived  at Halifax on the 29th  and clearing  there at  5:00 p.m. the  next day, reached  St. John on the 31st.   Eastbound  Letitia  left at 4:30  p.m.  on 3  February  for  Halifax.  With a pretty dire list  of three Cabin, six  Tourist   and 57 Third Class, Letitia  sailed  for home on the  6th and  reached Glasgow  on the  12th.

Credit:  Daily Record, 17  February  1933.

On the  evening of  17  February  1933, Letitia hosted a dinner  reunion aboard at Princes Dock, Glasgow, for  participants of the  previous years Scottish Trade Mission to Canada with guests including The  Duke  of Montrose.

Laid up at Glasgow that  dreary winter, the  nadir  of  the Depression, a new role for Athenia  that  would eventually  be  realised   by  her  sister,  was teased in the  first advertisement in January 1933 by  the Hellenic Traveller's Club,  a tourist organisation that specialised in cruises to the classical  world with   decided and meaningful education and academic  bent with  classic  scholars of the  highest repute aboard  as  lecturers and  tour  leaders.   Founded in 1906 by Sir Henry Lunn,  one of  the now forgotten pioneers of British cruising  and specialist cruising  in particular, it was  a natural  development of  Lunn's "schoolmasters cruises"  first  offered  in  1901. Hellenic  used a variety of  chartered vessels of various  qualities, the most  recent  being the  former RSMP Araguaya, then  being operated as the Yugoslav Kraljica Marija beginning  in  1930. 

Credit: Liverpool  Daily  Post, 2 January  1933.

With a desire  to  augment  Kraljica Marija, Hellenic advertised an Easter Cruise in  Athenia departing Glasgow  on 6 April 1933 (Plymouth  the  next day)  to Morocco, Spain  and Portugal which was advertised as an "associated  cruise" and not  having the  in depth  lectures  etc.  of  the main  Hellenic  programme that year  and  being  a  conventional  Henry  Lunn cruise  charter.  Advertisements for  this  ended  by mid -February and it,  like  the  Christmas cruise  for  Letitia  the  previous  year, did  not  materialise but it  would lead to  a more  meaningful  and lasting  relationship between Hellenic  and Donaldson in  coming  years.

It was announced on 13 February 1933 that Athenia and Letitia were to be “entirely renovated and overhauled” with small tables installed in the Cabin Class dining saloon.  Third Class was considerably improved, too, when the aft covered promenade deck space in both ships was converted into a spacious new lounge with the refurbished smoking room aft. All  cabins were  provided with electric  fans. To facilitate this, Letitia’s 17 March sailing to Saint John and Halifax was cancelled and passengers transferred to Ausonia while on 12 April it was reported that Athenia was at Fairfield for her reconditioning. Following this work, Letitia had berths for 314 Cabin, 310 Tourist and 680 Third Class  and similar numbers for Athenia.

Credit: Montreal  Star,  23 April  1933.

Resuming service, Letitia opened the  1933 St. Lawrence season for Donaldson  Line with  her departure  from Glasgow  on 14 April, embarking  passengers at Greenock  that  day  and  on  clearing Liverpool  and Belfast,  she  went across  with 16 Cabin,  70 Tourist   and 161 Third  Class. Not  quite  equaling  her  arrival there  the  previous  May,  Letitia  made an  effort and had  her  pipe  band playing on   deck as she  drew  alongside  Shed 3 at  1:30 p.m.on the 24th.  "Introduction of  the  pipe  band is  an innovation this season. The members have  been secured from famous  Scottish bands and in addition to  playing  the  bagpipes  they  will give  exhibitions of  sword  dances."(Montreal  Star, 24  April). 

Credit: Montreal  Star,  29 April  1933.

When Letitia  cleared for home on the morning of 28 April  1933,  she went out with  16  Cabin,  80  Tourist  and 310 Third Class passengers and  an impressive 6,200-ton cargo comprised  of  3,600  general  and  2,600  of  wheat "and  in  these  times a capacity  load on an ocean liner  is  an encouraging sign," note the  Montreal  Star (28 April).  She pulled out with Montrose and Ausonia.  Calling at Belfast at 6:00 p.m.  on 6 May  and Liverpool at  5:00 a.m.  on the  7th,  Letitia arrived  at Glasgow late  that  day.

Freshly  painted outside  and in,  with the  public  rooms  re-decorated  and the furniture  overhauled,  the  Anchor-Donaldson liner  Athenia  sails  to-day  from Glasgow for  Quebec  and Montreal,  her  first voyage  of the  St.  Lawrence  season.

Special attention has been given to  the third  class  accommodation,  and  during  the  winter  lay-up the  lounges and smoking  rooms were rebuilt and  extended.

Daily  Record, 28  April 1933.

Credit: Daily  Record,  29  April  1933.

Athenia was finally reactivated with her  28 April  1933 sailing  to the St.  Lawrence, the departure featuring  a send  off by  the  liner's newly  reorganised pipe  band.  After calling at Liverpool  and Belfast, Athenia went  across with 14 Cabin, 48 Tourist   and 112 Third Class  passengers. Her arrival at Montreal on the  evening  of  8 May  highlighted  her  new  pipe band:

The sound of pipes drifted over the harbor in the dusk last evening as the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia arrived from Glasgow with 174 passengers. When the vessel docked at 9.30, the newly- recruited pipe band of four pipers and two drummers could be seen promenading the deck.

The  Gazette, 9  May 1933.

Outbound, Athenia cleared  Montreal the  morning  of 12 May 1933 with 16 Cabin, 103 Tourist  and 254  Third  Class  passengers. Calling at Belfast at noon on the  20th and Liverpool  at 9:00 p.m.  That evening,  Athenia berthed at Glasgow the next day.

As passengers were disembarking at Liverpool, yesterday, from the Cunard-Donaldson liner Athenia, a lady came along leading by the hand a little girl who carried a large doll in long clothes. She tendered to an official two "landing cards," whereupon he asked for the third card for the " baby." The passenger smiled and handed the " baby" to him.

Liverpool Daily  Post, 22 May  1933.

There were only 20  Cabin, 42 Tourist    and 73  Third  Class tickets sold  for Letitia  12 May 1933 voyage  to Canada and ending  another  routine  crossing,  she  docked  at Montreal  the  morning of  the  22nd. Sixty travel agents had an inspection and dinner aboard Letitia on the 25th and inspected the  improvements made  in her  accommodation for that  season.  The eastbound  Letitia  cast  off  the  morning  of  the  26th with  26 Cabin, 132 Tourist  and 349 Third Class  passengers,  "piped  out  port by the pipe bank of the  liner,  consisting of four  pipers and two drummers, a novel  and very  popular feature of  the  Anchor-Donaldson  departures and  arrivals." (Gazette,  26 May).  Letitia  reached the  Clyde on 4  June. 

Steaming westwards from Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast 26-27 May  1933, Athenia had five Cabin, 51 Tourist   and 69 Third Class aboard, indicative  of the  dismal trading conditions that season. One of her  passengers embarking at Glasgow was Ellen Wakeham, aged  5, who  was  travelling unaccompanied to  join her  parents in Toronto.  She  and  her  few fellow  passengers were safely  landed at Quebec  and Montreal  on 5 June.   On departure for the Old Country on the 9th,  Athenia took out  26 Cabin, 189 Tourist  and 277 Third Class passengers.  She reached Glasgow at 11:30 a.m. on the  18th.

Letitia at Quebec, June 1933. Credit: Archives  Montreal.

Dominion-destined, Letitia left  Glasgow  on  9 June  1933 and after Liverpool  and Belfast  had 15 Cabin, 78 Tourist   and 57 Third  Class passengers whom she  safely  delivered at  Quebec the  evening of  the  18th  and  at Montreal  the  following morning.  "Her most  distinguished  passengers, Sir Humphrey Davy  Rolleston,  G.C.V.O., until  recently physician  in ordinary  to  the King,  will leave  the liner at  Father  Point  en route  to  Saint John to  attend  the  convention of medical  men."(Montreal  Star, 19  June).  Among those embarking Letitia  for the Old Country on the 23rd was T.S. Eliot and a group  of 70 tourists sponsored  by the  Sons of  Scotland and in all,  she sailed with 50 Cabin,  206 Tourist  and 364 Third Class  passengers.  Putting in at Belfast at 4:00  a.m. on 1 July and Liverpool that afternoon, Letitia  arrived  at Glasgow  on the  2nd.

Clearing Glasgow on the  morning of 23 June  1933, and after calling at  her  intermediate ports, Athenia had 11 Cabin,  58  Tourist   and  83  Third  Class  for  Canada and arrived,  ignored by  the  local press, at Montreal  on  3 July.  Among those embarking on 7th for  the  Old  Country  was a touring party  from  British  Columbia, The Victoria Burns Club, who travelled over  via  C.N.R.  To join  the  ship which sailed  with  a fair list  of  48  Cabin, 145 Tourist  and 289  Third  Class, going  out  with Aurania and Duchess  of York.  Among Athenia's passengers was noted Canadian artist Mr. St. Thomas Smith and Mrs. Smith of  Ontario.  Athenia made Glasgow  at 10:30  p.m. on the  15th.

Westbound  carryings were  pretty  dismal  that  season and  Letitia cleared for  Canada  on 7 July  1933 with  only  16  Cabin,  54  Tourist  and 63 Third  Class  who landed on the 16th.   With  that the  Gazette called  "a  generous  list of passengers, and an exceptionally  large  in  the tourist  section,"  (29 Cabin,  103  Tourist   and 254 Third), Letitia sailed from Montreal on the  21st. Calling at Belfast the  evening of the  28th, she touched at Liverpool  the following morning and  arrived  in the  Clyde  that evening.

With 42 Cabin,  83 Tourist  and 123  Third Class aboard  for  her  efforts,  Athenia cleared the Clyde,  Mersey and Belfast  Lough  on 21-22 July  1933 for the St. Lawrence, her list including a number of French-Canadian nurses returning from the  International Nurses Congress in Paris.   After making "rapid transatlantic voyage," (Gazette,  31 July),  Athenia  berthed at Montreal on  the  morning of the 30th.  Late in the  summer eastbound season, there were  only 16 Cabin, 89 Tourist  and 194 Third Class passengers aboard  when she cleared  the St. Lawrence on 4 August, arriving back in the  Clyde  on the 13th.

Booked with 50 Cabin, 110  Tourist and 142  passengers, Letitia sailed for the  St.  Lawrence on 4  August  1933 and berthed  at  Montreal  on the afternoon of  the  13th.  Among her 21 Cabin, 85 Tourist   and  160 Third Class  passengers for Britain on the  18th  were "a party  of negro spiritual  singers  who  are proceeding to Belfast from Chicago, under  the  direction of  Edwardo Lango."(Gazette, 18 August). Letitia arrived  on the  other  side  on the 26-27th.

Athenia  left  Glasgow again for Canada on 18 August 1933  and in time for the first  of the returning tourists,  had aboard  32 Cabin, 169 Tourist  and 177 Third Class by  the time she made the  rounds  of Liverpool  and Belfast. She docked at Montreal on the 27th. Homewards on 1  September, Athenia, together  with  Aurania,  departed Montreal that  morning  with 13 Cabin, 62 Tourist   and 125 Third  Class aboard to a diverse  musical  accompaniment:

Although in no way connected with each other there seemed a perfect understanding between the pipe band of the Anchor Donaldson liner Athenia and a group of hymn singers when the liner sailed from Montreal this morning for Glasgow. 

The pipers first paraded up and down the shed playing numerous Scottish airs while the singers formed a circle on the third class deck. Later the pipers played on another of the decks. But there was never any clash. As soon as the pipers finished a number the hymn singers started another tune.

Between the two there was no of lack of inspiration for departing passengers.

Montreal Star, 1 September  1933.

Athenia reached  the  Clyde on 10  September  1933.

Drawing a prime  westbound sailing  date of 1 September 1933 for returning tourist traffic, Letitia  had 56 Cabin, 183 Tourist  and 213 Third Class on departure  from  Glasgow and intermediate  ports. She  berthed  at Montreal at 10:00 a.m. on the  10th. "The Letitia's pipe  band played  while disembarking was going on.  They  will  give  a special radio concert on Wednesday  evening here."  (Gazette,  11  September). With 64,000  bushels  of wheat as well as 28 Cabin, 70 Tourist  and 188 Third  Class  passengers, Letitia left Montreal on the  15th and made  Glasgow at  dawn on the 24th.

Taking just  about  the  last  of the  returning  returning  tourists home from a  slow summer  season,  Athenia  numbered 40 Cabin, 162 Tourist   and 115 Third  Class names on her  westbound passenger  list of 15 September 1933.  She  berthed at  Montreal  the  evening  of the 24th after another  routine  crossing.  Eastbound on the  29th, Athenia went over  with  19 Cabin, 69 Tourist  and  189 Third  Class passengers,  and  sailed with Aurania  and  Duchess  of  Bedford.   Athenia returned  to Glasgow on the  8th.

Finding gainful winter employment for the two ships had always been a challenge, but given the economic circumstances, became even more important.  On 21 October 1933 it was stated that “Athenia will be laid up after the St. Lawrence season” but that the Hellenic Travel Club of London had chartered Letitia for its winter cruise season and make four Mediterranean and Aegean trips. 

The Duke of Montrose wrote a letter  to  the  Daily  Record (Glasgow) extolling  the  Letitia charter:

Brodick  Castle,

Isle of  Arran

September 26, 1933.

It is impossible for anyone holding the position I do as President of the Scottish Travel Association to pass along the Clyde without being saddened by the empty shipyards and the quantity of shipping laid up in our harbours and lochs. 

It is, therefore, with great satisfaction that I am informed that the Hellenic Travellers' Club has just chartered, for the Spring cruises of 1934, the Scottish liner, T.S.S. Letitia, of the Anchor-Donaldson Line, in which I visited Canada with the Scottish Trade Mission. 

This charter restores to British shipping the Mediterranean cruising of the 'Hellenic Travellers' Club, which since the War has been carried out under a foreign flag.

I have, therefore, had pleasure in accepting the chairmanship of a special committee of the Hellenic Travellers' Club to organise the Spring cruises of 1934 in this Scottish ship, commencing with a visit to the Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, etc. 

The cruise will leave Glasgow on . February 10, and those who wish can join us at Nice on February 20. 

This will, I hope, prove one of the most important organised visits from Scotland to the Holy Land since the pilgrimages of pre-Reformation days.

On my  invitation, the  following  have  become  members  of  the  Committee,  and  some  of  them  have  kindly  consented to  lecture, and they will official  represent the  cruise,  ashore  or  afloat,  as  occasion may  require:

Dr. George F. Barbour, J.P.; Col. Sir lain Colquhoun, Bart., D.S.O.: Rear-Admiral Gordon Campbell, V.C., M.P.: the Rt. Hon.the Earl of Elgin, the Right Rev. the Bishop of Glasgow; Principal Alexander Martin, LL.D.; the Right Rev. Norman MacLean, D.D.: Lieut. Col. Norman MacLeod, C.M.C., D.S.O.: the Rt. Hon. Lord Polwarth, C.B.E., V.D.; Sir John Reith.

Yours faithfully,

Montrose

First  advertisement for  Letitia's  1934 cruise  programme for  Hellenic Travellers  Club.  Credit: Daily Telegraph, 24 October 1933.

Some months  ago reference was made in these columns to the activities of the Hellenic Travellers' Club, and surprise was expressed that at a time when there was so much British tonnage idle, the Club should have chartered a foreign ship to carry out its cruising programme. The criticism thus directed against the Club has not been without effect, for in its latest circular, outlining the programme for next year, it is stated that " the difficulties which have hitherto prevented the Club from chartering a British vessel for its cruises have no been overcome," with the result that the Club's cruises next year will be carried out by the Anchor Donaldson liner Letitia, a ship particularly well suited for the purpose. We congratulate the Club on doing, although somewhat belatedly, no more than it I might have been expected to do, but at the same time it would be of interest to know the precise nature of I the " difficulties " which prevented a British ship being chartered on previous occasions. 

Liverpool Journal of Commerce,  17  October 1933.

With 23 Cabin, 104 Tourist  and 177 Third  Class  passengers, Letitia's  29 September 1933 westbound crossing  had its fair  share of  late  returning  tourist  traffic.  Calling at  Quebec the  evening  of 7  October,  she berthed at  Montreal  early  the  following morning. Eastbound  on the  13th, Letitia  had 13 Cabin, 39 Tourist and 181 Third Class for the Old Country.  Calling at Belfast at  3:00 p.m.  on the 21st and  Liverpool  at 7:00 a.m. the  next morning,  Letitia  returned  to the Clyde the  afternoon of  the  22nd. 

The  season  now truly  winding  down, there  were  only  23 Cabin,  71 Tourist    and  115  Third  Class takers for  Athenia's next  to last  sailing  to  the  St.  Lawrence on 13  October 1933.  In reporting  her arrival  at Montreal  the  morning  of the  23rd, the  Montreal  Star informed  their readers,  via  arriving  passenger W.H. Chapman of the  Dunlop  Tyre & Rubber Company, that "a total of  140,000 bicycle tyres are being turned  out every  month  in England,"  as  a  trading  conditions showed  an  uptick.  Again partnered with Aurania,  Athenia  departed  Montreal  on the  morning  of  the  27th  with 20 Cabin,  66 Tourist and 183  Third Class, among  them Norman  P. Donaldson,  director  of  Donaldson Line,  and  his  daughter, Miss  Mary. Athenia berthed  at Glasgow on 4 November.

On her  last sailing  to the St. Lawrence that  year, Letitia (Capt. William Black) cleared   Glasgow on 27  October 1933  with  11 Cabin, 30 Tourist   and 100 Third  Class on departure  from Liverpool  and Belfast.   In her holds was 300  tons of Scottish anthracite coal and a  consignment of brick and in all, she  came over  with 1,200 tons  of  cargo. She made Montreal on 5 November.

The two sister ships were briefly commanded by brothers when Letitia arrived Montreal  on 5 November 1933 commanded by Capt. William Black of Glasgow, the brother of Capt. James Black of Athenia.  Normally on the South American cargo run, this was his  first visit to  the St. Lawrence in years.

Letitia and  Ausonia  embarked their passengers at Montreal  at  midnight on 9  November 1933 for  the  final  time that season, with  nine Cabin, 34 Tourist  and 180 Third Class aboard the  Donaldson flagship.  "Passengers board Ausonia and Letitia last  night and went to bed under  the  impression that  when they  awoke the  ship would be slipping  gently down the St. Lawrence,"  but instead  they  spent an enforced  night  alongside  in  a  heavy  snow  storm. Snow continued  to fall  through much of the  following day as well and Letitia finally left at 10:40 a.m. on the 11th. Among her  passengers was a party of  28 young men who  had  gone out to  Canada several years back  under the auspices of  the Salvation Army returning for the  Christmas holidays.  Letitia arrived at  Glasgow on the 21st.

Closing  out Donaldson's St. Lawrence  season for the year,  Athenia  sailed  from Glasgow  on 10 November 1933  and on clearing Liverpool  and Belfast,  had  seven  Cabin,  41 Tourist   and 87 Third  Class passengers.  It was quite late  in the  season  and  indeed,  there  was sufficient  ice  already in the St. Lawrence between  Quebec and Montreal that  she  and Montclare  landed all their  passengers at  the  Ancient Capital on  the 20th and  would land cargo  there and turn  around  there  Athenia's  eastbound departure, on the  27th, was  sufficiently  late to  be sold  as a  Christmas Crossing (in addition to that of  Letitia  from Halifax on 15  December).  

Among those sailing for home in Athenia  were Charles Donaldson and  Fred Donaldson.  The  ship's  departure  was firstput back  to  28 November 1933 to allow  more  time  for passengers to  arrive by train  catch Athenia  and Aurania's  departure  from  Quebec and   load cargo as  snow  fell heavily.   In  the  end,  Athenia  did  not  sail  until  the morning  of  the 30th with  a special boat train  dispatched  from Bonaventure  Station,  Montreal at 3:00 p.m. on the 29th, straight  to the  ship's side whilst  Montreal hotels enjoyed an unexpected  late  surge  in bookings and the  charges being paid by Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson. Athenia  went out  with 28 Cabin, 68 Tourist  and 395  Third  Class passengers and arrived at Glasgow at 4:55 p.m. on 9 December.

Athenia sailing from Montreal in 1933.  Credit: Clifford M. Johnston / Library and Archives Canada / PA-056818

Then on 31 October 1933 it was reported that Athenia, too, had found a winter charter and would sail from Glasgow on 14 February 1934 and from Liverpool the next day on a Jewish Community Cruise to Palestine.  This featured a 10-day stay in Haifa for the celebration of the Purim Festival and several Jewish organisations were sponsoring the cruise with the ship providing complete kosher kitchens. Athenia would depart Haifa on 7 March and return to Glasgow on the 18th.  In the event, there is no record that this cruise ever took place and like Letitia's world cruise plans, it seems to have been quietly shelved amid the prevailing hard times.

Winter came early that season and with ice already in the river below Quebec, Athenia did not proceed down to Montreal when she docked at Quebec on 22 November 1933 and sail direct from there to Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow on the 30th. 

In 1933, Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 4,687 passengers and Letitia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 4,507 and two crossings to Halifax carrying 233 passengers.

Letitia at Quebec, June 1933. Credit: Archives  Montreal.

1934

The  big story  of  1934  was  the  beginning  of  a new  and memorable  aspect of  Letitia's  long three and a half  decade long  career,  that of  a  cruise  ship  for a  unique  and  distinctly  British variation on pleasure voyaging:  the  academic specialty  cruise,  and the  first  British-flag  vessel  engaged  on it.  

Credit: Daily Record, 18 January  1934.

Letitia,  in  preparation for  her  new  duties  to  last  through  the winter  and into early spring, underwent a refit  and refurbishment  at  Govan, her drydocking  proved  anything but  when  on 17 January  1934 during  a remarkable  flood tide  on the  Clyde, the  water actually  was  higher  than  the dock gates,  flooding  the  basin. 

Nowadays when cruising has become little  more  than  a mass market package  holiday and even those few cruises  with  pretensions  to  anything else might feature "guest  lecturers" whose  only  qualification  is PowerPoint on a laptop and reciting Wikipedia, it  is  worth  recalling  the entirely vanished era  of cruise travel between the wars and  how  at its very top echelons  in terms of exclusivity  and intellectual content  tempered with considerable social standing,  Hellenic Travellers  Club represented and  came to its  heyday  c. 1934-39  with  the  charter  of  Letitia every winter up  to  the war. 

Not  only were these organised,  led and  enriched  by  some of  the  pre-eminent classical scholars, authors,  historians  and university  headmasters, theologians and high  clergy  of  the period, but their passengers were derived from a wonderfully  eclectic cadre  of  academics, scholars, students, authors,  historians, poets,   lords and ladies,  barons of industry and politicians as well as the scions of British society-- dishy young college boys  in white flannels and  striped  summer  jackets  and  eligible debuttantes--  doing  the grand tour  on  a  slightly  more  cerebrial basis.   

This  was a now  completely  vanished  era, too,  when  the roots of  Western  Civilisation in the Classical World were extolled  and embraced rather  than shunned  or  disdained  as today and these were not just  "cruises" but journeys  into  the very bedrock of civilisation.  For  Letitia, whose press  "image"  had previously  been confined  to photos  of Scottish  farm boys  and girl domestics embarking in the wet and gloom of Clydebank,  her cruises for  Hellenic Travellers Club  suddenly  found  her  and  her eminent  passengers  in sun-drenched, Greek ruin background photo  features  in  The  Tatler,  Sphere, Illustrated  London  News etc. as the  "it"  ship  of  late  'thirties  British  cruising. 

Letitia's annual charter to the Hellenic Travellers Club starting in winter 1934 was her most celebrated and the passenger list including some of Britain's most respected academics, scholars and war leaders as well as the creme of society had the cruises featured as above in such magazines as The Tatler (18 April 1934).  

The programme for Letitia’s Hellenic Traveller’s Club season was announced on 20 January 1934. There would be four cruises in all with the first departing Glasgow on 10 February, calling at Plymouth and then Gibraltar, Algiers, Palma and Villefranche.  From the French port, she would then make two cruises, the first departing 20 February to Haifa, Alexandria, Piraeus and Istanbul and the second departing 20 March to Syracuse, Nauplia, Crete, Delos and Naples.  Her homeward cruise ended at Glasgow on 1 May.  The programme and all shore arrangements were arranged by Sir Henry Lunn, one of the pioneers of British cruising. The lecturers  aboard for  the series included the  Warden of  New College, Sir James  Baillie,  Professor  Darwin, Sir John Marriot, F.  Pember (late Warden of  All Souls), the Bishop of  Ripon, Canon  Wigram,  The Very Rev. Cyril Alington, Dean of Durham and Canon W. Wigham. 

With capacity limited to just 300, Letitia was ideal for the role and upon return it was said that “the cruises were highly successful, and the Letitia, the first Clyde to be employed by the Hellenic Travellers’ Club, proved extremely popular as a cruise ship.”

It  was another Ship  of  State for  Scotland  moment  when  Letitia  departed  Glasgow on 10 February  1934 for  Plymouth, Gibraltar, Algiers,  Palma and Villefranche:

'You  are going out  as  missionaries  to speak  for  Glasgow,  Scotland, and  Britain  as a whole,'  was Lord  Provost  Swan's parting injunction  on Saturday  to  the  travellers who left  the  Clyde on the  T.S.S.  Letitia  for  a series of cruises  in Near East waters  conducted  by  the  Hellenic Travellers' Club.

 Both Lord Provost Swan and Sir Daniel M. Stevenson, Bart., at a luncheon given by the Club before the Anchor Donaldson liner's departure, spoke of the value of such cruises as a means of preserving international amity. " 

'This  is one way  in  a period  of  trade  depression,'  Sir  D.M.  Stevenson said,  'in which the leisure time of shipping can be employed carrying flags between one nation and another, and in that way creating amity which must inevitably make an end of all international disputes.'

His Grace the Duke of Montrose, an enthusiastic organiser of the cruising expedition, was not present at the luncheon, nor did he or the Duchess of Montrose sail on the Letitia, as they originally intended. 

They had to cancel their arrangements owing to the death of the Dowager Duchess of Hamilton. His Grace sent a message to the luncheon guests saying that instead of the Duchess and himself, Colonel Cameron of Lochiel and. Lady Hermione Cameron would join the Letitia at Villefranche. 

His Grace, too, had a message for the travellers.

It was read by Lord Provost Swan.

In these days of depression, I feel that as Scottish people we should do we can to foster and maintain everything from the Clyde. We possess incomparable docks and facilities of all kinds, and I feel that this has only to be kept before the public eye and trade will come. rejoice to think that efforts are the being made Dominions for more direct shipping from to the Clyde, and likewise it is praiseworthy to initiate the new fashion of world cruising from waters instead of always from Southampton and London.

From Villefranche, in the Mediterranean, the Letitia will make a series of cruises in the Near East, and among those who will be on board are the Earl and Countess of Elgin. Countess of Mar and Kellie, Lord and Lady Massarene, the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, and Rev. Dr. Norman Maclean. Dr.Norman Maclean, when he visits the Holy Land during one of the cruises, will ordain elders of the Scottish Presbyterian Church which was opened in Jerusalem three years ago.

Daily  Record, 12  February  1934.

From Glasgow  on 10  February  1934,  Letitia  coursed  southwards to Plymouth where  she called at 10:00  a.m. on the 12th, late  owing to  fog in  the  Channel, and  embarked 139  passengers, adding to  the 254 aboard of  whom 100  would disembark  at Villefranche.  Calling  at  Gibraltar at 11:30 a.m. -7:00 p.m.  on the 15th, , she arrived Villefranche  at 8:00 a.m. on the 20th.

On her  second cruise, Letitia  cleared  Villefranche at 7:00 p.m. on  21 February 1934,  calling at Malta 7:00  a.m.-10:00 p.m.   (24), Port Said  7:00 a.m. (28),  and arrived  Haifa on  4 March,  departing at  6:15  p.m. on the 6th.  "We arrived Jerusalem after  19  days of  perfect  weather  in  a perfect  ship.  Everyone in high  spirits." Message  from  the  Cameron of  Lochiel to the  Duke  of  Montrose." (Daily Record, 19  March) The  Marquis of  Clydesdale, M.P.,  Lord George  Douglas-Hamilton  and Lady Margaret Drummon-Hay  flew  from Aswan to Haifa  to  join the ship there.   From Haifa, Letitia  proceeded  to Rhodes (8)  and arrived at Constantinople  on the 15th. 

The Letitia has  arrived here from Haifa with a party of tourists who are proceeding in a day or two to Greece. The members of the Hellenic Club report they are having glorious weather. 

Coming through the Dardanelles, the Letitia stopped at Charnak to get the customary permission of the Turkish authorities to proceed. This is really a formality—a visit of Customs men, presentation of a clean medical sheet, and the taking on of a pilot.

But there was delay. Officials came off in three launches. Something unusual was on foot, for there was considerable scampering between the Letitia and the launches. The rumour ran round that a well-known British journalist on board, who had made himself non persona grata to the Dictator, Mustapha Kemal Pasha, was to be detained. The cause was not so thrilling, but there was delay. Officials came off in three launches. Something unusual was on foot, for there was considerable scampering between the Letitia and the launches. The rumour ran round that a well-known British journalist on board, who had made himself non persona grata to the Dictator, Mustapha Kemal Pasha, was to be detained. The cause was not so thrilling, but was more amusing. Liverpool, Newcastle and possibly Southampton will laugh when they hear the story. 

The registration port of the Letitia is Glasgow and none of the Turkish naval authorities at Charnak had ever heard of Glasgow! 

It took nearly an hour before sufficient documentary evidence was produced to show there actually is a place called Glasgow, and that the Letitia was not an evil vessel on some secret mission to upset the power of Mustapha Kemal--for the Turks are very suspicious about plots, and doubly suspicious of any vessel which claims to come from a place nobody had ever heard of. 

The Letitia was at last allowed to proceed, but a telegram was sent to the authorities at Istanbul to keep an eye on the mystery ship.

So the Letitia arrived here with its cargo, chiefly professors and other highbrows. There was a double guard of military on the dockside and at the gangway to scrutinise comings and the goings of all passengers.

Daily  Record, 16  March  1934.

Credit: Evening News,  13 April 1934.

Returning to Villefranche at 9:00  a.m.  on 19 March 1934, Letitia  was joined  there  for the third  cruise by Lord Darling and the Hon. Diana Darling, Lady Bonham-Carter, and Sir  Percy Sykes.  Sailing at  7:00 p.m. on the  20th,  Letitia cruised to Palermo (22), Athens, Crete,  Delos and arrived Naples on at  7:00  a.m.  4 April.  

On one of Hellenic Travellers' Club cruises, passengers aboard Letitia watch the Orient liner Orontes pulling free after grounding on a sandbar off Gallipoli, 18 April 1934. Credit: Daily Mirror, 24 April 1934. 

Her fourth  and final cruise, Naples to  Glasgow, commenced at 8:00  p.m.  on 4 April 1934, taking Letitia to  Villefranche (7), Palermo (9), Nauplia, Rhodes (16),  Athens  and Constantinople (18-19). Letitia stood by  the  Orient Line's Orontes, also on a cruise, earlier  that day after she had grounded off  Gallipoli but refloated without damage two hours later.    Proceeding   to Naples (24) and Gibraltar (27), Letitia arrived back at Glasgow on 1 May.  

Credit: Daily Record,  2 May 1934.

Credit: Daily Record,  2 May 1934.

At Glasgow, Letitia  landed probably the most distinguished  passenger  list yet seen come  off  one  ship  at  the port, including The Earl and Countess of Elgin and Kincardine and Lord Bruce, Lady Jane Bruce, and Lady Martha Bruce; Lord and Lady Salvesen; Sir Malcolm and Lady Macgregor; Sir John and Lady Kennedy; Sir Richard and Lady Lodge; Sir Henry and Lady Lunn; Lady  Thornycroft; Lady Fraser; Prince Galitzine; Sir John Marriott; Sir William Worsley; the Dean of Durham; Brig.-General J. D. Crosbie; Lieut.Colonel R. C.Bond; Dame Rachel Eleanor Crowdy; Dame Katherine Furse, and L. B. Cobden-Ramsay.  There was one engagement announced at the  end of  the cruise between Mr. Harry M.  Gulland of Bushley, Herts.,  and Miss Nancy Bavin of Sydney, Australia.

Credit: The Bystander, 17 April  1934.

Letitia's cruise programme thrust  her into the society  pages including  a full  page  spread in The  Tatler,  4 April 1934.

In all aspects, Letitia's  initial  cruise  programme was  a complete  success  with  a total  of  nearly  1,200  passengers carried  on  the  four trips.  

On 12 April 1934, Donaldson announced that Tony Hamilton, “well known radio singer and entertainer” would be aboard for several sailings Montreal to Glasgow and back and “'will provide entertainment in Scottish character" for all classes and that that both ships would  carry a pipe band in summer, retained since Letitia came over as exhibition ship.  "Both liners have been overhauled and extra rooms with private bath installed."

On the Athenia the major alteration has been in the addition of two more rooms with bath. These are of course provided with beds and they are furnished in the modern manner with tubular lighting, finished in chrome nickel on the walls. The furniture and mirrors are in the latest style of decoration, set off by a carpet of geometric design. The private bathrooms are completely equipped with a regular porcelain bath of full length and depth.

Besides this, all the cabin class staterooms of the Athenia have been redecorated, and partly re-equipped."

The most striking innovation is replacement of the usual type of ship's fixture of mirror and sundry appurtenances by a plain mirror above the wash basin, attached directly to the wall, and the carafe generally used to contain water has been replaced by a neat chrome nickel thermos bottle.

By these changes, the general appearance of the cabins on the Athenia has been very much brightened, and the look of modern comfort was very much commented on by passengers embarking.

Montreal Gazette, 7 May 1934

Credit: Greenock  Telegraph,  20 April 1934.

Athenia resumed service  on  21 April  1934, departing Glasgow for  St.  Lawrence and making  the  first Donaldson voyage  of  the  season on the  route.

To-day the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia leaves for Quebec and Montreal on the first sailing of the St Lawrence season.

Close on 250 passengers will sail in the Athenia,  fairly good numbers for the opening voyage of the season. Among them is Master Alfred Milton, aged one year, who is travelling unaccompanied from Peterhead to join his father in Montreal. For the return passage over 500 passengers in all classes are booked, of considerable advance on the, numbers a year ago. 

The  Athenia will be the first  liner  to sail  from  Greenock, but  others will be in  the  race also and it  remains  to  seen which will dock first in Montreal and win for her captain the coveted gold-headed cane presented annually by the Montreal Harbour Commissioners to the first  arrival  in port.

Greenock  Telegraph, 20 April 1934.

On clearing Liverpool the afternoon of  21 April  1934 and Belfast that  evening,  Athenia went  across  with eight Cabin, 68 Tourist  and 143 Third Class passengers. She made Quebec at noon on 30  April, the Canadian icebreaker N.B. McLean convoying her the previous evening  in ice  on approach  from Cabot Strait  and Fame Point.   Athenia  berthed at Montreal, Shed 3,  at 8:30 p.m. on  1 May,  Montrose winning the honours as  the  first  liner  to  arrive,  coming  in the previous  night.  A  number of Athenia's passengers entrained at Bonaventure Station at 10:59 p.m. for  the  west on Canadian National.   Clearing  eastbound on the 4th, Athenia sailed with  a good  list  of  34 Cabin, 178 Tourist   and 382  Third Class and arrived in the  Clyde on  the morning  of  the  14th.

It was a fast  turnaround  and  a  sudden shift from the society  pages to the shipping  columns as Letitia  switched from her sudden fame  as cruise  ship  back  to  her more familiar  prosaic  duties as trans-Atlantic liner.   She  departed  Glasgow on her  first  voyage to  the St.  Lawrence that  season  on 4  May 1934 with nary  a mention in  the  press, going out  with 13 Cabin, 59 Tourist  and 84 Third  Class  passengers  including R.W.  Reford, managing  director of Robert Reford,  long time  agents for  Donaldson (and Cunard) in Canada,  and Mrs. Reford.  Letitia berthed at Montreal, Shed  3,   at 9:00  p.m. on the  14th.   Eastbound,  she  sailed on  the  18th  with 37 Cabin, 100 Tourist and 224 Third Class  passengers, including  F.W.  Field, the British  Trade  Commissioner  to Canada,  and Letitia  arrived in  Glasgow at 8:00  a.m.  On the  28th.

With 14 Cabin  and 77 each  in Tourist and Third,  Athenia  sailed  from Glasgow,  Liverpool  and Belfast on 18-19 May  1934 for  Canada,  arriving  Montreal the  evening  of  the  28th. Joining  the  ship at Belfast was four-year-old Miss  Margaret G. White,  travelling  alone,  to join her  parents in  Montreal.   Departing in company  with  Ausonia, Athenia sailed for  home on the  morning  of  1  June with a pretty  good list  of  43 Cabin, 173 Tourist and 258 Third Class and arrived Belfast at  6:00 a.m. and  Liverpool at 3:00 p.m. on  the  9th  and Glasgow  the  next day at noon.  

Departing  Glasgow on 1 June  1934 on her  second crossing  of  the  year,  Letitia had 34 Cabin, 77 Tourist  and 75 Third Class  passengers and arrived at  Montreal the  evening  of  the  10th, the  most  newsworthy  aspect of her voyage  was  that  for  the first  time she  berthed at Shed  2 rather than  her  habitual  no.  3..  Clearing at 11:00 a.m.  on the  15th  for  home, Letitia had aboard  a fair list of  60 Cabin, 137 Tourist  and 376 Third  Class passengers. Among  them  Prof.  James  R.  Jack, professor  of  Naval  Architecture  and  Marine  Engineering  at M.I.T.,  Boston. Letitia and Transylvania arrived together  in  the Clyde on the  25th.

Athenia  had  16 Cabin,  90 Tourist  and 82 Third Class tickets sold  for her 15  June 1934 westbound crossing, among them prominent  librarians from Britain en route  to  the American Library Association meeting in Montreal.  Athenia arrived at  Montreal on the  24th. Homewards on the 29th, she  sailed  with  70 Cabin, 218 Tourist and 381 Third Class which  was a pretty  show in those  days as trans-Atlantic  traffic  slowly  increased.  Calling at Belfast at  10:00  p.m.  on 6 July, Liverpool at  8:00 a.m.  on the 7th, Athenia  got into Glasgow at 8:00 a.m. on the 8th.

Letitia's  westbound crossing  of  29  June  1934 had a total  of  38  Cabin, 128  Tourist  and 82 Third  Class  by  the  time  she  cleared Liverpool  and Belfast on  the  30th  and  she  reached Montreal  on 8 July.  Proof  that  Anglo  Saxon superstitions  once  ran  deep, Letitia's  normal Friday  eastbound  sailing  day  was  put  forward a day  to  Saturday, 14th, so she  would  not tempt  fate departing  on  Friday  the  13th.  Indeed, the  same was done with  Cunard  and  Canadian Pacific  departures from Montreal.  Yet, the Scots  had  no such  qualms and  dispatched  Athenia  from  Glasgow on Friday the  13th as per  usual  day  of departure.  The Lucky  Letty  sailed from  Montreal  at daybreak on the  14th with 81 Cabin, 182 Tourist and 235 Third  Class passengers who  embarked  the previous  evening, including  a  special party  of  Scots  bound  for the  Old  Country.

 

A delegation of Scots people  is sailing tonight on the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia for Glasgow and other Scottish points. They come mainly from Saint John, N.B., and are going home both as a gesture of goodwill between the Maritimes and Scotland, also to gratify the normal desire of expatriated Scots to see the Caledonian shores as often as possible. The party is headed by Miss Myrtle Daley, Saint John, a and there are about 20 in the group. 

The homebound Scots will be piped aboard by the Letitia's talented coterie of pipers, reputed, even among Scots, as exceptional artists. A good supply of haggis and other Scots delicacies  are in the larders, and the  trip is  to  take on  a distinctly North-of-the-Tweed  on character.

The St. John Friendship Tour is the first party of its kind ever to be organized in St. John by a local person. The tour will take in Ireland, Scotland, England and France.

Montreal  Star, 13 July 1934.

The Gazette of  16 July  reported  that Letitia,  in fact,  went out  with  no vacant cabins. She arrived Liverpool at 10:00 a.m. on the  22nd  and Glasgow the following  morning.

A peak summer crossing to  Canada, commencing  13  July  1934, netted Athenia 13 Cabin, 72 Tourist  and 78 Third  Class fares. She arrived at Montreal the  morning  of  the 23rd and among those  landing was Peter Paisley  of  the  famous clothing  firm in Glasgow, making  the  round trip. Commencing  her  eastward passage  the  morning of  the  27th, Athenia  had 36  Cabin,  75 Tourist and 166 Third  Class  passengers  for  the  Old  Country. Putting in at Belfast at 9:00 p.m. on 3 August, Liverpool  at  6:00 p.m. the  next day,  Athenia made  Glasgow at 8:15 a.m.  on the 5th.  

Credit: The Gazette, 17 September 1934.

That summer the  already ponderously named  "Cunard-Anchor-Donaldson Line"  became "Cunard-White Star-Anchor-Donaldson" with  the British government forced  merger of White  Star  into  the  Cunard  monolith  in  exchange for loans  to  complete the new giant Cunarder.

Letitia's 27 July 1934 sailing from  Glasgow  occasioned a now rare newspaper  mention:

Several prominent names figure in the passenger list of the Anchor Donaldson liner Letitia, which sails at noon to-day for Montreal. Among them are Professor Ralph Stockman, M.D., of Glasgow University; Countess Guyot de Michaegan, the Belgian authoress; and Lieut.Colonel Michael E. Lindsay, who owns coal mines. in Canada and is a frequent traveller. The total passenger list is over 300.

When the Letitia sails from Montreal on 10th August on the return passage she will bring Lord and Lady, Allenby and Admiral and Lady Tyrwhitt who have been making a short visit to Canada.

Greenock Telegraph, 27 July 1934

After  her calls at  Liverpool  and  Belfast, Letitia  had 74  Cabin, 148  Tourist and 123 Third  Class passengers and arrived Montreal on at 11:00  a.m. 5 August 1934, followed in by  Lady Rodney in from the  West  Indies.

Noted for the distinguished soldiers which she has carried across the Atlantic, including Earl Haig, the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia will add two other great names to her passenger list roll of honor when she sails from this port next week for Britain. Her passengers will, include Lord Allenby who will be accompanied by Lady Allenby and by Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, who has recently been appointed Admiral of the British Fleet. Admiral Tyrwhitt is accompanied by Lady Tyrwhitt. They are returning to Britain after having attended the re-union of the Canadian Corps which is being held this week-end in Toronto.

Montreal Star, 2  August  1934.

In the  end,  neither  made the  voyage, Admiral  Trywhitt deciding to  extend his stay  in Canada and Field  Marshal  Allenby sailing in Duchess  of  Bedford instead.  Letitia left instead with  her usual  prosaic  passenger list,  on schedule  on 10 August  with 33 Cabin, 103 Tourist and 187 Third  Class  passengers.  Calling  at  Belfast on the  17th, Liverpool on the  18th,  Letitia  arrived  at Glasgow  at  8:00  a.m.  on the  19th.

From  Glasgow  on 10 August 1934 and Liverpool and Belfast the  next  day,  Athenia had  a  good list  of  61 Cabin, 162 Tourist  and 152  Third  Class  for  Quebec and  Montreal, reflecting  another  round  of  fare cuts  to  spur traffic.  She  arrived at Montreal the  evening of the  19th.  

Credit: Greenock Telegraph, 3  September  1934.

Departing Montreal on  24 August 1934,  Athenia  had 19 Cabin,  96  Tourist  and 170  Third  Class passengers and went out  with  Ausonia.  Touching  at Belfast at  9:30 p.m.  On the 31st  and  Liverpool  at 6:00  a.m. the  next morning,  Athenia,  due  at  Glasgow at  8:00 a.m. on the  2nd, was confronted by  the  first  heavy  fog in the  Clyde that season on arrival  off  the  Tail  of  the Bank   and could not  come up  into  the  river.  She  landed  her  passengers by  tender at  Princes  Pier,  Greenock, in  late morning and  was able to  get  into  Glasgow  later  that  day.   

Catching the  peak tide  of returning vacationists,  Letitia's 24 August 1934 crossing from Glasgow,  Liverpool  and Belfast had  the  best westbound list  of  the year  with  82 Cabin, 255 Tourist  and  312 Third  Class passengers.   Among  them was  Vice  Admiral  A.G.  Hotham,  C.B., C.M.G., now  an official with  the  Port of London Authority,  and on a pleasure  trip; Commander W.V. Heaybard, O.B.E.,  R.N.R.,  president of  the  Quebec  division of  the  Navy League, "and a  party  of  colored evangelists  under  Eduardo  Lando, back  from a tour  of  Scotland.  Letitia berthed  at Montreal at 1:00 p.m. on 2 September. "There  were 700  people  on  the  Letitia  when she  docked yesterday,  the  largest crowd the  vessel  has carried this  year. There  were  hundreds  of people down to  see  her arrive at 1  p.m. " (Montreal Star, 3 September).  Homewards,  there was surely more "elbow  room"  aboard and Letitia  cleared on the 7th with 51 Cabin, 90  Tourist and 194  Third Class.  Touching at  Belfast at 11:00 p.m.  on  the  14th,  Liverpool  at  8:00 a.m.  on  the  15th, Letitia  berthed  in  Princes  Dock, Glasgow, at 8:00 a.m.  on the 16th.

With her fair  share  of  returning tourists,  Athenia sailed  westwards on 7 September  1934 with 72  Cabin,  158 Tourist  and 242 Third Class and reached Montreal on the  16th. Among  those  landing  was  Miss  Margaret Donaldson of Glasgow,  sister of  one of  line  directors  and  returning  to Scotland in Letitia on 5  October.  Ships  officers  told The  Montreal Star how  impressive  the  great hull of the new Cunarder no.534  looked on her  Clydebank  shipway  and  they  had witnessed  her  long, often delayed progress since  she  was laid  down, "this  great hull lying on the  slip  at the Clydebank is  one of  the  most  impressive  sights ever witness, being painted  a light  pearl  grey and with  her  four  magnificent bronze  propellers glistening  in the  sunlight."  Athenia sailed  for  home  on the  21st  with  20  Cabin, 62 Tourist  and 152 Third  Class passengers and  arrived Glasgow  on the 31st. 

By the  time Letitia sailed again westbound  on 21 September 1934, the busy  season was gone  and  she  went across  with  29 Cabin, 143 Tourist and 250 Third  Class,  a total of  270 embarking  at Glasgow  and the  remainder  at  Liverpool  and Belfast.   She reached  Montreal early  on 1  October. Departing on the  5th with  Aurania,  Letitia  had 21  Cabin, 81 Tourist  and 208 Third  Class  aboard as well as  24,000 bushels of wheat.    Calling at Belfast at 9:00 p.m. on the  12th  and Liverpool at 7:00 a.m.  the following morning, Letitia reached Glasgow at 8:00 a.m. on the  14th.

Indicative  of  a waning  season, there  were only  20  Cabin,  72 Tourist  and 162 Third  Class  takers  for  Athenia  to Canada on 5  October 1934. She got  into Montreal early  on the  morning  of the  15th, along  with Ausonia. Among those landing from the  Donaldson liner was  Canadian artist Mr. S. Thomas Smith  and  Mrs. Smith, returning  from a sketching holiday  in the Orkney Islands.  Athenia  sailed  for  home on the  19th  with 21 Cabin,  42 Tourist  and 165 Third Class and arrived Glasgow on the morning  of  the 28th.

With 21  Cabin, 54 Tourist and 108 Third Class passengers,  Letitia sailed for Canada at 7:00 p.m. on 19 October  1934,  calling  at Liverpool at 1:00 p.m.  The  next  day and clearing Belfast that evening.  Hitherto the  Donaldson Sisters  had been especially favoured  ships when it  came to  escaping the  worst  rigours  of  their route,  but on this particular crossing,  Letitia's  luck deserted  her in dramatic fashion.  Expected to  arrive on the 27-28th, she  finally docked at Montreal late on the 29th after  a stormy,  tempest-tossed crossing  like none other in her officers  and  crew  long  experience,  culminating  in  a heavy gale accompanied  by  driving snow all  the way from Anticosi to Montreal, and preceded  an even worse blow three  days  out  of  Belfast which caused  major damage  to the  ship's  bridge, upper works  and  boats. 

The story  of  an epic battle with  seas  100  feet high  encountered  by the  Anchor-Donaldson liner  Letitia for  four  hours during an 80 mile gale when three  days out  from Liverpool,  was unfolded  this  morning by  one  of  the  passengers. The  Letitia  arrived in port  last  night. Ventilators were engulfed  by  mountainous  waves, torn from their  seats, water poured  into the  ventilator  shafts,  the  bridge  deck  was stove  in one  side, and companionways were smashed, as well as  lifeboats, it  was related.

"During the time the fierce storm lasted I never witnessed such a great display of British seamanship as that shown by Capt. David Taylor, O.B.E., and his officers and men," said the eye-witness. "At no time was there any panic, and strange to relate I enjoyed the experience. 

"We were out three days," he continued, "and towards evening on Tuesday a heavy storm lashed into an 80 mile gale. The waves completely engulfed the ship from the water line to the crow's nest,and it was when the port side of the bridge was smashed that Chief Officer Mackinnon was slightly injured. The cabins connecting with ventilator shaft from which the big ventilator on the boat deck were connected, were washed out with water. but accommodation was instantly provided by the ship's crew, who, in my opinion. gave a wonderful demonstration of true seamanship in an emergency." 

The decks were a mass of twisted wreckage, with superstructure cabins on the boat deck uprooted pushed grotesquely to one side, and the big ventilator funnel was lying on the deck when the angry seas had failed to hurl it into the churning sea.

 "When the storm had abated about 4 o'clock on Wednesday morning, and everything became more normal." the passenger continued "the voyage resumed as usual, and from my observation the passengers, none the worse for their experience, began to once more enjoy the trip as if nothing had happened.

In all my experience of 11 transatlantic voyages, I want to say I never saw such fine discipline as shown by Captain Taylor and his men. They were a marvel of discipline, judgment, quick action and everything that goes for safety of passengers when danger is threatened at sea," concluded the  eye-witness.

Montreal Star, 30  October 1934.

Credit: Montreal Star, 30 October 1934.

Part of her bridge smashed in by violent seas, and one of her life-boats carried away, the Anchor-Donaldson liner, Letitia, arrived in port last night.

From what could be learned here, the Letitia encountered "the storm of the century" on her way out from Country. Huge waves swept over her sturdy bow, smashing in her bridge on the port side and sending water crashing along the decks from tip to stern. 

The result of the damage could be clearly seen when the liner arrived in port early last night. The bridge on the port side was twisted and battered.   Terrific seas and wild weather forced the ship behind schedule.

 The liner battled her way across the Atlantic, only to encounter more rough weather in the river the day before yesterday. It was learned from sources on the waterfront last night that the Letitia was close to the schooner, Marie Lydia, which foundered some distance from the Quebec Bridge, losing her skipper, his son a and two other members crew. The Letitia, because of the fierce gale, was unable, in any possible way, to render assistance.

Gazette, 30 October 1934.

On 1 November 1934, the  Montreal Star reported "the bridge  of  the  Letitia is  an active  place  today, as carpenters  are busy  repairing wave damage in time  for  sailing. The  bridge  battered  by  a storm, the  Anchor Donaldson liner arrived on Monday night and will sail tomorrow."  On schedule, but with  final repairs  waiting her  return to  the  Clyde, Letitia  cleared Montreal  on 2  November  with 15 Cabin, 46  Tourist  and 146  Third  Class passengers and arrived Glasgow at 8:00  a.m.  on the  11th.

With seven Cabin, 33  Tourist  and 73  Third  Class passengers  aboard, Athenia  steamed towards the  St. Lawrence for  the last  time  that year  on 2  November 1934. It was an early winter on the Atlantic coast of  Canada that  year and  heavy snow kept Athenia initially from proceeding to  Montreal  from Quebec on the 11th and due at Montreal that  evening,  she  did  not  berth until the  following  morning. In company  with  Ausonia,  Athenia bid  adieu to Montreal  for  the season on the 16th, going out  with five Cabin, 35  Tourist  and 131 Third Class passengers.  She  berthed  at  Princes  Dock,  Glasgow,  at  8:00 a.m.  on the  25th. 

Hellenic Travellers'  Club, renewing  their  charter  of Letitia, released their  winter  1935  cruise programme on  6  November  1934.   As  the  previous  year,  she  would  make  four  cruises:  1)  5-15 February:  Glasgow, Plymouth, Gibraltar, Malaga,  Algiers and Marseilles; 2) 16 February-18 March:  Marseilles, Palermo, Malta,  Palestine,  Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes,  Constantinople, Athens, Marseilles;  3) 19 March-5  April: Marseilles,  Sicily,  Greece,  Constantinople, Rhodes,  Naples, Marseilles;  and  4)  6-23  April: Marseilles, Palermo,  Greece,  Santorini, Delos, Rhodes,  Naples, Glasgow.

On her final foray into  the St. Lawrence that year and a  smoother one  than  the last one,  Letitia  cleared Glasgow on 16 November  1934 and after Liverpool  and Belfast, had five Cabin, 37 Tourist and 85 Third  Class  passengers.  Taking  no  chances, though, that  late  in  the  season,  her  turnaround  port  would be  Quebec.  Moreover, this  would be the  final  voyage  for  her master, Capt.  David  Taylor,  who  had been commanding Donaldson Line  ships  since 1917. Letitia arrived at Quebec at  3:50  p.m.  on  the  25th.  She departed  for  home  late on  the 29h,  delayed  by  fog,  with six  Cabin, 38 Tourist and 167 Third.

The Gazette had a wonderful  biography on the  retiring  Capt.  Taylor's  career  at  sea:

The departure of the Letitia from Quebec yesterday closes the career, as far as Canada is concerned, of Captain David Taylor, O.B.E., who has commanded steamers in the Canadian trade ever since 1897, as Captain Taylor is retiring at the close of the present voyage after many years' service with the Donaldson and Anchor Lines. 

Captain Taylor first went to sea in the 80's, securing a  berth in a sailing ship engaged in the coastal trade of Great Britain. At  this time this ship was nearly 100 years probably one of the few men today have seen service in the regular trading of a ship built long before the Battle of Trafalgar.

 It was in 1893 that Captain Taylor first came to Montreal as an officer on one of the cargo boats of the Donaldson Line and in 1895 he secured command of one of Donaldson Brothers' steamers engaged on the Glasgow -Baltimore run.

In 1897 Captain Taylor returned more to the St. Lawrence trade, but this in command of the Amarynthia, for many years well known to Scottish and Canadian shippers. Until the war Captain Taylor continued in the Canadian trade, latterly in command of the Donaldson passenger ship Saturnia, and it was suddenly on the outbreak of war ship was commandeered by the British Government the very hour that she had taken her passengers on board at Glasgow and was ready to sail for Canada, when she was hastily converted into a troop ship, and taking her down to Southampton Captain Taylor brought his first troops on board and landed them at Havre within ten the outbreak of war. 

From that time Captain Taylor's experiences varied with the needs of the British forces in different parts of the world. Going to the Mediterranean the Saturnia served as a troop ship and munition carrier during the Dardanelles campaign, and later on as an ambulance carrier of 1,000 severely wounded stretcher cases from Lemnos home to England. Later on Captain a Taylor took his ship to India and carried Indian troops to France, landing them at Marseilles.

On February 1, 1917, his ship was attacked by a submarine, but the single gun which she carried was manned and handled to such good effect that the submarine had to disengage and did not secure an opportunity of firing a second torpedo.

Coming out the war unscathed and with the record of never having had his ship damaged, though for a large part of time continually in the areas affected by enemy action, Captain Taylor resumed his service on the regular Canadian trade, as the Donaldson Line passenger service had now been taken over by the Anchor- Donaldson Line, he took command of the new ships as they came into operation, first the Athenia and then the Letitia. 

It must have been reminiscent to Captain Taylor of his war experience when, during the first four months of this year, he took the Letitia down to the Mediterranean for purposes of cruising, but under more peaceful auspices of the Hellenic Travel Association, on a tour designed to visit and the ancient Greek centres of civilization.

Throughout all his 39 years of being the traditional "old man" of a British merchantman Captain Taylor has never lost his fresh outlook on life, and to his many friends here it has seemed that the twinkle in his eye has grown more jolly with every passing year.

Referring to him yesterday Cunard White Star officials said it was with the greatest regret that they heard of the retirement of the senior captain on the St. Lawrence. They thought that it was quite possible he was the senior captain in command of an ocean-going passenger vessel the whole world With him and to his home Glasgow went yesterday the warm wishes of his many friends in Canada.

Gazette, 30  November  1934.

Captain Taylor  brought his  last Donaldson liner home  to  Glasgow on 9 December 1934. He told  a reporter of  the Daily  Record  on arrival,  "There existed,  he  said,  "a  definite  personal  link  between those  at  the  head  and their  masters.  That  meant a  great  deal to  a master."

In 1934, Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 4,884 passengers and Letitia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 5,134 passengers.

A busy scene in Malta's Grand Harbour, most likely in February 1935 when Letitia first called there on one of her cruises for the Hellenic Travellers Club.  She join an unidentified yacht, the Blue Star cruising liner Arandora Star and in the distance a Glorious-class aircraft carrier. 

1935

Beginning her second cruising season for  the  Hellenic  Travellers' Club, lecturers aboard Letitia that  season included The Viscount  Dunedin,  the Hon. Harold  Nicholson, Sir  Charles  close,  F.R.S.;  Sir  James Irvine;  Sir Richard  Livingston;  Sir John  Marriott; Sir  John  Squire; Sir  Percy  Sykes;  The Very  Rev. the  Dean of  Norwich;  Dr. Cyril  Norwood and  the  Rev.  Canon Wigram.   

Letitia  departed  Glasgow on 5 February  1935 with 99  passengers for  the  Mediterranean,  and  after  a very  rough  run south, called  the next day  at Plymouth  embark 129  additional passengers  at 9:00  a.m..   Among those  aboard  included the Countess  of Erroll, the  Hon.  Marion  Best, Admiral Sit Heathcote and Lady Grant, Lady W.R. Ommanney, Sir R.W.  Barker, Lady  Mary Boscawen,  Sir Charles F.M.  Close,  Lady Edith Dering, Lady Helen Coghlin,  Canon C. Hulbert-Powell, Canon E.  Roberts (vicar  of St. Austell, Maj. R.W.H.  Jackson and Rev. S.T. Percival.  Resuming passage at 10:15  a.m., Letitia  proceeded to Gibraltar (10-11), Malaga (11), Algiers (13)  and Marseilles (15).

Departing Marseilles on her second  cruise on  16 February  1935, Letitia cruised to Palermo (18), Malta (19), Haifa (23), Port Said (24), Haifa (4  March), Cyprus (5), Rhodes (7), Constantinople (10), and Athens (12) ).  Letitia  arrived at Phaleron Bay  (Athens) as  the  first  foreign ship  to do so  after  the collapse of the  revolt there  against the government.  Many  of her  375  passengers "took lunch with the British  Minister,  Mr. Waterlow, and were assured  that  conditions are now perfectly  safe." Sailing  from Athens at 7:00  p.m.,  Letitia arrived at Marseilles at 7:00 a.m. on the 18th.

Clearing  Marseilles at 5:00 p.m. on 19  March  1935 on her third  cruise,  Letitia called at Palermo (21),  Constantinople (24-25), Rhodes (28), Messina (2) and Naples (3), returning to  Marseilles  at 8:00 a.m. on 5  April.

Sailing on  her fourth  and final excursion,   from Marseilles at  4:00  p.m.  on  6  April 1935, Letitia put   at Palermo (8), and Santorini (10).

On 11 April 1935  it  was reported  that  Letitia  had  grounded off  Cape  Papas, in the  Gulf  of  Patras, "assistance  has been sent. Weather fine." The Glasgow  office  of Anchor-Donaldson told  the press that "the  only  news  we  have had is  a brief message that  Letitia is  aground  off  Cape  Papas. She  is not  badly aground and she should get  off without  much trouble.  As far as we  know  she is not  damaged."  The  Greenock Telegraph  of  the  12th  reported  that among the 356  aboard were  Mr.  Hugh Walpole, Dr.  Cyril Norwood,  Sir Richard Livingston, Sir Richard Livingston and Mr.  Harold Nicholson as well as party  of public schoolboys.  The Hellenic Travellers' Club  added that  "They  are boys  from various public schools  and are all  in charge of  a  master. There are also some undergraduates  from both Oxford and Cambridge in the party."  It was probably the most  elite company  ever  to  be "shipwrecked." 

Three tugs were soon on  the scene, including the  Danish salvage vessel Viking and on 12  April  1935 it  was reported that Letitia "still  has bows  ashore  in  nine  feet  of  water  on sandy  and  gravel  bottom.  The foretanks  have been emptied to  lighten the  vessel,  and  it  is  hope  to  refloat  her  under her  own power  today.  Salvage  tugs are standing by. " (Liverpool  Echo,  12  April).  Letitia  was refloated with  the  aid  of tugs at 3:00 a.m. on  the  13th. A wireless  message  sent  from  the  ship  by  Lord  Conway of  Allington,  said  they  had arrived  at  Patras after "a most  wonderful experience aground. While they  were aground  the  weather  was perfect,  and  the  members  enjoyed  the unique  conditions and scenery in full view. They could see the  mountains  along  the  coast, and their  snow -tipped summits,  and  other interesting  sights."   Letitia  was  surveyed at Patras, and found to be undamaged and she  proceeded on her cruise.

An adventure  such  as that  which  came to  the Letitia's  passengers  would  no doubt be welcome by  holidaymakers who  have  little  chance to  enjoy the  full  thrills of  a life at  sea. A cruise which  included  a safe  shipwreck  at some suitable  spot would  be  an unqualified  success.

Greenock  Telegraph, 16 April  1935.

Letitia was  next reported  to  have  left Athens  the  evening  of 17  April  1935, Rhodes  (19), Messina (22), Naples (23), passed Gibraltar (26) and arrived off  Greenock at 9:00  a.m. on  the 30th  where  she landed her passengers.

Letitia and her "revolution and shipwreck survivors" arrived off  the  Tail  of  the  Bank on  31 April  1935, there  being 230 remaining  passengers aboard, some 100  having left the  ship  at  Marseilles and taking  the faster overland route  home.  "Passengers who  were interviewed all agreed they  had a memorable experience. Even the  grounding  of  the  Letitia  for  a couple of days  was  regarded as much  an  added 'thrill' in  a wonderful  cruise. " (Greenock  Telegraph,  1  May). Letitia then proceeded up  the  Clyde  for  drydockng  at  Elderslie prior  to sailing for  Canada  on 4  May 1935 to start  the  season.   

Whilst Letitia was cruising, the corporate connections that bound Donaldson, Anchor and Cunard were torn asunder amid the continued pressure of economic conditions and the shipping slump.  In March 1935, Runciman Group acquired control of Anchor Line which had gone into receivership. Anchor still owned 50 per cent of Donaldson Line and the Donaldsons made immediate steps to buy their shares to regain sole control of the company. In the meantime, operations would continue as before.

After another full  winter  idle,  Athenia  (Capt. William Rennie) resumed  service on 20  April  1935 to  re-open  the Anchor-Donaldson St. Lawrence service.  With no press notice, even  on  the Clyde,  she  sailed westwards with eight Cabin,  61 Tourist and 121  Third  Class  passengers, arriving at  Montreal at 8:00 a.m. on  the 30th, just after Ascania:

An hour later, the Anchor Donaldson liner Athenia came into port the first of that fleet to make the St. Lawrence route this year, The ship arrived from Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast and brought a new master- Capt. W. Rennie. While this is Capt.

Rennie's first passenger liner it is scarcely his first trip into Montreal. He has commanded the Partenia, the Salacia, and the Sulairia all first rate freighters. He was appointed to the Athenia this month. 

Almost the first passenger off the Athenia was two year old Willie McManus, from Glasgow, who is headed for Toronto live with his grandmother and aunt. Willie hopes to be a good Canadian some day. He walked smartly off the liner carrying a small valise containing all his belongings and was immediately catapulted into the waiting arms of a representative of the Traveller's Aid Society. Willie will be placed on a train to Toronto as soon as possible. 

"Did you like the trip?" Willie was asked. 

"Sure." he said.

 He looked happy.

Montreal  Star,  29 April  1935.

A  Montreal longshoremen's strike  delayed Athenia's  first eastbound sailing  that  season from 3 May 1935  to the 4th.  With  the  strike  still unsettled,  she  went out with 400-700 tons of  her  inbound  cargo  still aboard, and all  of her outbound freight  left  on the  dock, but would  load about 40 carloads  of  cargo at Quebec.  Going  out with 43 Cabin, 115  Tourist  and 240 Third Class passengers. Athenia arrived Princes  Dock, Glasgow  at 10:00 a.m. on the  15th.

With  considerably less,  indeed, no press  attention than afforded her cruising  adventures,  Letitia  departed for the St.  Lawrence on 4 May 1935  with 15 Cabin, 59 Tourist and 65 Third Class,.  She reached Montreal  at noon on  the  13th for  the  first time commanded  by Capt. James Black,  ex-Athenia.   She  arrived  with Ausonia and  the  two would  also sail together  for  home on the  morning  of  the  17th, Letitia having 22  Cabin, 119 Tourist  and 168 Third Class passengers. She returned  to Glasgow at 6:40 p.m.  on  the 26th.

On 11 May 1935 Donaldson Line announced it had severed all connections with Anchor Line and also after the 24th, Cunard-White Star would no longer represent Anchor Line in the U.S. or Canada.  Athenia and Letitia would, however, still operate a joint weekly service to/from Montreal with Cunard’s Andania and Antonia.  Then on the 20th Donaldson announced it had secured control of the Anchor-Donaldson Line, ending the connection with Anchor that began in 1916 and had bought back its shares to have sole control once more.  It pledged "Similar policies and standards to those which have proved successful in building up the popularity and prestige of this Scottish service will be maintained."

Departing Glasgow  on 17  May  1935, Athenia  had,  on  clearing Liverpool  and  Belfast,  15  Cabin,  59 Tourist and 76 Third Class passengers for Canada, arriving Montreal the  evening of the 27th.

During her Montreal turnaround alongside Shed 3,  Athenia  was unexpectedly used an exhibit  ship for the Canadian Handicraft Guild,   arranged at very  short notice on 27 May 1935 when the ship  originally  slated for  the  purpose, Ascania,  was delayed in her Montreal arrival  by  fog.  Athenia was  open to  the  public on  28-30  May  1935  with  free admission. In addition, visitors could dine aboard as well: luncheon,  12:30  p.m.-2:00 p.m. for 75 cents, tea 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. for  25 cents and dinner with  dancing  and special entertainment  6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.  For $1.25. Premier W.J.P. MacMillan of  Prince  Edward Island opened the  show at 3:00 p.m.  on the 28th. More than 6,800 visitors were accommodated aboard during the exhibit. 

When the Athenia, now in port and playing host to the Canadian Handicrafts Guild as exhibition ship, steams out of port Friday morning, she will belong to a different line than that to which she belonged when she entered port Monday.  She leaved as the Canadian  Donaldson Athenia.

The new name was necessitated by financial ad shake-up in the Cunard White Star ranks, which saw the Anchor Line pull out of the combine and ally itself with the Runciman interests.

Then the Donaldson part of the Anchor Donaldson got control of the Anchor shares, and a new name had to be chosen. What could be a more natural choice than the word Canadian? So Canadian Donaldson Line It is, with the Letitia and Athenia sailing under the new title.

The Anchor Donaldson Line as such came into existence in 1916, and thus after 19 years, it goes out of business, so far as the old name 18 concerned.

This makes the third passenger line out of Montreal using the name Canadian, the others being Canadian Pacific Steamships, and Canadian National Steamships. Now comes the Canadian Donaldson Line.

Montreal Star,  30 May  1935.

Here, it should be noted that Donaldson's  North Atlantic passenger  service  was not renamed Canadian Donaldson Line  but  rather  Donaldson Atlantic in the  following  July.

Ending  a very busy Montreal layover and  preceded  by  a hectic dismantling  all  of  her exhibits until just hours  before  her departure  at 10:00 a.m. on 31 May 1935, Athenia  sailed on her  first  Donaldson  Atlantic Line crossing with 41 Cabin, 180 Tourist and 294 Third  Class passengers. Calling at Belfast at 7:00 p.m. on 8 June, Liverpool  at 8:00 am. The  following  morning, Athenia arrived Glasgow at 8:00 a.m. on the 10th.

On  clearing  Glasgow, Liverpool  and Belfast  on  1-2 June  1935,  Letitia had 22 Cabin, 89 Tourist and 74  Third Class  passengers  for Canada.   By 7:00 a.m.  on the 10th, she  was  alongside  Shed 3, Montreal. Her departure the morning  of  the 14th, featuring  the  traditional  Donaldson pipe  band  send-off  was  an early thrill of their trip for a family  from North Carolina:

This morning was the first time that Mrs. William M. Smathers, Asheville, North Carolina, daughter Jane saw kilted Highlanders. They both saw them them this morning when the Pipe Band played the passengers aboard the Donaldson on Liner Letitia. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything," said Miss Smathers, as she told about it afterwards.

"It was worth coming all the way to Montreal to see.".

Montreal  Star, 14  June  1935.

Sailing with 30 Cabin, 180 Tourist  and 294 Third  Class  passengers,  Letitia arrived in the Clyde on the  23rd, landing her  passengers off  the  Tail  of  the  Bank,  Greenock.

Commencing her next  westbound voyage on 14 June 1935, Athenia went over with eight Cabin, 42 Tourist and 63 Third Class  passengers for  Quebec and Montreal, arriving at the  latter at 1:00 a.m. on the  24th, and disembarking her  passengers at 11:00  a.m., after making "one of  the  quickest passages this  season from Glasgow."

Commanded by Captain W. Rennie, who took over the Athenia from Captain Black at the commencement of fortunate this season, this the last liner was more on crossing from Glasgow to than on most of her trips Montreal, and, arriving here yesterday morning early, she was only slightly delayed by fog near the Gulf. Whereas in other years the passenger liner would have passed through the Strait of Belle Isle by this date, the conditions this season have been such that the shorter route could not be taken. It cuts off over 100 miles of the journey, and hence the Belle Isle passage is usually welcomed by those in a hurry to get to the other side.

The Gazette, 25  June 1935.

With her arrival came the news that Athenia would come off the  Canadian run until August having been chartered to  carry  pilgrims to Lourdes in France (the port  of  Verdun):

When the Athenia leaves Montreal this week she is due to stay away from this port for some time and break her usual  schedule of transatlantic crossings to the St. Lawrence until August. In the meantime this Cunard White Star Line ship, which has been in constant service between Glasgow and Montreal for years during summer season, will undertake the unusual work of carrying pilgrims to Lourdes, the famous shrine in France. 

This will be probably the first time that a transatlantic liner has transported English pilgrims to La Verdun, nearest port to this Upper Pyrenees shrine, and the Athenia have a large number of passengers for both the trips which is due to take in July. The first departure will o be from Glasgow where the liner will 11 go direct to the French port near the northern border of Spain, and if the vessel accommodation there does not possess requisite docking facilities the passengers will be landed by tender at La Verdun.

The Gazette, 25 June 1935.

Bidding an early adieu  to  Montreal until mid August, Athenia cleared  on 29  June  1935 for home  with very  good  list  of  78  Cabin, 242  Tourist  and 373 Third Class  passengers  and  13,000 bushels  of  wheat. She arrived Glasgow at 4:35 p.m. on 8 July.

Westbound  trade  continued  to  lag  and  even  at  the  height  of  summer,  there  were only  26 Cabin, 101  Tourist and  80 Third Class tickets  sold  for  Letitia's 28 June  1935 sailing to  Canada where she  made a noisy  arrival the  morning of 8  July:

Piped into port by kilted Highlanders, the Donaldson Liner Letitia docked this morning. The pipers made such a noise in the empty shed that they finally were removed to the north end outside, nearest Common street, where a large crowd heard and appreciated them. It also permitted conversation once more inside the shed.

Montreal Star, 8 July 1935.

Letitia's  arrival coincided with  the  major  announcement on 9 July 1935  which  formalised the  break  up  of  the  Cunard-White Star-Anchor-Donaldson  group,  restoring  Donaldson  as  a fully independent  company whose North  Atlantic  passenger operation with  Athenia and  Letitia would  henceforth be operated  by  an  separate  entity of  the  Donaldson  firm  to  be  known as the Donaldson Atlantic Line.   

Donaldson Atlantic Line is the new name of the former Anchor- Donaldson Line, it was announced yesterday by Cunard White Star, Limited, agents for the company in Canada and the United States. Henceforth the passenger liners, and Letitia, operating between Montreal and Glasgow, will be known : as Donaldson Atlantic. liners. The change in the name signifies the return of the Canadian-Scottish passenger service to complete control by the Donaldson interests, which originally promoted it. The announcement was made locally yesterday by George D. Huband, deputy chief Canadian representative of Cunard White Star.

The  Gazette, 10  July 1935.

Curiously, official  announcement of the new name did  not  come  until 22 July  1935 in  Britain, adding that the line would  open a new separate passenger  office  in 67 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow on 1 August  but  operations remaining  the same.  As part of  the  general  reorganisation, Cunard White Star  acquired the historic  Robert  Reford agency  in Montreal  and  operated  it  as before  but under  their  name as Canadian agents and also  representing  Donaldson Atlantic with joint  advertising and coordination of  sailings between Athenia and Letitia and two  of  the Cunard "A's" to  give a  weekly joint service.  Donaldson Atlantic  also  began their own distinctive  and individual advertising  campaign in  Canada and Scotland highlighting  their Scottish heritages, Captains and intimate quality  of  their  ships. 

"Her first sailing as  a Donaldson Atlantic steamer  augers  well  since she  has a heavy  passenger  list  in all classes  and  a good  cargo,"  lauded The Gazette of 12 July 1935 when  Letitia  departed Montreal with 62 Cabin, 163  Tourist  and 210 Third  Class passengers. She arrived at Glasgow on  the  21st.

It took some quick  work  to adopt Athenia,  which arrived at Glasgow from  Canada on 8 July  1935, for  her new role as a pilgrim ship including  the placing of 11  altars  in various parts of  her public rooms and providing  extra  hospital  facilities  for  the  estimated 65 stretcher  cases to  be aboard each  of  her  voyages, the first departing on the 12th.

Eleven hundred Scottish Roman Catholics sailed on board the  Anchor liner Athenia last night from Glasgow on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

The Athenia docked on Monday, and immediate steps were taken to prepare her for the special requirements of the pilgrims, eleven altars being placed at suitable parts of the vessel and extra hospital accommodation being arranged tor the 65 sick persons who formed part of the complement. 

Included amongst the sick were three blind persons and two sufferers from sleeping sickness. In addition was a man who, a short time ago, was not expected to survive until the sailing date. Yesterday he was carefully carried aboard.

The pilgrims included people from all parts of Scotland under the leadership of Archbishop Macdonald of Edinburgh who will be in charge of forty -six priests.  

The Athenia will land her passengers at Le Verdon, near Havre, where they will entrain tor Lourdes. While the pilgrims are engaged at Lourdes, the liner will lie in dock in readiness to bring the whole party back to Glasgow. 

Officials in charge of the party, in an interview, expressed their complete satisfaction at the manner in which the Anchor-Donaldson Company had carried out all the special arrangements in connection with the care and comfort of the pilgrims, especially the sick persons. Long before the ship sailed last night hundreds of relatives and friends congregated   on the quayside to  give the pilgrims a send-off.

Just as preparations were being made to lower away the last gangway excitement was created by the arrival of a motor car. its horn blowing frantically, and anxious-looking folks looking out of the windows. They were the last of the pilgrims to arrive, and were no sooner safely on board than the mooring ropes were cast off. 

The Athenia is due back in Glasgow in ten days' time.

Daily  Record, 13 July 1935.

Eleven hundred Roman Catholic pilgrims opened a new highway to Lourdes yesterday, when they left the Clyde in specially chartered liner for France. They came from all parts of Scotland, and there were pathetic scenes at the quayside when a fleet of ambulances and cars conveyed the sick alongside the Anchor-Donaldson liner Athenia. Sixty-five cases were conveyed to the two hospital wards on board, including three cases of sleepy sickness, several of palsy, and many of chronic rheumatism. Three blind persons were led on board by guides, and among the stretcher cases was a man who was advised by his doctor not to book his passage, as it was thought he could not survive until the sailing date. The leader of the pilgrimage is Archbishop M'Donald.

Dundee Courier. 13 July 1935

Credit: Daily Record, 13 July 1935.

Before Athenia sailed  from Princes  Dock, Glasgow, "thousands  of  friends  and relatives  flocked  to  the quayside and sang  the  Lourdes hymn "Ave Maria" while embarkation  was proceeding. Sixty-five cases were  conveyed to  the two  hospital  wards. " (Liverpool Daily  Post,  13 July  1935).  Athenia  docked at Le Verdon at 11:00 p.m. on the 14th. Returning to  the  Clyde  the  evening  of  the 22nd, she anchored  at the Tail of  the  Bank just  before 10:00 p.m. and then proceeded  up the Clyde  to  dock early the  next  morning.  

Athenia at Le Verdon, France, in July 1935. 

Credit: photos-anciennes-les enfants-terribles.com

Departing Glasgow at 4:15  p.m. on 23 July 1935 on her  second pilgrimmage voyage,  Athenia  called at Liverpool, embarking 500  pilgrims there the next evening  at  Prince's  Landing  Stage,  the party  being organised by  the Third Order  of  St.  Francis.  The next  day, she  called at Dublin  to embark 527 pilgrims organised by  the  Oblates  of  Inchicore. 

The two lounges on the main deck of the Athenia had been converted into hospital wards for the sick-one for the women and the other for the men. From Liverpool there went fifteen sick or stretcher cases, Dublin forty invalids. will be embarked. When the Athenia leaves Dublin to-day she will go to Le Verdon, near Bordeaux, and the pilgrims will then go on to Lourdes by rail. It is believed that the sea route to Lourdes will be less tedious and fatiguing for the invalids than the former method of reaching the shrine.

One of the invalids who embarked at Liverpool was Sister Agatha Agnew, a teaching nun, of Edinburgh. In Athenia are eleven altars. Some of the sick pilgrims have been to Lourdes previously. The Rev. Father Wilfrid, of Manchester, acted as secretary for pilgrimage and the leaders were the Rev. Fathers (London), Giles (Peckham), Laurence, (Manchester). The pilgrims who sailed from Liverpool belong to all parts of Great Britain.

Liverpool Daily Post,  25  July  1935.

Athenia berthed at  Le Verdon at 10:30 a.m. on 27 July  1935 and returned to Liverpool at 8:00 a.m.  on 4 August

With the Papal flag flying at the mast head, the Donaldson Atlantic liner Athenia, of Glasgow, which left Liverpool over a week ago take Roman Catholic pilgrims to Lourdes, returned to the Mersey yesterday. The vessel was chartered to carry 500 pilgrims from Liverpool, and 527 from Dublin. It was the first occasion. on which pilgrims had journeyed to Lourdes from Liverpool by sea. There were fifteen stretcher cases, and although no miracles were reported, many of the pilgrims stated they felt greatly improved in health.

The Rev. Father Wilfred, of Manchester, who acted as secretary for the pilgrimage, told the Daily Post that the trip had been very enjoyable, and the pilgrims had benefited considerably. After taking the Irish contingent on board at Dublin, the vessel went to Le Verdon, near Bordeaux, and the pilgrims then went to Lourdes by rail. " Undoubtedly, the sea route is the best for the stretcher cases," he added. One could see the great relief on their faces when they were taken from the train and placed on board. There is much more comfort, and they are able to enjoy more spacious accommodation and quietness." 

During the trip the vessel was equipped with eleven altars, and two lounges on the main deck were used as hospital wards for the sick.

Liverpool  Daily Post, 5 August 1935.

Athenia returned  to Dublin on 3 August and Liverpool a day later and berthed at  Glasgow  at 4:15 a.m. on the 5th.  She had carried 1,250 on  her  first cruise  and 1,150  on the  second  voyage. It was another bit  of  quick  work  to convert  her  back  into  a liner, load, cargo  and provision  for  her return to the Canadian run in five  days time.

The charter certainly did not garner ensuring favorable publicity for the new Donaldson organisation when on 15 August 1935 it was revealed that 60 cases of enteric fever had broken out in Scotland, concentrated in Glasgow and mostly among women, all of whom had been participants in the pilgrimage cruise.  The health authorities contacted most of the 1,100 participants to ascertain their health and any contacts after returning from the trip and the outbreak was quickly contained.  

The newly created and now independent Donaldson Atlantic Line assumed a new corporate image, advertising and houseflag in summer 1935.

In a very eventful and  busy year, the departure from Glasgow of  Letitia on  the  evening 26 July  1935 was a highlight, being the  first under  the newly adopted double houseflag  of Donaldson  Atlantic Line.

The Transatlantic liner Letitia, famous as the Trade Mission Ship a few years ago, sailed up the Clyde last Sunday under the Anchor Donaldson flag. She left the Clyde yesterday for Montreal flying a new pennant which is unique on the high seas. 

As a Donaldson Atlantic Ltd. ship, she declares her national identity by means of a thistle on a white background, flown proudly at her mastheads.

New shipping history was made when the Letitia sailed, last night. All previous associations with other maritime interests is at an end.

The Letitia and her  sister  ship, the  Athenia,  are now Donaldson Atlantic  Boats,  and,  as such, are back  once  more  exclusively in  the  hands  o  the  famous  Donaldson firm of  shipping  magnates.

One of the younger members of the family, Mr. Graham Donaldson, described his firm's new outlook and plans when he spoke to the Press at a private function on board the Letitia yesterday. 

We intend to try to restore the old days of prosperity," he said. It is our job to build up again what has been lost through various causes. 

'We do not think there is any necessity for Scots people to go south for starting points for Canada.'

The cabin, tourist and third class accommodation we offer is equal, although our ships may be somewhat smaller, to practically anything that is available elsewhere. 

'We hope, by the new personal touch we shall give to our activities, and by efficiency in the conduct of our service, to persuade Scots, people not only of this, but also that there is more to be gained by, direct journeys: to Canada and back than "by merely cruising in the popular fashion of the moment.'

'It is our intention to appeal to the interest and patriotism of Scottish people. Friendship and cooperation between Scotland and Canada should be stimulated in the highest degree. '

'In that sense, Scots have not hitherto done what they might. Eighty per cent of our revenue comes from Canada. We would like to see a more equable distribution as between the two countries.'

Daily  Record,  27  July  1935.

The real introduction of Donaldson Atlantic Line was, appropriately, the first sailing from Glasgow by Letitia the evening of 26 July 1935.  Before her departure, the Company hosted a luncheon for agents and shipping industry reporters.  Mr. Graham Donaldson outlined the initial plans of the company and his thoughts on the state of shipping business:   ''Before the war," he said, "there were eight passenger ships in service. At present we have two, the Athenia and the Letitia. It is our intention to try and bring back the old days of prosperity. We feel that there is necessity for Scots people to go south embark for Canada. " There is another point," he said, "We feel that cruising is getting too strong a hold on the public. We are going to try and encourage Scots people to spend a holiday in Canada rather than go cruising. It has always been a complaint of Canadians that Scots people never go to Canada. One of the best means of bringing people to this country is for Scots to go to Canada. If we had as much traffic going from Scotland to Canada as we have from Canada would be very comfortable indeed." The guests were shown over the vessel with a stress on the improvements recently made for all three classes.  The new revised fare started at £29 third class, £38 tourist, and £45 cabin. 

When Letitia sailed she was flying the pennant of the new company, a white flag with a Scottish thistle in the centre, flown above the traditional Donaldson tri-color. Following her calls  at Liverpool  and Belfast,  Letitia steamed westwards with 58 Cabin, 150 Tourist and 112 Third  Class passengers,  arriving at  Montreal   at 7:00 a.m. on  5 August and her new  houseflags did  not  go  un-noticed

The new house flag of the Donaldson Atlantic Line was to be seen on the Letitia today. This is the first time the two Scottish ships have appeared in port since the line changed from Anchor-Donaldson to Donaldson Atlantic, the Donaldson interests having bought out the Anchor people. The new pennant is white, with a red and blue thistle on it.

Montreal  Star, 5 August 1935.

The Donaldson Atlantic Line now has new house-flags which fluttering gaily from one of were the masts of the Letitia which arrived in port yesterday from Glasgow. This is the  first time  these flags have been seen in Montreal harbor.  They consist of the familiar and Donaldson flag, the red, white blue tri-color with the "D" in the white section, and a white pennant bearing a blue and red thistle.

The  Gazette, 6 August 1935.

First Canada newspaper advertisement for the  newly  formed Donaldson Atlantic  Line.  Credit: Gazette, 7 August 1935.

In a big day  for  the  Port  of  Montreal, four liners  cleared  the  harbour the morning  of 9 August 1935: Duchess of  Atholl for New York, Duchess of Richmond for  Liverpool,  Letitia  for  Glasgow  and Ausonia  for the  Channel  Ports, or  about  65,000 combined  tons in  space  of  an hour.  Letitia  went  out with 34 Cabin, 79 Tourist and 134  Third Class.

The new Donaldson organization was tested early on when Letitia had her second grounding that year, going hard aground off Belfast Lough in sudden dense fog at midnight 16 August 1935 on a reef of rocks between Groomsport and Bangor on the County Down side of the entrance to the Lough.  A passenger recalled that "the music suddenly stopped and there was consternation for a minute or two. Excellent discipline was maintained by Captain James Black and his officers, and the crew were quick to assure the passengers there was no cause for alarm."

Credit:  Illustrated  London News, 24  August 1935.

The Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia (13,475 tons gross), of Glasgow, inward bound from Montreal, went aground in a dense fog shortly after 11 o'clock last night off South Briggs Reef, near Orlock Ness, one of the southern entrances to Belfast Lough. The Donaghadee lifeboat was launched at 11.30 p.m., but when she approached the liner she was informed that no assistance was required. A party of men with life-saving apparatus also went from Donaghadee to the point on the coast nearest the vessel, but later were withdrawn. They stood by in readiness at Donaghadee during this morning.

Not long after the liner had gone aground the fog lifted and people on the shore saw the big vessel blazing with lights barely half mile out. The Letitia was due to land her passengers at Belfast Lough this morning, but an attempt by the Letitia to get off under her own steam at two o'clock this morning failed. Another attempt is to be made at three o'clock this afternoon.

Liverpool Daily  Post, 17  August 1935.

In a thick fog on Friday night the Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia (Capt. James Black). with nearly 300 passengers on board. ran aground near Orlock Head, between Groomsport and Donaghadee. At time of writing she is fast on the South Briggs, a dangerous reef at Sandeel Bay, on which the Belfast collier Castleisland foundered some years ago.

The Letitia, which is a vessel of 13,475 tons and was bound from Montreal to Belfast Lough. Distress signals were sent up, and soon the Donaghadee lifeboat the scene, but its services were not required. Neither were was at those of the Life apparatus, which was also out. Groomsport The lifeboat stood by all night  and luggage were conveyed to Belfast to-day in the tender Robina, the arrangement being that those bound for Scotland Passengers would cross by the daylight boat at four o'clock, and those going to England would make the passage by Heysham tonight.

The first, people from the to be the liner after she struck were Messrs. alongside Walter and Harry Mc Mullan, of 11 Windmill Road. Bangor, who  are  just  now  staring at Orlock.

Mr. Walter McMullan, who  kindly placed his  small yacht at the disposal of a Telegraph reporter and photographer this  morning. told the pressmen that at about 10-30 p.m. they heard the vessel crashing onto  the  reef. and they shouted out "Go on to astern." They received a reply from the vessel but could not make it out. 

The fog was very dense at this time. It  was quite impossible to see the Light three miles S.E. or the South Briggs buoy half-a-mile N.W. They immediately launched their dinghy and went alongside and called to someone on board that the ship was at the southern entrance to Belfast Lough. The Letitia at that time, he said, "read 18 ft.  at the bow."

 All  the  baggage  was lowered into tender before  the  gangway was run out.

 "Hello. Ireland' Good morning!" was the cheery bail of one of the first to start on the steep descent the passengers to the  Robina's deck and he waved to upper his hand gaily toward Orlock Head. 

Notwithstanding their unusual of the night before, all the experience to be the best of voyagers and elderly and infirm people appeared in the  best of spirits, and the  elderly  and infirm people received the willing assistance of kindly sailormen of the liner and the smaller ship.

Belfast Telegraph,  17 August 1935.

Attracting quite a crowd, Letitia around in Belfast Lough in August 1935. Credit: shipsnostalgia.com, member oceantramp.

The tender Robina takes off Letitia's passengers the morning after she went aground. Credit: The Sphere, 24 August 1935.

Efforts to refloat the ship at high tide at 2:00 a.m. were unsuccessful and in the morning the 230 passengers were taken off by the tender Robina to Belfast.   The tugs Audacious and Southampton  were on the scene by  midday  and the Greenock  tugs Flying Eagle, Flying Falcon and Flying Spray, sent by the owners, also  en route.  And meanwhile,  the stranded  ship attracted holiday crowds from Lancashire and  Northern Ireland, "the  headlight  of hundreds  of motorcars attracted to  this part  of the coast lit up  a big  stretched  of the countryside," (Daily  Telegraph, 17 August) even before  the night was over. 

Letitia was the biggest tourist attraction in Belfast Lough in summer 1935.  Credit: The Sphere, 24 August 1935.

During high water in the early hours of yesterday morning and again: yesterday afternoon unsuccessful attempts. made to refloat the liner Letitia, which ran aground near Orlock Head, off Belfast Lough, in a thick fog on Friday night. Three Greenock tugs, Flying Eagle, Flying Falcon and Flying Spray, arrived on Saturday night, and with steel hawsers pulled continuously for over two hours.

la addition the ship's engines were reversed, and the stem was swung to and fro, but coastguards stated that the vessel had not moved. It was said that at low tide the bows of the vessel are about, four feet above water. The weather continues fine and calm, and to assist further efforts to refloat the vessel the cargo is being removed. The reef on which the vessel ran aground near one of the southern entrances to Belfast Lough. At the time she homeward bound from Montreal, and was due to land passengers in the Lough, When attempts to refloat her on Saturday failed her 100 passengers were, taken off.

The sea was calm at the time. All the passengers' baggage was also taken off the liner. Most of the passengers arrived very early yesterday. at St  Enoch Station, Glasgow, having travelled from Belfast to Ardrossan Burns-Laird steamer  Baile John Warren, Glasgow, one of the passengers, said that when the Letitia grounded it was 20 minutes or 60 before many of the passengers realised that the ship was aground.

'Just before the grounding,' he said, we were travelling. through a pea-soup fog. I was on deck and it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. The engines were just turning and the" siren going all the time when there was a slight lurch and the Letitia stopped. 'There was no panic at all, and we simply regarded the grounding as an unfortunate delay.'

Greenock Telegraph, 19 August 1935.

An aerial view of Letitia aground and smoke and froth indicating another effort to free herself. Credit: The Northern Whig, 20 August 1935.  

Letitia, bound by rocks on both sides, was buckled in the fore part of the boiler room and no. 4 hold and three of her tanks leaking with her bows embedded in the shingle and parts of her screws exposed.  It was feared that might be stuck until the next neap tide in a few weeks time.  

Tugs, dispatched from Greenock, were on the scene by 18 August 1935. After she was lightened by the removal of 2,000 tons of cargo and ballast, Letitia was refloated early on the 20th just before high tide by the efforts of four tugs which dragged her off the sand.  Towed stern first, she then anchored off Black Head at the entrance to Belfast Lough for divers inspection and later that day towed to Glasgow for drydocking, arriving the following afternoon. 

At this morning the Donaldson. Atlantic liner Letitia was successfully refloated at Orloch Head, County Down, where she has been stranded since Friday night. She will arrive this afternoon. Greenock en route to Glasgow, where she will eater dry dock for inspection. Much of the liner's cargo had been taken out, and aided by four tugs she refloated into deep water an hour before flood tide.

The Greenock tugs, Flying Falcon, Flying Spray, and Flying Eagle, and the Anchor Line tender Paladin were the vessels which assisted the Letitia. They reached Greenock at noon.  After refloating, the liner anchored off Black Head, at the entrance to Belfast Lough, before commencing her. voyage to the Clyde.

Greenock Telegraph,  20 August  1935.

The Anchor-Donaldson liner Letitia, which had been stranded on the South Briggs Reef, near Groomsport, since last Friday night, was successfully refloated at 2-30 this morning. 

A salvaging effort at high tide on Monday afternoon made no apparent impression on the vessel. and it was not anticipated that a would be made to refloat attempt, tide this morning. further, However, the process of lightening the ship by removing general cargo and sand ballast continued to such good effect that two hours before high tide was due towing operations were resumed. 

Four tugs and a salvage boat were employed in the work, their power being reinforced by that of the vessel's engines, and the great bulk of the ship was slowly extricated from its rocky bed.

The Letitia remained off Orlock Head until three o'clock this morning. when the tugboats towed her over about, towards Blackhead. She left for Glasgow at about eight o'clock, disappearing in the morning haze at about nine o'clock. 

The vessel's appearance in the water was normal and there was no sign of a list. No siren blast or other demonstration marked the departure of the ship from Orlock. 

The crowds which had been down every night since the vessel stranded to watch the salvaging operations were much smaller on Monday night than usual owing to the fact that they did not anticipate that the boat would get off the reef until the next spring tide, a  fortnight hence.

Belfast Telegraph, 20 August 1935.

Letitia arrived at Glasgow on her  own  power, escorted by Flying Falcon and Flying  Eagle, docking in Prince's Dock, just before 6:00 p.m. on 20 August 1935. "Walkers on the Esplanade were interested in the arrival of the Donaldson-Atlantic liner Letitia yesterday afternoon. To the onlooker the vessel had apparently sustained no damage in her stranding mishap, an impression that was strengthened by the absence of escorting tugs."(Greenock Telegraph, 21 August 1935). She was drydocked the morning of  22nd  for  examination and repairs. There was some nonsense with the dockers  insisting on getting paid "salvage money" unloading  her  cargo as had  been paid  to salvage men who lightened  her when  aground  at Belfast.   After a 24-hour stoppage,  the 300 men went back to work at normal  rates on the 22nd.   Letitia was repaired at Elderslie graving dock, Glasgow, but tragically, a shipyard worker was killed in an accidental fall aboard on the 29th. 

Flying  the  new Donaldson-Atlantic dual houseflags for  the  first time, Athenia departed Glasgow for the  St. Lawrence on 9 August 1935 and after calling at Liverpool (10) and Belfast (10), went over  with 46 Cabin, 167 Tourist and 125 Third Class passengers. She reached Montreal on the  18th. Homewards, Athenia  went  out  at 11:00  a.m. on the  23rd with  16 Cabin, 78 Tourist and 121 Third  Class passengers and berthed at Glasgow at 3:30 a.m.  on 2 September.

Well-timed to  catch  the last  of  the returning tourist  trade, Athenia sailed  from Glasgow  on 6  September 1935 with 91 Cabin, 143 Tourist and 294 Third  Class  aboard, the  latter being the  best Third  Class contingent westbound that season.   She  arrived Montreal on  the  15th.  Departing with Ascania on the morning  of the  20th, Athenia had 25  Cabin, 65  Tourist  and 134 Third  Class passengers  for  the Old  Country  and arrived Glasgow at 2:00  p.m. on the  29th.

Clearing  the  Clyde  on  4  October  1935,  Athenia  managed  a list  of  30 Cabin, 93  Tourist  and 114  Third  Class passengers.  Ship's surgeon Dr. Griffith performed a successful appendectomy  at sea on a boy, the  ship  being  slowed  to two  knots,  to  facilitate  the  procedure. When she  arrived at Montreal the  morning of  the  14th, a crew member,  John Reed,  aged 40, was  rushed  to  the Montreal  Hospital  at noon  from "severe  injuries"  received  that morning, cited  as being  head  and  internal injuries.  The following  day,  another  member of crew,  John Idman,  63, was sent to  the same hospital with  a  broken right  leg  in  an  accident  aboard  ship.  Her  crew were not  only victims  of  accidents during this call and at 12:30 p.m. on the  16th, Norwegian of  Leyland Line,  when docking at  Shed 3, moved  forward  instead of  stopping, swinging out and grazing Athenia and then running  to Ascania. Fortunately, Athenia escaped  with  only  trifling  damage. 

Credit: Gazette, 18  October 1935.

Going  out,  once again, in company  with Ascania, Athenia  cleared Shed 3 at 9:00 a.m.  on 18 October 1935 for home  with  15 Cabin, 35 Tourist and 92 Third Class. "The Cunarder Ascania and the Donaldson Liner Athenia, both of whom were in a harbor collision this week, when the freighter Norwegian amok, sailed without visible signs of the accident. Most important, they too were deep in the water. Last minute shipments of British Columbia fruit, and other general cargo held both ships till about an hour past sailing time, despite feverish efforts to get away punctually." (Montreal Star,  18 October 1935). Athenia arrived  at Glasgow the morning of the 28th.

Letitia which  missed, of  course,  her 24  August  1935  voyage  would resume  service also miss  that  scheduled  for 20  September,  not did not sail  again  for Canada  until  18 October.  She did so  under a new captain,  Captain George Baillie, who  previously  commanded Donaldson Line  ships on the Vancouver run.  Her luck seeming having all deserted her that year,  a  gale in  the Irish Sea,  prevented  Letitia from returning  to Belfast Lough on  the 19th or calling at Liverpool and she made it in the  following  morning to  embark her passengers  at both  ports, clearing Belfast at 9:25 p.m. on the  20th with a total of 18 Cabin, 54 Tourist and 75 Third Class. It was in this same  wild  weather  that the  Donaldson freighter Vardulia ( 1917/5,691 grt) was  lost  with  all  hands en route West Hartlepool-St. John,N.B.. Making her  first arrival  at  the port  since 5 August, Letitia berthed at  Montreal on  the evening of  the 29th.

Letitia had a new Captain when she docked at Montreal on 29 October 1935, Capt. George  Baillie who would be indelibly associated with the ship through the war years and after.  Credit: Leader Post, 18 November 1935.

Captain George K. Baillie, who brought the Donaldson Atlantic liner Letitia into port early yesterday morning, is holding his first passenger command. A Highlander, Captain Baillie served early apprentice years in sail, and has seen sea service in all parts of the world. For 14 years he was master of the Donaldson freighter Cortona, plying between Great Britain, the River Plate and the Pacific Coast. Captain Baillie is paying his first visit to Montreal since the days of the war, when he was second officer in the Casandra, which carried western Canadian troops to Britain.

Seen yesterday, he reported great changes in the St. Lawrence since his last appearance in local waters, and had high praise for the aids to navigation.

The  Gazette, 30 October 1935.

Clearing for  home for the  last  time  that season  from Montreal on 1  November  1935, Letitia  went  out  with a solitary  Cabin  passenger (!),  19 Tourist  and 102 Third  Class passengers.   Calling at Liverpool  at 11:00  a.m.  on the  9th, Letitia  reached  the  Clyde the following day.

Another  special  charter was announced for Athenia on 1 November  1935:  a special cruise from Southampton  on 9 March  1936 to  the  First  World  War battlefields of  Palestine  and  Gallipoli.

The passenger liner Athenia, of the Donaldson Atlantic Line Canadian service, will operate this coming spring on a special cruise to the battlefields of Palestine and Gallipoli, it was announced yesterday. Leading military men will head the party leaving Southampton on March 9.

This  will  see  the Athenia, in a role, as she has never before been commissioned in cruise service. She is a familiar vessel in the Glasgow-Montreal service. Incidentally, the March cruise is the first to be announced by the Donaldson Atlantic Line.

Major-General Sir  Eric  Girdwood, K.B.E., Major-General C.B., C.M.G.. Sir who commanded the 74th Yeomanry Division in the Near East during the war, will be one of the prominent military commanders taking the cruise to Palestine and Gallipoli. Others include General Sir George Barrow, G.C.B.. K.C.M.G.. who commanded the British cavalry corps; General Sir John Shea, G.C.B.. K.C.M.G.. D. S.O.. commander of the 60th Division, and Major-General Sir Stuart Hare.K.C.M.G., C.B., leader of the 54th Division. 

The cruise will last 28 days, visiting Villefranche, Haifa, Pireaeus, Chanak. and back to Southampton on April 5. Excursions will be made through Palestine, and to Athens, and will take in the war cemetery at Beersheba. Anzac and Sulva Bay, and the Helles battlefields. The Athenia will stay three and a half days at Haifa and two days at Chanak to enable passengers to make a thorough excursion of Palestine and Gallipoli.

The Gazette, 2 November  1935.

Departing Glasgow on 7 March 1936 and Southampton two days later, the cruise would call at Villefranche, Haifa (3½ days), Piraeus, Chanak (two days for Gallipoli) and return to Southampton on 5 April.  

Letitia would have  one  more  voyage  to the St. Lawrence  that  year,  but turning  around  at Quebec given the lateness of the season. Departing  Glasgow  on 16  November  1935, she  had, after Liverpool  and Belfast, four  Cabin, 22 Tourist  and  71  Third  Class  passengers and  made the Ancient  Capital  on the  23rd.  Homewards,  Letitia  cleared Quebec  at  4:00   p.m.  on the  29th with  the  special  boat  train  from Windsor  Station,  Montreal,  departing that  day  at 9:30  a.m.  and running  right  to shipside.   Letitia berthed  at Glasgow on the 7th.

In a very busy and eventful 1935, Athenia made 14 crossings to Montreal carrying  3,967 passengers and Letitia completed 12 crossings to Montreal carrying 2,637 passengers.  The total of only 6,604 passengers was the lowest for the line in many years so it was not an auspicious beginning for Donaldson Atlantic although traffic steadily improved and the company recorded profits from 1936 onwards.  

1936

One of  the last advertisements for Athenia's  not  to  happen Palestine and Gallipoli battlefield cruise.  Credit:  Stirling Observer, 14 January  1936.

The year started  off  on a disappointing  note with  the  quiet, indeed unannounced, cancellation of  Athenia's  planned  battlefield  reunion cruise  from Southampton on 9 March  1936 to  Palestine and Gallipoli which  was  last advertised in the  press on 28 January.   Cancelled doubtless  to poor  bookings at  time when  memories of  "The  War  to End All  Wars" were  usurped by growing  fear of  more conflict to come amid  the  Italian  invasion of  Abyssinia and a build up  of  British  forces in  the Mediterranean. 

Indeed, Athenia was  hastily  detailed to a roundtrip  to Alexandria, Egypt, as a troop transport, taking the First East Lancashire Battalion there. She departed  Glasgow  on 6  January  1936 to  Southampton and  from there  on the  8th  to  Gibraltar,  passing  Gibraltar on the  13th and reaching Port Said  on the  18th.   Homewards,  she called at Gibraltar, sailing at  4:00 p.m. on the 25th to Southampton. En route back  to  Glasgow, Athenia  was obliged to anchor  off  Inverkip, off Greenock on the 30th on  account  of  heavy  fog before being able  to  go up  the  river.

On 23  January 1936 Cunard-White  Star, in direct  competition to  the  now  independent  Anchor Line,  announced  their  own Glasgow (Greenock) to Boston and New  York service with Carinthia, Franconia  and Samaria, and a joint service,  shared  with  Donaldson-Atlantic, from Glasgow  to the St. Lawrence employing Antonia,  Andania, Athenia  and Letitia. This would  commence  with Antonia on 11 April followed  by  Athenia  on the 17th, Andania 25th  and  Letitia on  2  May. 

Credit: Daily  Telegraph, 4  February  1936.

That winter and  spring, Letitia  undertook her  third cruise  programme for  Hellenic  Travellers' Club  with  four voyages.    On 22 February 1936 she sailed from Glasgow and from Plymouth two days later for Cadiz, Gibraltar, Ceuta, Malaga and Toulon where she arrived on 3 March.  The next day she left on a 30-day cruise "in the footsteps of St Paul" to Athens, Thessalonica, Troy, Mitylene, Smyrna, Cyprus, Beirut, Port Said and then to Marseilles. Then on 4 April,  a 16-day cruise to Constantinople, Chanak, Gallipoli, Samos, Crete and Mycenae. From Marseilles on 21 April, she returned to the Clyde on a nine-day cruise via Malaga, Ceuta, Gibraltar and Cadiz.

With the pipes of the ship's band skirling and every available piece of bunting fluttering gaily in the brilliant sunshine, the t.s.s. Letitia sailed from Prince's Dock on Saturday on a cruise to the Mediterranean. Eighty tourists, including the famous Scottish novelist, Annie S. Swan, embarked at Glasgow. The Letitia will call at Southampton [sic] to take up more tourists, At the last moment, when the flag bedecked ship was actually passing through the dock entrance, an excited boy ran up to a dock official and informed the individual, that he, the lad, had a parcel of music for the ship's orchestra. Fortunately one of harbour boatmen was near in a motor boat and in a few minutes the belated music was in the hands of the ship's orchestra leader.

The  Clydebank  Press,  28  February  1936.

Original caption: Mr. St. John Ervine, Miss Annie S. Swan and Mr. H. V. Morton have left England on the Letitia for a cruise to Greece and the Holy Land with the Hellenic Travellers' Club. St. John Ervine's  play Anthony and Anna is still running at the Whitehall H. V. Morton will be re-visiting the places about which he wrote in In the Steps of the Master. Credit: The Bystander,  22 April  1936.

Clearing Glasgow on 22 February  1936 with 80 passengers, Letitia  put into Plymouth  at 6:30 a.m. on  the  24th, embarking 105  additional  passengers at 8:30  a.m.  and sailing  at 9:30 a.m.  for Cadiz (28), Gibraltar (29), Tangier (instead of Ceuta,  1 March), Malaga and arriving at Toulon on  the 4th.

Starting  her "In the Footsteps of  St. Paul" cruise,  Letitia  cleared Toluon on  4  March 1936 for Ajaccio (5), Malta (7), Athens, Thessaloniki,  Constantinople (14), Canakkale, Mitylene, Smyrna, Famagusta, Beirut,  Port Said (21-23), Haifa (26-28), Palma (2  April)  and arriving Marseilles on the 4th.

Departing  Marseilles on 4 April, with the Duke and Duchess  of  Atholl among her passengers,  Letitia  cruised to Ajaccio (5), Athens, Aegena, Corinth, Constantinople  (12), Canakkale, Samos, Crete and  arrived Toulon  on the 21st.

On her  final cruise and with  Glasgow as its destination, Letitia  sailed from Toulon on 21 April for Malaga (23), Ceuta (24), Gibraltar (25),  Cadiz and arrived in the Clyde on the 30th, disembarking her passengers at  Princes Dock that morning.  Among those  landing  was Mr. Freeman Wills  Croft, and Mrs. Croft,  famous  writer of  detective  stories. 

After a cruise of about ten weeks in the Mediterranean, 155 members of the Hellenic Travellers' Club reached Glasgow yesterday on the Donaldson liner Letitia . While in Athens five of the members of the party were received by the King of Greece, who conferred the Order of the Redeemer on Sir Henry Lunn, the leader in recognition of his work for Greece. The others who were received by the King were Lord Dunedin, Lord Salvesen, Bishop Chatterton and the Dean of Durham . 

The Scotsman, 1  May  1936.

Announced on  4  March  1936,  a special  Overseas  Scots  Reunion  Party   voyage was organised by  Mr. James Arthur,  of  Winnipeg, for a  trip  to the Old  Country  for  Scots-Canadians,  going over  in  Athenia on  28 May.

After a frustrating winter spent largely  idle, Athenia  (Capt. W. Rennie) resumed  service  "for  real"  with  her  departure  from Glasgow  on 17  April  1936 (Liverpool  and Belfast on the 18th)  for  Canada,  going  out  with six Cabin, 34  Tourist  and 75  Third Class  passengers. Athenia arrived Montreal at 3:00 a.m.  on the 28th, disembarking her passengers beginning  at  7:00  a.m..  Among her passengers was Irish  actor Richard Hayward, now  a film producer, coming over for  the release of  his  "The  Luck of the  Irish."

Athenia was formerly under  the  command  of  the late Captain James Black, who died early this year at his home in Scotland, and who was one of the most popular skippers coming to Montreal. Prior to his retirement gone from Athenia to Letitia, the other passenger liner operating to Montreal under the Donaldson Atlantic flag. 

Gazette, 28 April 1936.

The Montreal Star embraced Donaldson  Atlantic's  new Scottish  theme  advertising  that  season with Athenia's, "The Haggis Ship," arrival:

With haggis in her larder and a thistle her mast, the first Scottish passenger ship of the season, the Donaldson Atlantic Liner Athenia arrived in port at daybreak. The Athenia under Capt. William Rennie, has only made one trip since she was in Montreal last fall, and that was when she transported the First East Lancashire Battalion to Alexandria, Egypt. 

The presence of haggis aboard the Athenia, she and her sister Letitia, reputed to be the only passenger ships into Montreal carrying it--caused a discussion on this edible. Chief Steward R.Rankin said they always, carried it, and usually served once outward bound from Scotland, and once homeward bound. "I don't care much for haggis myself," said Chief Steward R. Rankin with astounding frankness. "As a matter of fact, there's far more haggis sold in London than in Scotland,' he continued.

Montreal Star, 28 April 1936.

Clearing for  home on 2 May  1936, Athenia went  out with 18  Cabin, 77 Tourist and 219  Third  Class passengers.  Calling at  Belfast and Liverpool  on the 11th,  she reached the Clyde on the 12th.

In 1936 Donaldson Atlantic commissioned an attractive series of advertisements highlighting "your ships" and the captains and pursers of Athenia and Letitia.  

Arriving at Glasgow from the Mediterranean on 30 April 1936, there  was little time  for  Letitia  to  hang  about  and  she was off  on her  first voyage  to Canada on 1 May 1936 from Glasgow and Liverpool  and Belfast the  next day with 32 Cabin, 46 Tourist and 79 Third.  Letitia  berthed at Shed 3 at 2:00 p.m. on the 11th.  Eastbound she sailed at 11:30 a.m. on the 15th  with 47 Cabin, 109 Tourist and 170 Third Class passengers.  An otherwise routine  voyage was marred on arrival  at Liverpool on the  23rd:

Some mild excitement was caused on Sunday last at Prince's Dock when the t.s.s. Letitia arrived from Canada. When being manoeuvred into her berth, 8 towing, hawser became entangled in the liner's propellors, and, when trying to get the hawser clear, it broke, and a seaman John Lihou, of Paisley, was injured, though not seriously. When the vessel was moored and the gangway was being placed in position it slipped, and Donald Marshall, one of the shore staff of riggers, received facial abrasions and a lacerated ear. D.Marshall is a well  known Govan man.

Clydebank Press, 29 May  1936.

Letitia  arrived at Glasgow at 2:00 p.m. on 24  May 1936.

Steaming westwards from Glasgow  (15  May) and  Liverpool and Belfast (16) with 11 Cabin, 48 Tourist and 78 Third Class passengers, Athenia reached  Montreal  on the morning of the 25th.  Her departure for  the Old  Country on the 28th  took out  a good  list  of 50  Cabin, 126 Tourist and 306 Third Class,  including 250  of  the Scots Reunion party.  Two of the  embarking members,  who had not  seen one  another for  40  years, had  an impromptu  reunion on the  quay,  neither knowing the other was  living in Canada. 

James Arthur, of Winnipeg, heads the party of Scots. The western contingent arrives early this morning at Bonaventure station, and there will be pipers down to meet the home-goers. As Athenia is a Scottish ship, there doesn't seem to be a discordant note anywhere. 

On arrival in Scotland the party will be received by the Lord Provost Stewart and Magistrates of the city of Glasgow; the Duke of Montrose, Lauder Lord Inverclyde, Sir Harry and many other prominent personalities, in addition to representatives of the Canadian Government, the Scottish Travel Association and the Canadian Club of has Glasgow. been An extensive programme arranged for the party.

The  Gazette, 28 May  1936.

Athenia reached the Clyde on 7 June 1936.

Quickly  getting back  to  the  routine  of  an Atlantic  liner, Letitia left Glasgow on  29 May 1936 with eight  Cabin, 57 Tourist  and 86  Third Class passengers by time she made  the rounds  of Liverpool  and Belfast and westbound  carryings continued  to  lag.   She  docked  at Montreal the morning of  8  June  with very  little attention.  Eastwards on the 12th, Letitia cast off at 11:30  a.m.  With 53 Cabin, 88 Tourist and 263 Third  Class aboard and got  into Glasgow  at  12:25 a.m. on the  21st.

With a large Presbyterian Inter-Fellowship party, totalling 60  including 35 Scottish ministers,    among her 22 Cabin, 103  Tourist and 81 Third Class passengers,  Athenia  sailed  for Canada on 11-12 June  1936 and arrived Montreal on the morning of the  21st.  During the call  the  previous  day at Quebec, the group  was received by  the  Governor-General at the  Citadel.  One lady  passenger, quoted by  the Montreal  Star,  said 'I was fearfully afraid it would be dull, with so many Presbyterian parsons aboard,' she said, 'But do you know you are the happiest company, I have ever seen on a ship.' "I should add my praises too for the ship and its crew. They did everything to make us comfortable."  Taking out  the  first good peak  season summer  list that  year, Athenia cleared  Montreal at 11:30 a.m. on the 27th with 115 Cabin, 257 Tourist  and 437 Third Class  passengers. She arrived in the  Clyde on  5 July.

Credit: Daily Record, 26 June 1936.

Prior  to  her departure from Canada  on 26 June 1936, Letitia was visited by 170  members of  the  Masonic  Lodge  Clyde No. 406 which at least  got  her  in  "the  papers,"   and indeed, a  quantity  of  Daily  Records with  the  photo  were  put  aboard just  before sailing  to  be delivered to  fellow  Masons in Canada.  In addition to newspapers, Letitia went over  with 50 Cabin, 67 Tourist and 105  Tourist Class passengers. Letitia arrived Montreal on 5 July.  Clearing for  home at 11:30 a.m.  On the 10th  with  Alaunia, Letitia sailed with an excellent list  of 81  Cabin,  216 Third and 334 Third Class  Calling at Liverpool  at  5:00 p.m.  on the  18th,  she  reached the  Clyde the  following morning.

That summer, Athenia would  preprise  her role  as a  pilgrimage  ship  to Lourdes with three trips to  Le Verdon.  Sailing  from Glasgow  on 17 July  1936 and Dublin at 10:00 p.m.  on the 18th with close  to  800 pilgrims, organised by the  Catholic  Truth  Society of  Scotland, with 130  from  England and 150  from Ireland among  those aboard.  Arriving at Le Verdon at 1:00  p.m. on the  20th and  departing there at 7:00 p.m.  on the 21st, Athenia returned to  Dublin  on the  24th.

Her second cruise, from Dublin on 24  July  1936,  went out  with over 1,100  pilgrims organised by  the Oblate  Fathers, Inchicore,  and included 58  invalids. Athenia returned  to Dublin at 7:00 a.m.  On the 28th.  Sailing  at 5:30  p.m.  on the  28th,   and the  Clyde early on the  29th, landing her passengers at  Greenock. 

Departing Greenock on 30 July  1936 on her third and final pilgrimage voyage, and arrived Le Verdon at  6:00 a.m.  on  1 August  returned at  6:30 a.m.  on  the 4th.

With Athenia  off  the run that  month and into the  next, Letitia singlehanded had a fair westbound  list  of 53 Cabin, 103  Tourist and 109 Third on  her  24 July  departure and she  made  Montreal  on 2 August.  Alaunia  and Letitia were joined at the hip  that  season and  the two sailed together mid morning on the  7th with 17 Cabin, 60  Tourist  and 147 Third  Class aboard the Donaldson liner which arrived Glasgow on the 16th.

Back on  the  St. Lawrence  run,  Athenia left  Glasgow  on 7 August 1936 and on clearing Liverpool and Belfast,  had  a good list of   81  Cabin, 184 Tourist  and 279 Third  Class and  arrived Montreal the evening of  the  16th.  

Eastbound,  Athenia sailed on  21 August 1936  with 24 Cabin, 51 Tourist and 110  Third Class  passengers, going  out with Aurania." The Donaldson Atlantic Liner Athenia sailed this morning with a good sized passenger list. The Donaldson ships have been carrying good passenger lists this season, and it is estimated that they have had an increase of 15 to 20 per cent in business over last year. This morning's list was n no exception. There were  Old  Country  folk  going back to visit their  homeland, there  were  Scottish  people  returning  after a  visit  to Canada,  and there were some late touristss,  seeking  a glimpse  of  Scotland in the fall."(Montreal Star, 21 August). Both Aurania  and Athenia, scheduled to  sail at 11:00 a.m.  were held at  their  berths until  3:00 p.m.  after "a big  boulder that was routed from  its  bed in  the St. Lawrence River  opposite Victoria  Pier, by  the  harbor  dredger that is continuously at  work  deepening  the  ships' channel, blocked the  departure… for  it  rolled into the channel." (Montreal  Star).  Calling at  Belfast at 1:00 a.m. on the  29th and  Liverpool later that day, Athenia reached  the  Clyde  on  the 30th.

Letitia  drew the  plum westbound  sailing date  of 21 August 1936 to  catch  the  peak of  the late summer returning tourist traffic, going  over  with 95 Cabin, 280 Tourist and 456 Third which  was the best list  that  whole  season.  Among those  aboard was a party of 275 Canadian veterans from a visit to  the Vimy  battlefields of the  Great War led by Brig. Gen. F.W. Hills.  Letitia docked at Montreal on 9:30 p.m. on the  30th.

The Donaldson Atlantic Line established a season record in west bound passenger carryings for this company when the Letitia reached port last night from Glasgow with close to 1,000 aboard. 

It was one of the largest lists carried by a passenger liner of this size in years. The Letitia, under command of Captain George K. Baillie, had an exceptionally large tourist list, with 275 returning Vimy pilgrims among the passengers. 

The substantial increase in eastbound carryings recorded during July, which is the peak of the season in that direction, is being rivalled by the lists, carried by passenger liners Montreal at the present time.

The Letitia's passengers were mostly in cabin and tourist class, and the list was one of the largest, in these divisions, that has been carried by a Donaldson liner on the westbound run in recent years.

The  Gazette, 31  August 1936.

Homewards,  on 4  September 1936,  there was,  of course, less to marvel  at,  Letitia leaving  Montreal with 19 Cabin, 62 Tourist  and 148 Third Class passengers and berthing at Glasgow on the 14th.

From Glasgow,  Liverpool  and Belfast  on 4-5 September 1936, Athenia had  72 Cabin, 196  Tourist and 349  Third  Class  passengers  for  Canada and Capt. Rennie had her alongside  Shed 3, Montreal  on the  morning of the  14th. Homewards mid-morning  of the 18th, Athenia  cleared with 17  Cabin, 44 Tourist and 138 Third Class  passengers.  Calling at Liverpool at 7:00 p.m. on the 26th, she returned  to the  Clyde  the following day. 

Leaving Glasgow,  Liverpool and  Belfast on 18-19  September  1936,  Letitia managed another  excellent  list--  50 Cabin, 192 Tourist and 225 Third-- for Canada, which the Gazette of the 28th called "an exceptionally  large  list for  this  time  of year,"  the  morning  after she arrived at  Montreal that  previous evening. Sailing  for home on 2 October, Letitia  took  out  15  Cabin, 36 Tourist and 175 Third  Class passengers and made the  Clyde on the 11th.  

Reflecting the end of  the  busy  westbound  season, there  were only  26  Cabin, 79 Tourist  and 148  Third  Class takers for Athenia's  2  October 1936 to the  Dominion.  She berthed at Montreal, in company  with Aurania, the  evening  of  the  11th.  With  a large cargo  of grain in addition to eight  Cabin,  31 Tourist and  181  Third Class passengers, Athenia  sailed for  the Old Country on the 16th,  again in company  with Aurania.  When  Athenia got  into  Glasgow at 9:25 a.m.  on the  26th, she came in  during the middle  of a  Cyldebank  dock  strike and was not  worked until the 29th.

There were 196 takers (11 Cabin, 56 Tourist and 129 Third) for  Letitia's  second  to  last  sailing to the St.  Lawrence departing 16-17 October 1936.  She just  managed to get  into  Montreal on time at 7:00  a.m. on the  26th before a heavy, blinding snowstorm,  the first of the  season, hit  the  port and occasioned the  arriving Alaunia  to  have to anchor above  the Jacques Cartier Bridge, not coming  alongside  until hours  later.  Leaving for Britain  on the 30th  with  a fair list  of 13 Cabin, 45  Tourist  and 142 Third Class passengers, Letitia arrived Glasgow on 8  November.

Her sailing from Glasgow of 30  October 1936 put back  to  1 November, Athenia headed for  the  St. Lawrence for  the  last time that season  and had,  after  Liverpool and Belfast,  eight Cabin, 35  Tourist and 59 Third Class  passengers  aboard. She made  Montreal the morning  of the  11th.  The old Friday  the 13th superstition kicked on again but  ironically, when Donaldson Atlantic decided  to risk  it  and  dispatch  Athenia eastbound  on the date anyway, the  loading of a near record  cargo wound  up  delaying her  sailing  to daybreak on the  14th  anyway with nine Cabin, 20 Tourist and 83 Third  Class passengers. Athenia berthed at Glasgow at 8:45 a.m. on the 24th.

For Letitia (and Donaldson Atlantic's) final trans-Atlantic  voyage  of  the year, beginning 13  November 1936 would,  unlike  the  last few seasons, proceed  right  into Montreal rather than  turn around  at  Quebec.  Going over with eight  Cabin, 35 Tourist  and 59  Third Class passengers, Letitia arrived Montreal on the  21st and she, with  Alaunia,  made  the very last liner departures from the Port  for  the year, at 10:00  a.m. on the  27th, and did so  with better  cargo manifests (5,000 tons for the  Donaldson liner)   than passenger  lists, although  Letitia  managed nine  Cabin, 40  Tourist and 249  Third  Class,  and got  into Glasgow  on 6  December.

That winter, Athenia was chartered, along with Laurentic and Tuscania, by the War Office to bring back 4,300 British troops from Palestine. Athenia left  Glasgow, light,  11  December  1936 for  Haifa where she arrived  on the 21st. She embarked 2nd Battalion of the Cameronians, 2nd Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Brigade. She sailed the next day with 70 officers and 1,200 men and arrived at Southampton on the 31st. 

Rifleman T F McBride of the 2nd Battalion Cameronians the youngest soldier in the British Army now wearing the ribbon of the Military Medal was among the troops arriving from Palestine in the troopship Athenia at Southampton to-day When the men were ordered to Palestine only those over 19 were allowed to go McBride whose home is at Renfrew had celebrated the vital birthday a few days earlier He won his decoration dragging a wounded British policeman out of a lorry full bombs and ammunition on  which an Arab had thrown an incendiary bomb. With the Cameronians in the Athenia were the 2nd Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and the Royal Irish Fusiliers and they were the last of nearly 4000 troops who have arriving in the past three days.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 31 December  1936.

For 1936, Athenia completed 14 crossings to Montreal carrying 4,290 passengers and Letitia 16 crossings carrying 4,936 passengers.  This represented a gratifying 40 per cent improvement in carryings over 1935. 

1937

Before  commencing her winter cruise  programme for the  Hellenic  Travellers' Club, Letitia  went into  the  Elderslie  Dry  Dock, Scotstoun, on 25  January  1937 and by the  29th  was alongside  Princes Dock  provisioning. 

Credit: Daily  Telegraph,  5 January  1937.

That season, Letitia  would undertake  five  cruises: 1) 6-17  February 1937: Glasgow/Plymouth to  Lisbon, Gibraltar,  Tangier and Toulon; 2) 17  February-17  March: Toulon, Greece, Turkey, Palestine, Egypt,  Malta and Toulon; 3) 18-31 March: Toulon, Greece and Sicily;  4) 1-19  April: Toulon, Messina, Sparta, Mycenae, Athens, Istanbul, Troy, Crete, Malta  and Toulon;  5) 20-29 April: Toulon,  Gibraltar, Lisbon, Plymouth/Glasgow.

Guest lecturers that  season included Viscount Dunedin, Lord Meston, Bishop of Birmingham, Sir Thomas  Heath, Sir Walter Layton, Sir  John Marriott, Sir Arnold Wilson and H.V. Morton.

Letitia left  Glasgow  on 6  February  1937 with an initial 60  passengers  for  the first of her  Hellenic  Travellers'  Club  cruises and embarked  another 98  at Plymouth at 8:30 a.m. on the  8th.  Sailing at  9:30 a.m.,  Letitia proceeded to  Lisbon (10-11), passed Gibraltar (15), Tangier  (14) and arrived  Toulon on the  17th.

On her  second  cruise, Letitia  cleared  Toulon at 7:00 p.m. on 17 February  1937 for Messina (19), Piraeus (22), Istanbul (24-25), Mersina (4  March), Port Said  (6), Haifa  (10), Malta (15)and arrived Toulon on the 18th.

Sailing from Toulon on 18 March  1937, Letitia called at Messina (20),  Itea (23), Nauplia (25), Piraeus (27), Palermo  (29 and  returned  to Toulon  on 1 April.

Commencing her  fourth cruise  from  Toulon at 4:40 p.m.  on 1  April,  Letitia sailed  to Messina (3), Gythion (5), Nauplia (6), Pireaus (8), Istanbul (10), Kavalla (12),  Delos, Malta (16), Palermo (17) and returned  to Toulon on  the  19th.

Clearing Toulon at 6:00 p.m. on 19  April 1937,  Letitia cruised towards home via Gibraltar (22), Tangiers (22), Lisbon (24) and called  at Plymouth at 7-9:00 a.m. on the  27th, landing 67  of  her  101 passengers there,  including Sir  Henry  and Lady  Lunn, Vice-Admiral C.V. Osborne,  Lady Joan Stebbing and  Gen. R.L.  Elkington.  The   Western Morning News (28  April)  reported that "the  three cruises  from  Toulon to  Greece, Turkey and Palestine  were  well  patronised,  and on  the principal  trip,  the accommodation was taxed to  the utmost,  all  the  berths  being  occupied." When Letitia returned to  Glasgow  on the  28th, the  Greenock  Telegraph noted that "The Letitia's  recent  call  at  Nauplia  coincided  with the presence there  of  H.M.  George of  Greece.  His  Majesty expressed a wish to meet the commander  of the "British  tourist steamer  Letitia"  and subsequently  Captain  Baillie and Chief  Officer  MacMillian  were  received  by  the King."

Donaldson continued to highlight "people and hospitality" in their 1937 advertising.  

Prior to beginning the  1937  season,  Athenia  was given a refit, the Gazette reporting "a new room has  been built  aft, and many of the  public  rooms have  been refurnished and redecorated."  While  the Montreal Star  added "She  has some new  public  rooms  and some renovated cabins,  and  altogether  with  her  new purser's  quarters, gave a gay spruce impression."

Athenia (Capt.  William Rennie)  resumed  service  on  departure  from Glasgow on  15 April 1937 and Liverpool  and Belfast the  next  day, having aboard five Cabin, 12  Tourist  and 76 Third  Class  passengers.   She  arrived at  Montreal the  evening of the  25th.  

Advertisement for Athenia's special crossing for the Coronation of King George VI in on 30 April 1937. Credit: Edmonton Journal, 18 February 1937.

Eastbound, Athenia went out on 30 April 1937 with a heavy list  of 34 Cabin, 156 Tourist and 350 Third  Class  as  well as 16,000 bushels  of grain.  Her party  of  Manxman  totalled  160 belonging to the North American Manx Association who  would  attend the World Manx  Association meeting on the Isle  of  Man,  as well as  the Coronation. Athenia went out with Lancastria  and  Duchesse of Atholl, the  three ships  having some 2,300 passengers between them.  Calling Belfast on 8  May and  at Douglas at  1:00 a.m.  on the  9th, Athenia's arriving  Manx men and women  were  greeted by  some 8,000.  "As  the  visitors  came  ashore  they heard  the island's patriotic  son, 'Ellan Vannin,'  from massed  choirs  and bands  on the  pier, and the  National  Anthems  of  the United  States  and  Canada were also  sung." (Liverpool Daily Post,  10 May).   Athenia  proceeded  to Liverpool,  calling  there at  2:00 p.m. the same  day and reached  the  Clyde  on  the  10th.

Letitia's  (Capt. George K.  Baillie) first departure  from  Glasgow  for  Canada  on 30 April 1937 proved  eventful:

After a delay of several hours, through a hawser fouling a propeller, the Donaldson liner Letitia (13,475 tons gross) sailed yesterday from Glasgow harbour for Montreal. 

When the mishap occurred, the liner swung round and almost collided with a crowded Clyde ferryboat, the passengers on which scrambled off hastily. The Letitia was being towed by two tugs, and it was when the tug at the stern cast-off that the propeller was fouled. 

The liner, caught by the tide, went dangerously close to the river bank, but the anchor was dropped and a tug quickly had her under control.

Liverpool  Daily  Post, 1  May  1937.

After  her calls  at Liverpool  and  Belfast,  Letitia  proceeded  westwards  with nine Cabin, 50  Tourist  and 98  Third  Class passengers.  Calling  at  Quebec  the evening  of  the 9th, Letitia berthed at  Shed  3, Montreal,  the  following  morning.  On the  12th, Coronation Day, Letitia  together with  the  other  liners in port-- Duchess  of  Bedford, Montclare, Aurania  and Lady Rodney were  all  dressed  overall.  Departing  for  home  at  11:30 a.m.  on  the  14th,  Letitia's  29 Cabin, 111 Tourist and 191  Third Class including  a  returning tourist  party  of  20  Scots.  She  arrived at Glasgow at  10:55  p.m.  On  the  23rd.  

Credit: Gazette, 26  May 1937.

On her  second  voyage  of the year, from Glasgow  on 14  May 1937, Athenia  steamed westwards with 17 Cabin, 51 Tourist  and  92  Third Class passengers.  It  proved a miserably  long, protracted  passage  when dense fog blanketed the Gulf of St. Lawrence, closing  the Belle isle Strait  and  paralysing  shipping  for  days.   It  was not  until the  morning  of  the  26th that Ausonia and Athenia finally got  into  Montreal, three full  days behind schedule. With just a two-day  turnaround, Athenia was dispatched eastwards on the  28th with 56 Cabin, 129 Tourist and 260 Third Class aboard and a huge 104,000-bushel  cargo  of wheat. Calling at Liverpool  at 8:00 p.m. on 5 June, Athenia  arrived  on  the  Clyde  the  next day.

Letitia  had 42  Cabin, 86 Tourist and 102 Third passengers for  Canada on  departure from  Glasgow, Liverpool  and Belfast  on 28-29 May  1937.  On 4  June the Gazette reported  that Letitia was going to try "the  short cut"  via  the Belle  Isle Strait and be  the  first  liner  that  season to  do  so, the route taking  a good  200  miles  off  the usually  passage  via Cape Race although  this  early in the  season, often precluded  on account  of  lingering  ice. She berthed at Montreal  at 1:00 p.m. on the 6th.  

The eastbound Letitia, sailing at 11:30 a.m. on  11 June   1937, had 33 Cabin, 127 Tourist  and  400  Third  Class or twice as many  passengers as  she  carried on her June eastbound  the  previous  year. Her Third Class list was  her best since  pre-Depression days. Letitia berthed at Glasgow's Princes  Dock  on the 20th.

Credit: Montreal  Star, 21 June 1937.

Outbound on 11 June 1937,  Athenia had 27 Cabin, 90  Tourist and  79 Third Class  for  the Dominion, including a large delegation of British, Scottish  and Irish Presbyterian clergy en route to the Pan Presbyterian Congress being  convened in  Montreal. Athenia arrived there on the  20th. "The Athenia came alongside  shortly  after 1 o'clock yesterday  in brilliant sunshine, and greetings  shouted from the wharf to  the deck as members  recognized each other." (Montreal  Star, 21 June).  Showing improved traffic conditions that summer, beyond the Coronation spurt, there were 90 Cabin,  233 Tourist  and 472 Third  Class  tickets  sold for  her homeward crossing of the 26th. She  berthed  at  Glasgow  at 7:50 a.m. on 5  July.

Westbound lists were markedly better that year and  that  for Letitia on 25 June 1937 comprised  42 Cabin, 110 Tourist  and 109 Third  Class. She made Montreal at 8:30 a.m. on 5  July in company  with Aurania, and the  local papers considered their lists constituting a "seasonal record" for  westbound that time of year but  surely only  in  context  with Depression Era traffic. Letitia  and  the Cunarder  both sailed for  home on the 9th, with  71 Cabin, 166 Tourist and 263 Third  Class on the Donaldson liner as the  tourist season  hit its  peak.  Letitia arrived Glasgow  on the 18th.

Credit:  Montreal  Star, 19  July  1937.

Credit: Gazette, 20 July 1937.

Sailing westbound on 9  July  1937 with 44 Cabin, 149  Tourist and 122  Third Class, Athenia had  the  largest  Canada-bound list for  Donaldson  Atlantic so far  that  season, including "bevy  of  representatives  of  the  League of  Health and Beauty" which  was a hugely popular  womens fitness, health  and beauty organisation in Britain that was also  gaining strength  in Canada. Athenia berthed at Shed 3  the  morning  of the 19th.  Eastbound at 11:30  a.m.  on the 23rd, Athenia went out  with 61 Cabin, 121 Tourist  and 166 Third Class passengers and reached Glasgow  on 1 August.

Letitia's next departure  for  Canada, on 23  July 1937,  saw her set a record  for  westbound carryings, certainly  of that era  and season, and aided  by a party  of 170 Scottish  schoolboys  off  on  a 7,000-mile journey including Niagara Falls, Ottawa and Winnipeg, organised by the  Scottish  Secondary  Schools Travel Trust. 

The Scotsman, 24 July 1937.

Credit: Sunday Post, 25 July 1937.

School "war-cries" echoed and reechoed through Princes Pier, Glasgow, yesterday when the Donaldson Atlantic liner Letitia drew into the fairway carrying 170 Scottish schoolboys off on a Canadian tour. Boys from Dundee, Perthshire, and Fife schools are included.

There was a number of amusing incidents before the boys embarked. Anxious mothers commandeered officials, and, after deluging them with questions, asked them to make sure their offspring received individual attention. Judging the way the boys behaved it was obvious that they would be quite capable of looking after themselves! 

One lad proved a perfect example of the canny Scot. Before he boarded the vessel he took out his pocket book to mak' siccar that his money was still intact!

A number of schoolboys were left behind on the quayside—but not purposely. Thev had gone to the dock to see their chums off. and as the Letitia left the quayside school " war cries " were yelled in farewell. 

Dundee Courier,  24  July  1937.

In all, Letitia  coursed  westwards  with 78 Cabin, 138 Tourist and 509 Third Class passengers and with  the Scottish  schoolboys as well as a 170-strong party  from the  Overseas League, it  was reckoned  to  be "the biggest  influx of tourists ever  to  come  from Scotland to  Canada." (Montreal  Star, 31 July, totalling  some 500 in all.  Letitia arrived  at Montreal the morning  of 1  August.

That Scottish passenger ship Letitia, out of Glasgow with the thistle on her house flag, had never looked as distinctly a part of Scotia as she did when docked here yesterday morning. There were more kilts parading up and down her decks than have been seen here since the Highlanders put on their last parade. 

But these were not the kilts of a regiment. They showed a lot of young bare knees belonging to a large party of Scottish school boys out here for a short tour of eastern Canada, sponsored by the Scottish Secondary Schools Travel Trust. 

The party, under the supervision of several school masters, will visit Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto and Niagara Falls. 

The young Scots were a cheerful looking group as they disembarked from this ship, most of them in kilts and blue jackets. The typical Scottish dress was also worn the masters who acted as leaders.

The Gazette, 2 August 1937.

Thanks, in  part,  to  the returning Overseas  League  Party, Letitia's list  for  her  eastbound  crossing beginning 6  August 1937 was  pretty good: 34 Cabin, 83  Tourist and  245 Third  Class and  going  out with Aurania and Duchess  of Richmond, the  three  ships  had about 1,500  passengers  between them. Letitia reached  Glasgow at 7:20  a.m.  on the  15th.

More Donaldson advertising for 1937 with a "Cruise to Canada" and "House Party Holiday" theme. 

Athenia  sailed  from  Glasgow on 6  August 1937 and,  following her calls at  Liverpool  and Belfast, had 47 Cabin, 134 Tourist  and 253 Third  Class passengers  for  Canada which  was  a pretty  fair  list  for that period  westbound.  When  Athenia  left  Liverpool , she  was  one  of  six liners clearing  the port,  carrying 2,320  passengers to  all  parts  of  the  world:  Franconia for  New York  with  750  passengers, Athenia with  400  for  Montreal,  Montcalm with  600  on  a  cruise  to  the  Atlantic Isles, Voltaire with 400  on a cruise  to  Norway, Ardeola for  Las Palmas  and Daru to  West  Africa.  And she  was one of  four liners arriving at  Montreal  the  weekend  of 14-15th, docking there at 1:00 p.m.,  along  with  Ausonia. Eastbound at 11:30 a.m.  on  the  20th, Athenia sailed with 31  Cabin, 82  Tourist  and 285  Third Class passengers, among  them the party  of Scottish schoolboys  who  come  over in Letitia. The day  before  the lads  had lost,  8-3,   a rugby  match  against  local  Montreal  boys.  Calling at Liverpool at 11:00  a.m.  on the  28th, Athenia reached the  Clyde  the  following day.  

With  the  first  of  the  returning  tourists  swelling her list,  Letitia  cleared Glasgow,  Liverpool  and Belfast on 21-22 August  1937  with 101 Cabin, 224 Tourist  and 477 Third Class and she  was one of a dozen liners  handled at  the Port  of  Liverpool  the weekend of 21st-22nd.  "This  is a record for several  years,  and shows that we are really  back  to  the  times  before  the  depression as  far as  passenger carrying  is  concerned," Arthur Randles, passenger  traffic managed, Cunard White  Star, told  the Montreal  Star of the  20th, the day  after Letitia arrived and the morning Aurania came  in, the  two  having  just shy  of 2,000 passengers between them,  and both  having their  best westbound lists of  the  season. 

The largest  westbound passenger  list  carried  by  the  Donaldson Atlantic Line since  the 1929  slump arrived last night in  the  liner  Letitia from Glasgow. She docked at  6  p.m., under command  of  Captain G.K.  Baillie,  with  977  passengers aboard. With  the exception of  the  Vimy sailing  last year,  this list stands as a post-depression record  for  the  line.

The  Gazette, 30  August 1937.

Clearing Montreal at 11:30 p.m. on 3  September  1937  for  the Old Country, Letitia had 40 Cabin, 80 Tourist and 153 Third  Class aboard.  The  Montreal Star  noted that she  and  Aurania,  leaving the same time, had 770  passengers between them,  or about a 40  per cent increase over  the  comparable departures  a year ago. She arrived in the  Clyde  on the  12th.  Among those landing  was a record  breaker:  the youngest passenger ever to  cross the  Atlantic alone  on  a Donaldson liner: five-month-old Andrew Allan Davidson Mackie:

His mother, wife  of  a Scots-born  golf pro,  died  the  day after the baby  was born. Andrew was only 3 lb. in weight, and it was feared he would not survive,

But an incubator saved him. He was placed in it, and gradually grew stronger. Then, at five weeks, he was able to leave the incubator and take up the existence of 'a normal baby.

It was decided that as soon as he was strong enough he should be sent to Scotland to be reared by his father’s sister, Mrs Porter. She and her husband, Dr John Porter, of Auchendoon Crescent, Seafield, Ayr, took charge of baby Andrew when the Letitia came into Prince’s Dock, Glasgow.

'He was taken direct from hospital to the Letitia,' Mrs Porter told me. 'Andrew was put in charge of Mrs Martin, the stewardess aboard the Letitia, and appears to have had a fine trip. Mrs  Martin says she had had no trouble with him during the voyage. 

News soon got round the ship that a baby was travelling alone. Each day dozens of people, both passengers and crew, inquired how Andrew was. No one was allowed to handle him, although it was permissible to look at him. My husband and I were naturally delighted when we met the Letitia and ‘heard what a good trip the baby had had. “He seems to have taken to us all right, and is quite contented. Andrew now weighs 'about twelve pounds.” 

Dundee  Weekly News,  18 September 1937.

With 27  Cabin, 44 Tourist and 160 Third  Class for Canada, Athenia cleared Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast on 3 September 1937, and arrived at  Montreal at 7:00 a.m. on the 13th.  She  left for  Britain  on the 15th with 25 Cabin, 41 Tourist and 120 Third, arriving Liverpool at 11:00 a.m. on the 25th and berthed at Glasgow the  next day.

Credit: Gazette, 20  September 1937.

The Gazette reported on 20  September 1937 that Donaldson Atlantic were planning to place Athenia on a regular winter service between Glasgow and St. John, N.B., and  Halifax:

No announcement of a schedule was made, but it is definitely known that the 14,000-ton liner Athenia will sail from Glasgow at the end of November for the eastern Canadian ports, will return on a Christmas sailing, clearing from Saint John December 11, and Halifax the following day. 

A monthly schedule is proposed. It will be the first time since 1914 that the passenger ships of the Scottish company (formerly the Anchor-Donaldson Line and prior to that the Donaldson Line) have operated to Saint John. 

The Donaldson Atlantic owns two passenger ships of 14,000 ton gross, Athenia and Letitia. They operate on a regular summer service out of Glasgow to Montreal, but hitherto have been taken off the Atlantic run during winter months and employed on cruise service from England to nearby waters.

At the present time the port of Saint John has only one transatlantic passenger service operating on a regular winter schedule. This is maintained by the "Duchess" and "Mont" liners of Canadian Pacific. Halifax has a number of  passenger companies calling there, including Cunard White Star. This company acts as general agents in Canada for the Donaldson Atlantic Line.

The Gazette,  20 September 1937.

There were 27 Cabin, 44 Tourist and 160 Third  Class  tickets  sold  for Letitia's 17  September  1937 crossing to Canada.  The following day, Letitia was one of  six  liners calling at  Belfast  Lough  on  the 18th,  the others  being  Andania, Duchess of York, Samaria, Cameronia  and Duchess of  Richmond. Heavy  fog in St.  Lawrence  below  Quebec delayed the  arrival  of  Letitia and Aurania  at  Montreal the  evening of  the  26th, both  docking  several  hours  late.  The eastbound Letitia departed  at  11:30 a.m. on  1  October with 20 Cabin, 49 Tourist  and 172  Third Class aboard and arrived  Glasgow on the  9th.

Athenia at Montreal with one of the Cunard "A"s directly astern.  

Departing for Canada on 1  October 1937, Athenia went out with 19 Cabin, 74 Tourist and 126 Third  Class . On arrival at Montreal  on the  10th, it  was made  known that a passenger, Jean Scott, aged  10, was diagnosed with appendicitis and successfully  operated on and met on arrival by  her  mother, and taken to hospital to further  recuperate.  On departure  for  the home on the 15th at 10:00 a.m., Athenia had 25 Cabin, 41  Tourist  and 120 Third Class for the  Old Country, going out with Ausonia. Athenia made Glasgow at 4:25 a.m. on the 24th.

The stewards and catering staff  of  Letitia  had better  been on  their  toes  on her  15 October  1937 westbound  crossing with  a party of  22 hotel proprietors belonging  to  the Scottish Hotelkeepers  Association  among her 41 Cabin, 44 Tourist  and 126  Third  Class passengers.  The group would tour Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls before returning to Montreal and sail  home on the return crossing. Letitia arrived  Montreal on the  25th. Homewards on  the  29th,  at 10:00 a.m.,  Letitia went out  with 15 Cabin,  43 Tourist  and 118  Third  Class passengers and docked  at Glasgow  on 7  November.

On her last  voyage to the  St. Lawrence for  the  season,  Athenia  cleared  Glasgow  at  5:15 p.m. on 29  October  1937  for  Quebec  and  Montreal with,  after  Liverpool  and Belfast, 19  Cabin, 37  Tourist  and  117  Third Class passengers. She  arrived  at Montreal on  8 November.  Sailing on the  12th  with three  Cabin, 21 Tourist  and 134  Third  Class  passengers,  Athenia the  Clyde  on  the  21st.

On  2  November  1937  the  winter schedule  was confirmed and Athenia  would  indeed be  in  service  throughout  the  winter, making her first  trip on  the winter  run to  St. John,  N.B.,  and  Halifax,  late  that  month  and through  March  with  four roundtrips in all.

Credit: Gazette, 3  November 1937.

The Donaldson Atlantic liner Athenia will make four sailings from Saint John and Halifax this winter, resuming a Glasgow service by Donaldson that has not been in operation for several years. According to the revised schedule for the winter service, Athenia will sail from Saint John December 11, January 28. February 25 and March 25, making one round-voyage month between the Maritimes and Glasgow. Departure from Halifax will be one day later in each instance. The ship call at Belfast and Liverpool en route to Glasgow.

In former years the Donaldson Atlantic Line's operations in the Canadian passenger service ended with close the St. Lawrence navigation. The ships of the company, Athenia and Letitia, England spent or the winter months in running cruises to nearby points. This winter the Letitia will continue that type of service, and will not be seen in Canada until next spring. Decision to operate the Athenia to the Maritime ports was made some time ago, but at the first report it was not definitely known how many voyages would make.  Donaldson liners have not called at Saint John in a number of years. Athenia's schedule will give New Brunswick port two lines operating to England. as the passenger ships of Canadian Pacific make Saint John a winter terminal.

The  Gazette, 3  November  1937.

Sailing for the  last  time to  the  Dominion that year on 11  November 1937, with four Cabin, 25 Tourist and 117 Third  Class passengers, Letitia and, with Aurania, arrived Montreal on the  20th. When Letitia sailed from  the  port for  the last time at 11:30  a.m.  on the 25th, with 13  Cabin, 24 Tourist and 182  Third Class passengers, she  did so under  a new commander, Capt. John S. MacMillian,  usually Chief Officer, replacing Capt. George Baillie,  who  had been hospitalised for an operation in  the city  on arrival  and would  remain  so  for about six  weeks. It was  expected that Capt. Baillie would  resume  command when Letitia  commenced  her  winter cruise  programme.  Letitia  arrived Glasgow at 4:00 p.m.  on 4 December.

Making her  first winter crossing since 1929, Athenia cleared  Glasgow  at 3:55 p.m.  on 26 November 1937 and  Belfast the  next,  having aboard a desultory  list  of one (!)  Cabin, six  Tourist  and 26 Third  Class passengers.  She arrived at St. John on 5 December:

The Donaldson Line passenger liner Athenia arrived here yesterday from Glasgow and Belfast with passengers and general cargo and docked at No. 5 Berth, marking the resumption of regular winter service from Saint John by the Donaldson Line after a lapse of many years. The Athenia, under the command of Captain Rennie, will on Dec. 11 with passengers, mails and general cargo for Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow and will carry a large number of Britishers from all parts of Canada going to the Old Country for the Christmas holidays.

Telegraph-Journal, 6 December  1937.

After loading 6,500 tons of cargo and a 150 passengers, Athenia sailed  from St.  John on 11  December  1937  and on clearing Halifax on the  13th, had 10 Cabin, 12 Tourist and 141  Third  Class  passengers.  Calling at Liverpool on the  20th, Athenia berthed  at Glasgow  on the 21st.

Still looking for off season employment for the ship, on 20 September 1937 it was reported that Donaldson were planning a winter service with Athenia between Glasgow and Saint John and Halifax. She was already programmed for one crossing from Glasgow at the end of November, leaving Saint John on 11 December and Halifax following day on what was promoted as a Christmas crossing. The expanded winter service was confirmed on 3 November with Athenia to making four sailings from Saint John and Halifax to Glasgow: from Saint John 11 December, 28 January, 25 February and 25 March and a day later from Halifax and call en route at Belfast and Liverpool.  For Montreal passengers, there would be a special train to West Saint John.

For 1937, Athenia completed 16 crossings to Montreal  carrying  5,281 passengers and two crossings to St. John/Halifax carrying 196 passengers and Letitia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 5,665 passengers.  This represented a 20 per cent increase over 1936.

1938

Spending  the  whole of  the winter  on  the  Glasgow-Belfast-St. John-Halifax run, commencing  with  her 14 January 1938 sailing, Athenia's  two Cabin, six  Tourist  and 32 Third Class passengers were hardly even the numbers in  Cabin  and Tourist  to sustain the  "House Party" shipboard ambiance that  Donaldson Atlantic  were  promoting.  Athenia arrived at St. John on the  23rd. Homewards,  she cleared St.John at 8:00 p.m. on the 28th and Halifax on the  30th with three each  in  Cabin and Tourist  and 36 Third Class passengers and arrived on the  Clyde at  2:45 p.m. on the 6th.

That winter a new controversy  arose within  the  Trans-Atlantic Passenger  Ship  Conference when Donaldson Atlantic  announced  their  plans  to  convert  Athenia  and  Letitia  to  from Cabin, Tourist and Third  classes to  Tourist  and  Third  only. As similar  proposals in  the  past had  done,  this  occasioned  strenuous objections  from Canadian Pacific  who  threatened to  withdraw  from  the  Conference  if  the  plan  went ahead.  During  the  Conference meeting in Paris  on  2  February 1938,  Donaldson Atlantic announced  they would  "defer" their  plans and continue  to  operate  Athenia  and Letitia as  three-class  vessels.

For 1938, Donaldson Line advertised Athenia and Letitia's trans-Atlantic service as "A Canadian Cruise" and 'The Friendliest Holiday"

There  were five Cabin, six Tourist  and 32 Third Class tickets  sold  for Athenia's  second  winter voyage  beginning 11  February  1938 which ended  at St.  John on the  20th.  Eastbound on the 25th, Athenia, after calling  at  Halifax on  the  26th, went across with  two  Cabin, 11 Tourist  and 52  Third Class  passengers. Calling at Belfast  (6 March), she arrived in the  Clyde  the next  day.  

On 12 March 1938 the Scottish Secondary Schools Travel Trust announced two schoolboy trips to Canada for the coming summer. The first from Glasgow in Athenia 8 July, and the other in Letitia, leaving  two weeks later with 20 days in Canada visiting Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, St Catherine's. Niagara Falls, Toronto and Kingston. The cost for the full round trip, including ocean fare, rail fare, food, accommodation, excursions in Canada, and all gratuities was £28/10/-.

On her final winter voyage, Athenia departed  Glasgow at 4:35  p.m.  on 11  March  1938 with a solitary passenger  in Cabin, five in Tourist and 49 in Third.  She arrived at St. John at 9:00  p.m. on the 20th. Homewards on the  25th and Halifax the next  day,  Athenia had 11 Cabin, 13 Tourist and  73 Third Class aboard and reached the Clyde on 4 April.

Credit: Daily Telegraph, 5 January 1938.

Letitia's  programme for the  Hellenic  Travellers' Club for  winter-spring  1938  comprised five cruises:  7-14 February:  Glasgow/Plymouth, Gibraltar and Toulon; 15 February-17 March: Toulon, Messina,  Piraeus, Istanbul, Mitylene, Smyrna, Alexandretta, Famagusta, Cyprus,  Haifa, Port  Said,  Malta  and  Toulon; 18 March-4 April:  Toulon-Messina,  Nauplia,  Piraeus, Dardenelles, Istanbul, Chanak, Kavalia,  Delos, Malta,  Palermo and Toulon; 5-21 April: Toulon, Messina, Itea, Githeon, Piraeus,  Dardenelles, Istanbul, Rhodes, Nauplia, Malta  and Naples; and 21-28  April: Naples, Plymouth  and  Glasgow.

Guest  lecturers that  season included Viscount  Dunedin, Lord Dickinson,  Lord Davies,  Bishops  of  Derby, Liverpool and Southwark,  Lady Violet Bonham-Carter,  Sir  Ernest Benn, Sir Arthur Crosfield,  Sir Walter  Layton, Sir George  Paish, Sir  Leonard Woolley, Dame  Rachel  Crowdy, Dean of Durham,  Canon Wigram. 

Letitia  sailed  from Glasgow,  without  notice,  on 7  February  1938 with 88  passengers, and called at Plymouth at 6:15 a.m. on  the 9th. Among  the 45 joining  joining her there were Sir  Percy Alden,  Lady Gladys  Campbell, Lady  Daphne Moore,  Maj. R.W.H. Jackson, Maj H. and Mrs. Bull, Dr. W.D.  Kennedy, Capt.  A.M. Van Der Byl and Rev.  W.A.  Earp.  Clearing  at 9:35 a.m.,  Letitia  arrived  Toulon on the  15th.

Departing Toulon on 15  February  1937, Letitia cruised  to Messina (17), Piraeus (20), Istanbul (22), Port  Said (3-9 March), Haifa (10), Beirut, Messina (17), Marseilles  (18).

Clearing Marseilles  on 18 March 1938, Letitia  proceeded  to Messina (20), Nauplia (23),  Piraeus  (25), Istanbul (27), Thassos  (29), Delos, Malta  (1 April),  Palermo (2) and Toulon (4).

After  refueling,  Letitia  cleared Toulon at  3:00 p.m. on 5  April  1938  for Messina (7), Itea, Gythion (10), Pireaus (12), Istanbul (12-13), Rhodes, Nauplia (17),  Malta (19) and Naples (21).

Heading  for  home, Letitia  left  Naples on 21 April  and arrived at Plymouth at 3:45 a.m. on the  27th. Landing 111 of her  135  passengers there, she was cleared at 5:45 a.m. for Glasgow where  she arrived on the  28th. 

On 6 April  1938 it was reported that after a lapse of nearly  ten years,  "youthful emigration from Scotland to the  Dominions is  being reopened."  (Daily  Record), with  the  first group  of  30 boys from Quarriers Homes, sailing for Canada for  farm work in Athenia on 15  April 1938.

Like the  old days, too, Athenia's  first sailing of  the  season to  the  St. Lawrence was afforded newspaper attention with  her farm boys  going  out and with  a new captain in command, Captain James Cook who would figure  in the lives  of   Athenia  and, after the  war, Letitia into  the 1950s. 

Captain James Cook assumed command of Athenia in May 1938 and came to be indelibly associated with both her and Letitia.  

There is, perhaps, more than usual "news-interest" attached to the sailing from the Clyde to-day of the Donaldson Atlantic liner, Athenia. It leaves for Quebec and Montreal under a new commander, and has among its passengers 30 Scots boys who are going out to Canada to take up farming careers. and a Millport woman, Mrs. Jessie Brown, who at the age of 82. is making her 14th trip across the Atlantic.

New commander of the Athenia is Captain J. Cook, who has his home Glasgow. and who formerly was in command of the crack Donaldson freighter, Salacia. But the Athenia is not new ship to him. He served on the Athenia and the Letitia earlier in his career as first and second officer and has, in this way, had nine years' experience of the North Atlantic.

The boys who are emigrating to Canada to take up, life, on the farm are from the Quarrier Homes at Bridge of Weir. All are under the age of 16, and will, I understand, go to farms under the supervision of the Quarrier Homes. They will be spread over various types of farms, but if a boy is found unsuited to a particular farm he will be able to change to another. The Quarrier Homes have in the past sent about 8000 boys to the Dominions. 

So it is altogether an interesting party. New commander. . . . A new thrill for boys on the threshold of a career abroad. And an old lady who is now so used to making the crossing that she thinks nothing of it!

Daily  Record, 15  April 1938.

After  clearing  Liverpool  and Belfast on 15 April 1938,  Athenia was St. Lawrence-bound with seven Cabin, 22 Tourist  and 100  Third Class passengers .  She  arrived at Montreal at 9:00 p.m. on the 25th. Among those  landing was Graham Donaldson, manager and director of Donaldson Atlantic Line who told the Montreal Star he was encouraged over traffic prospects that  season with  over 1,000 Scots coming  over in  organised parties in coming months. As for  the  future  of  the winter service to  St. John,  "he said the  service  broke even  and  a little  better, and hoped that  Athenia would  operate out  of  the New  Brunswick  port this  winter.."  Her  first  Montreal  sailing  that  season, at 11:30 a.m.  On the  29th, had 22 Cabin, 63 Tourist and 96 Third  Class passengers, and arrived Glasgow on the 9th.

Departing  Glasgow  on  30  April 1938, Belfast at 9:30 a.m.  on 1 May and Liverpool later that day, Letitia (Capt. George K. Baillie)  had a solitary Cabin Class passenger, 48 Tourist and 89 Third  Class  on  her  first  voyage  to the  St. Lawrence that  season, including  eight young ladies  of  the  League of Health and  Beauty who  made quite  an impression on arrival  at Montreal the morning of  the 10th:

Credit: Montreal Star, 10 May  1938.

Fresh from Greece and Turkey, the Donaldson Atlantic liner Letitia arrived in Montreal this morning for the first time in 1938. The Scottish ship has been cruising in the Mediterranean all winter, and got back to Glasgow with just one day to spare before she started out again on her summer's voyaging.

This morning the Letitia had an up to the minute problem in discharging eight young ladies who are members of the League of Health  and Beauty. Acting Mayor George Layton, with Mrs. Layton were down to welcome the visitors.

Miss Wright, who was out here last year, said that this year the Old Country girls were sending a small team to Toronto to take part in the big display the Canadian League of Health and Beauty was giving in Toronto commencing May 14. 

"You sent a big team last year, and we want to show you we appreciate that," she said. "We are bringing out only eight, but all the girls paid their own way." Miss Wright said there were 120,000 members of the League in Great Britain now. She also said that the present team of eight was widely representative. 

Montreal Star,10  May 1938.

Her first eastbound crossing of the year, from Montreal  at 11:30 a.m. on 14 May 1938, Letitia   had 26  Cabin, 80 Tourist and 172 Third Class aboard.  She returned to Glasgow at 10:00 a.m. on the 24th.

Leaving Glasgow  the evening of 12 May  1938 and  Liverpool  and Belfast  the  following  day, among Athenia's 22  Cabin, 128 Tourist and 79 Third Class passengers were 91  members of the  Glasgow and West  off Scotland Agricultural Discussion Society on  a tour  of Eastern  Canada, led by  Mr.  A.N.M. Buchanan of the Scottish  Farmer.  According  to the Daily Record (12 May), "when they  retire to  the  cabins on the Athenia, will  be  sleeping on a 'strange bed' for  the  first time  in thirty years." Athenia arrived Montreal the  evening of  the  22nd. 

Credit: Montreal Star,  23 May  1938.

To accommodate the  return of  the farmer group, after a whirlwind  visit, Athenia's  eastbound departure was put forward  a day.  She  sailed on 28 May  1938 with  a good  list  of 44  Cabin, 225 Tourist and 467 Third Class.  "What  is claimed by  the Donaldson Line to  be  the heaviest passenger  list out of Montreal in May  since 1932 when out aboard Athenia when she sailed  from here Saturday. She had 752 passengers." (Montreal Star, 30 May). Many of her passengers were bound for the Empire Exhibition being  held that summer in Glasgow and Athenia arrived  there on 7  June.

Clearing Glasgow for Canada at 8:10 p.m. on 28 May 1938, Letitia had, after Belfast and Liverpool, 21  Cabin, 44 Tourist  and 93 Third Class passengers, and arrived  Montreal  on 6  June.   Homewards,  she  sailed at 11:30  a.m.  on  the 10th  with  45  Cabin, 95  Tourist  and  244 Third Class  passengers and arrived Glasgow  on the  20th.

Westbound on 10-11 June 1938, Athenia had 26 Cabin,  38 Tourist and 89 Third  Class aboard for Canada and arrived Montreal  on the 19th. Eastbound at 11:30 a.m. on the 24th, she went out with 74  Cabin, 175 Tourist and 429 Third  Class which was pretty good going then and she went out  with Aurania and Duchess  of  Atholl,  with  2,000  passengers  between, and causing some confusion  between too many  "As" sailing that day:

 

Perhaps the biggest comedy of errors occurred when lady 'came rushing down to deliver a blanket maid, who was sailing. The maid, she knew, was on a ship beginning with "A", The police gave her permission to drive her car into the shed, for "just a minute." She enlisted support of  a  man, and he gave the blanket, with the address "Rose" thereon, to a reluctant steward. 

Then the woman started to think. She wondered if there was another ship for England, and if her maid was on the Aurania. It turned out she wasn't. The name Athenia was suggested. 

"That's the ship," she cried. "Now what'll I do.' 

So the blanket addressed to Rose was on one ship, and Rose herself was the other. However, a Cunard official when he was told of the matter, soon got things straightened out, and if they can locate the blanket on the Aurania, it will be transferred via the pilot boat to the Athenia at Quebec. Cunard service reaches far some times.

Montreal  Star, 24 June 1938.

Athenia arrived Glasgow, Princes Dock, the evening of 3  July  1938.

With 34 Cabin, 84 Tourist  and 92  Third  Class, Letitia  was  again Dominion destined, departing  Glasgow at noon on 24 June  1938  and  berthed  at Montreal on 4  July.  Her outbound list was swelled by a party  of 125  Canadian  schoolboys,  recruited  from  schools in  Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto and would be visiting Scotland , England, France and Switzerland and a take  a two  week cruise  to  the  Norwegian fjords under  the auspices  of the Scottish  Secondary  Schools Travel  Trust  of  Edinburgh.  The  youngest  traveller aboard was Master  John White, aged 7 months,  travelling unaccompanied, to Millport,  Scotland.  When Letitia pulled out  of  Shed 3 at 11:30 a.m.  on the  8th, she had 33  Cabin, 126 Tourist and 374 Third  Class. Calling at  Liverpool at 3:00 p.m. on the  16th, she reached Glasgow  the next day.

Schoolboys come big  in Canada. Jim Roberts,  18 years of age and 6  ft. 5 ins. in height, had trouble finding  a  bunk on board  that would take him. Finally two  were converted into one for  his benefit. Another 15-year-old is 6  ft. 3  ins. Tall. The trip lasts 50 days and costs 50.

Those  extended a welcome to the  party at  Princes  Dock, yesterday, were Bailie  Alexander McGregor-- who  held  out  the prospect of  thirty days  without the  option if  any  of  them came before him--  Mr. R.M.  Allardyce,  Director  of  Education, and Mr. J. MacLeod Boyer, Assistance Canadian Government Trade Commissioner.

Daily  Record, 18 July 1938.

Credit: Daily Record, 9 July 1938.

A party  of Irish Unionists led by  Sir A. Wilson Hungerford, MP,  and  Lady Hungerford;  30 members of the Overseas League, a delegation of 15 of  the Workers' Travel  Association and her first group of 15 Scottish  schoolboys,  bound for a tour  of Canada, swelled Athenia's  westbound  list  on 8-9 July 1938 to 44 Cabin, 146 Tourist and 139 Third  Class. Athenia berthed  at Montreal  the morning the 18th. 

Credit: Montreal Star, 18 July 1938.

To accommodate  these tourist parties,  once again Athenia's eastbound departure would be  held back from Friday  to Monday, the 25th, to  permit them more  time to tour Canada, "if the  idea  proves successful, it is likely  to  be repeated." (Montreal Star, 15 July).    Her  schoolboys,  however,  would return in Letitia  on 5  August.   Embarking her passengers Sunday  evening, the 24th, Athenia  cleared  for home at daybreak on the 25th.

Credit: Montreal Star, 25  July 1938.

Her departure held almost three days to give visiting Scotsmen and Irishmen longer time see Canada, the Donaldson Atlantic liner Athenia sailed from Montreal at dawn today, with embarkation taking place last night

The ship, baking  in the afternoon sun, was just about the warmest in town, but it must  have been the gayest. The Unionist pary  had returned from Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls and New York.  The party from Toronto, Niagara| Unionist, and New York. Overseas Leaguers were comparing noted with  them. The Workers Party also had interesting experiences. 

A late dinner was served for who wished the well and the dining saloons as well as the public  rooms were the scenes of many re-unions till  a late hour.

Montreal Star, 25  July  1938.

In all,  Athenia   went out  with 74 Cabin, 175 Tourist and 429 Third Class passengers and after calling  at Belfast and Liverpool on 1 August 1938, arrived at 4:00 p.m. Glasgow  on the  2nd.

Westbound  from Glasgow and intermediate  ports on 22-23 July 1938, Letitia had 76 Cabin, 132 Tourist and 212 Third Class passengers.  One of them, Miss Eileen Wallace, was off on  a 9,000 journey to Canada's  Arctic to marry Mr.  Allan R.  Stewart, manager  of  Hudson  Bay Co.'s Arctic  Bay trading post, and to be wed at Churchill  on 2 September before taking up station at the  post, at the north end of Baffin Island.  Also  aboard was a party  of 42 Scottish  schoolgirls, representing seven schools from Glasgow and Edinburgh,  and the largest such  party  to visit  the Dominion, on a three-week  trip. Letitia  reached Montreal the  afternoon of the  31st. When Letitia sailed  for  home on 5 August with 37 Cabin, 106 Tourist and 206 Third  Class, including a returning group of  Scottish  schoolboys who had  gone out  in Athenia, she  also went out with an unusually large grain consignment of 165,000 bushels. Letitia arrived Glasgow at 1:35 p.m.  on  the  14th.

Long Montreal  layover and  short one at  Glasgow for  Athenia  which arrived there late on 2 August, sailing again for  Canada the evening of the 5th and from Belfast and Liverpool the  next day, with 48 Cabin, 104 Tourist  and 209 Third Class. She arrived at Montreal on the  15th.  Back to  her  usual Friday  departures, Athenia cleared for the  Old County  on the  19th at 11:30 a.m. with 19 Cabin, 63 Tourist and 153 Third Class; the  prevailing and real scare of imminent war in  Europe  doing nothing to spur eastbound travel.  Athenia berthed at Glasgow at 2:10 p.m. on the 28th.

With a jittery Europe  and Britain  and war scares hastening  their departure,  Letitia's  westbound list  of 19 August 1938 totalled 66 Cabin, 195 Tourist  and 519 Third Class in all, breaking the record for a  westbound  list  that  season.  She arrived  at  Montreal the  morning of the  29th. "The  great number of American cars on the docks  was  noteworthy. Dozens of  families had come to Montreal  to pick up homecoming member or  members. Many  also  departed by  motor-bus." (Montreal Star, 29 August).  

To spur traffic,  a  25  per cent reduction in rates came  into  effect on 4 September  1938 and  to  accommodate  this,  Letitia and Duchess of  Bedford put  back  their  departures from Montreal to  Sunday the 4th.   Letitia managed  a  good  showing of 33 Cabin, 109 Tourist and 262 Third Class  for  her efforts, embarking  her passengers the  evening  before  and getting away  at  daybreak.  According to the Daily Record (3 September),  quite a few of her Canadian passengers had reserved  tickets to witness the  launch  of the giant Cunarder Queen Elizabeth on the  27th. Letitia arrived at Glasgow at 8:00 a.m.  on the  13th.

With  a good  westbound  list, doubtless many more  than anxious  to  on their  way  home amid  preparations  for  war,  Athenia  sailed on 2 September 1938 with 63  Cabin, 158 Tourist  and 280 Third Class passengers.   She arrived at  Montreal,  in company  with  Aurania, the evening of the  11th. Eastbound at  11:30  a.m.  on  the 16th, there  were only 15 Cabin,  49 Tourist  and 130  Third Class passengers, among them "five lithe youngsters" who  were  coming  to Scotland after  being engaged  by local ice  hockey clubs,  four  in Glasgow  and  other  in Falkirk.  They  and  their  fellow passengers landed at Glasgow  on  the  25th. Disembarking  at Liverpool on  the 24th was the Rev.  F. Noel Palmer, "who is  6  feet 8  inches in height,  and  understood  to be the  tallest cleric  in  the Church of  England."

With 31 Cabin, 87 Tourist and 222  Third Class,  Letitia was steaming  westwards again on 16 September 1938 and berthed at Montreal  on the 26th. Among those aboard  was Mr. J. Herbert Thom, owner and helmsman of  the  racing yacht Circe, coming  over  to compete in the  Seawanhaka  Cup race  and, as events  prove,  win it.  The  biggest  news was Letitia's football team beating McGill 12-1 on the  29th. By  the  time she sailed for home  on 30th, the  news of  the signing of  the Munich  Agreement that day  was imminent but the rest  of the  season was a  dead loss in any  event, and Letitia  cleared with 17  Cabin, 28 Tourist and 141 Third Class, including the victorious yachtman Thom.   Letitia reached  the  Clyde on 9 October.

The Donaldson Atlantic liner, Letitia,  steaming up  the  Clyde yesterday, on her  voyage  from Montreal,  proudly displayed  at her mast  head  the  red,white  and  blue racing  flag  of  the Clyde  six-metre yacht,  Circe, winner of  the  coveted Seawanhaka  Cup,  the most important  yachting trophy in the  world next  to the  America's Cup. 

The flag  was flown and the liner  dressed  in  fulfillment  of a promise made by  Captain G.K. Baillie,  commander of the  Letitia,  to  Mr.  J.  Herbert  Thom, of  Paisley, owner  and helmsman of  Circe, on  the  outward  voyage.

Daily  Record, 10  October  1938.

When Athenia cleared Glasgow on   30 September 1938 for Canada, it  was "peace in  our time"  and  the  war  scares  vanished  amid  euphoria.  Although  it  came  too  late to  salvage what was already shaping up  to  be  a disappointing  year when  it  came  to trans-Atlantic  traffic, worsened  by  a  severe recession  in the  United States,  overflowing into  Canada.   Still, Athenia went over with  86 Cabin,  148 Tourist and  276 Third  Class  passengers and that would  be  the last  decent  westbound  list that  year.   And yet, she had almost 400 cancellations at  the last  minute when the  Munich  Settlement was announced.  Encountering rare  bad weather  across  for  the  ship  with  a remarkable  knack  for  avoiding  it, Athenia was a full  day late reaching  Montreal  on the 11th.

A day late owing to bad weather on the high seas, the Donaldson Atlantic  liner Athenia docked this morning, 500 passengers, The voyage  was unusual in many ways. voyage unusual the first place, it was about the first ship to  come into port for the  Donaldson Line in  the  past five  years  when  there  was no passenger lists  available  for  the  newspapermen. 

 "How can make a list, when you have over 400 cancellations at the last minute?" asked a ship official. 

He  said that  with  the  war  scare at height, the Athenia had over 900 passengers. Then before the ship sailed, over 400 cancelled. The steamship officials in the Donaldson Line at Glasgow worked frantically to keep things straightened out, and had toil through lunch hour and work behind closed doors in some cases to  keep up with the rush of business. Then with all the avalanche of cancellations, even more work was entailed.

Montreal Star, 11 October 1938.

Credit: Gazette, 5  October 1938.

Whilst  Athenia  was steaming to  Canada, Donaldson Atlantic announced on 4 October  1938, via  their Canadian  Agents in Canada,  Cunard White  Star, that after a single special  Christmas  voyage on  the St. John and Halifax run,  Athenia would be laid up  that winter and the   Maritimes  route  discontinued owing  to the  admittedly  dismal carryings  experienced  in  the previous season.   Donaldson would still maintain a full  schedule  of cargo sailings that  winter with Sulairia,  Delilian and Norwegian. "Asked if there was a possibility Athenia might be used by the British Admiralty for trooping during the winter months, local offices reported that it was unlikely due to the ship's registry. She is registered in Scotland, and the Admiralty makes first call of English vessels, for troopship work." (Gazette, 5  October 1938). It was planned, however, to  give  Athenia a major  refit  during her lay up period.  And, of  course,  Letitia  would again be employed  in  the  winter,  cruising  for  Hellenic  Travellers' Club.  

Credit: Montreal Star,  15 October 1938.

There were only 14 Cabin, 39 Tourist and 93 Third Class takers for  Athenia's 14  October 1938 departure  for the Old Country, including five  lady members of  the British  Curtis  Cup  golf  team returning  after a series of U.S. national and Canadian open championships. Also aboard was Allan Pendlebury who had completed a 26,000-mile round the world bicycle ride through 26 countries. Athenia arrived at Glasgow  at 12:45 p.m. on the 23rd.

The season having run its course,  Letitia  had seven  Cabin, 67 Tourist  and 153 Third  Class passengers for  her 15 October 1938 sailing to Canada, arriving Montreal  on the  24th. Clearing eastbound at 10:00 a.m.  on  the  28th, she  went out  with eight Cabin, 13 Tourist  and 98 Third Class and also accidentally with  the luggage belonging to a  mother  and her 16-year-old son who were booked to sail the same day in Ausonia  for  Plymouth and made  their crossing  in the  clothes they  were  wearing. Letitia arrived  in the  Clyde  on  6  November. 

Bound for  the St.  Lawrence for the last time that season, Athenia  sailed on 29  October 1938  from Glasgow and after Liverpool  and Belfast,  went over with  12 Cabin, 27 Tourist and 79 Third Class passengers.  She arrived  at Montreal  on  7 November. Athenia was one of three  liners  departing Montreal  on the  11th for the final time that year,  Aurania and Duchess  of  York being the others,all sailing  at  10:00 a.m., and with eight Cabin, 13 Tourist and 71 Third Class  passengers aboard the Donaldson liner.  Athenia  berthed at Glasgow on the  19th.

Starting her  final trans-Atlantic voyage  of the year, Letitia cleared Glasgow on 12 November 1938  and after Belfast and Liverpool, went across with seven Cabin, 26 Tourist and 87 Third Class passengers.  She docked  at  Montreal at  8:00 a.m. on the  20th. Letitia, together with Duchess of  Bedford and Ausonia were the last liner  to  sail from the  port  that season the  morning  of the 25th. "The season ending  has  not been good.  The  peak-season business was considerable,  but  the troubled  state  of  Europe, culminating in the recent crisis,  acted  as  a deterrent to  transatlantic travel. Carryings were considerably  below  those  of 1937." (Gazette, 25 November).  Proving  the  point,  Letitia  cleared with 10 Cabin, 33 Tourist and 185 Third  Class and  arrived Glasgow at  9:20 a.m.  on  4  December.

Making  her one  and only voyage  on the Glasgow-Belfast-St.  John-Halifax run that winter,  Athenia sailed on 26  November 1938 with no one in Cabin,  a solitary  traveller in Tourist and 20  in Third  Class.  They  were  treated  to terrible weather  en route with a succession of gales, not getting  into  St. John until noon on  7 December,  a full three days late. It was her single  worst  passage in her  career  to  date,  but she  came through  without damage.

The Donaldson Line passenger steamer Athenia docked at noon today after a particularly stormy passage from' Glasgow. She was due in this port on Sunday but continuous heavy gales delayed her arrival. No storm damage was reported. 

Captain James Cook is in command of the liner, which brought passengers, mails and general cargo, and is consigned to H. C. Schofield &  Co., Ltd., Cunard White Star Line agents. Heavy gales in the Bay of Fundy last night prevented the pilot from boarding the liner, and she remained there for the night. 

She is scheduled to sail on Dec. 10 for Glasgow. Of particular interest to John people in the arrival of the Athenia is the fact that concert troupe and orchestra of the vessel is giving an entertainment "Let's All Go to the Music Hall," in the Saint John High School auditorium, on Thursday evening at 8.15 o'clock under auspices of the Gyro Club.

'The concert talent of the Athenia has received a great deal of acclaim not only from passengers but from concert-goers in the ports the ship has visited.

Times-Globe, 7  December 1938.

Athenia's  arrival  at St. John coincided  with  the  news that Charles  Donaldson, chairman of Donaldson Line, had passed away  at noon on 7  December  1938  at Airthey Castle, Bridge  of  Allan,  Scotland, aged 68.  Athenia's houseflag and Red  Ensign were restruck  at half-mast for  the rest  of her call.

Clearing St. John for Glasgow on 10 December 1938, via Halifax  where she  arrived at 2:00 p.m.  On the  11th. Clearing  there on  the  13th, Athenia went out  with three  Cabin,  19  Tourist and 74  Third Class passengers. Calling at Belfast at 6:00 a.m. on the 20th, Athenia arrived Glasgow at 10:30 p.m. that evening. 

In 1938, Athenia completed 18 crossings to Montreal carrying 5,358 passenger and six crossings to St. John and Halifax carrying 340 passengers and Letitia completed 16 crossings to Montreal carrying 4,881 passengers.  This was about 1,000 less than the previous year but a good result given that 1938 was a bad year for trans-Atlantic travel as a whole with war scares and Munich that autumn and a severe recession in America.  

1939

With both  Athenia and Letitia were idle  from January 1939 and the opportunity given to  invest some   £100,000 in improvements to both Letitia and especially Athenia on which £60,000 was expended. The later ship would not resume service until that April and was instead at Barclay Curle’s Scotstoun yard where all of A Deck was gutted and rebuilt with new cabins as was a portion of B Deck so that almost half her original Third Class was completely stripped and rebuilt.   All cabins in Cabin and Tourist Class and most in Third now had hot and cold running water, new mattresses and individual ventilation in inside cabins. Additional Cabin Class staterooms now had private baths. She now accommodated 100 Cabin, 250 Tourist and 750 Third Class passengers.

Letitia had improvements to her accommodation, but not to the extent of Athenia. When completed, it was stated that Letitia now accommodated 125 Cabin, 250 Tourist and 630 Third Class. Both ships were fitted with new solid bronze manganese screws, far more efficient than the old bolted on bladed originals and reckoned to give as much as an extra knot of speed.

A dramatic  change was revealed  in  the  Hellenic  Travellers' Club programme  for  winter  1939  with  their  first  ever cruise  outside  their  namesake  waters, dispatching  Letitia on  a 42-day West Indies Cruise, 6  February-18 March,  co-sponsored with  the British  Association for the  advancement of  Science. 

Ports visited were Nassau, Miami, Havana, Montego Bay, Kingstown, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, Madeira, Tangier, Gibraltar, and Toulon with  fares  starting  at 60 gns.. 

The speakers  and  guest lecturers, themed on  topics  relating  to  the British Empire, included Denzil  Batchelor ("Australia  and her  Problems"),  Professor  Boswell ("Early  Migration"), Sir  Joseph Byrne  ("Sierra Leone, Liberia  and  the  Seychelles"), Professor Ferguson ("Forces  that  led  to  Colonisation"), C.B. Fry  ("The Indian  Princes  and  Federation"),  General Sir A.  Godley ("Gibraltar  and  the  Mediterranean"), Sir  Claud Hollis ("The  British  Empire  in  Tropical  Africa"),  Sir Norman Lamont  ("Haiti Today and Tomorrow and  The  Viscissitudes  of  a  West  Indian  Estate,  1800-1939"),  H.V. Morton "(Palestine"), Lord Oliver  (former  Governor  of  Jamaica), Hugh  Paget ("Race  and  Race  Relations in the West Indies").   Prices at 60 guineas and up,  the  cruise will  visit  Nassau,  Jamaica,  Trinidad, Florida and Cuba and conclude at  Toulon.  

Letitia would  still make two traditional  Mediterranean cruises from Toulon back  to Britain, 18 March-7 April, to Naples, Delphi,  Mycenae,  Athens, Pergamos, Rhodes; and 8-25  April, to Delphi,  Navarino, Athens, Constantinople, Troy, Palermo etc. And then  a rather  extraordinary  voyage from  Toulon  in 26  April  straight to Montreal, arriving  7 May, to  take up  her  trans-Atlantic duties there rather  than  be  routed back  via  Glasgow.

The  scope  of  the refitting  work to Letitia  and Athenia was   addressed by  Mr.  E. Graham Donaldson at  a  luncheon aboard  Letitia  at  Glasgow on 3 February 1939, prior to her departure  to the  West Indies, and he  stated  Athenia, in particular "When finished, he said Athenia would be “two thirds an entirely new ship.”was  almost  a new  ship" when  then work was  completed. 

Departing Glasgow, looking very  smart inside  and out, on 4 February  1939, Letitia  called at Plymouth on 7:00 a.m.  on the  6th to embark 155  passengers, making a total of  248  aboard. Among her passengers was Mr. Richard Hughes, author of a High Wind In Jamaica. Letitia  departed at 10:00 a.m.. 

Among the passengers going to the West Indies in Letitia are Viscount Dunedin, Dowager Lady Nunburnholme, Viscount Tarbat, Lord Askwith, Lord and Lady Olivier, Sir J. Byrne, Sir C. Hollis, Sir B. A. Fell, Sir N.Lamont, Sir R. C. Gull, Sir L. Threlford, Prof. Sir J.and Lady Henderson, Sir T. and Lady Henderson, Sir P. and Lady Worthington, Sir D. and Lady Cameron of Lochiel, Sir R. and Lady Winfrey, Sir J.O'Connell, Elaine Lady Bellew, Sir A. Verdon-Roe, Sir R. and Lady Giles, Sir Wm. and Lady Beach Thomas, Col. Sir C. and Lady Arthur, Hon. Jocelyn Hotham, Sir C. and Lady Mander, Sir R. and Lady Hamilton, Sir H. C.A. Eyres, Sir H. Stokes, Brig.-Gen. Sir B. Vincent, Col. E. W. Morrison Bell, Hon. Mrs. Morrison Bell, Col.E. F. and Mrs. Morrison Bell, Mr. C.B. Fry, and Rev. W. A. Wigram.

Western Morning News,  6 February 1939.

Letitia off Paradise  Island, Nassau, in 1939. Credit: National  Maritime Museum.

Letitia at  Castries,  St.  Lucia in  1939.  Credit: National  Maritime  Museum.

Letitia's splendid looking  motor launch off  the  jetty  at  Castries, St. Lucia, 1939. Credit: National Maritime Museum.

Letitia  arrived at Nassau (17 February 1939), Miami  (18), Havana (19), Kingston (23-26), Port of  Spain (1-2 March), St. Lucia (3), Antigua (4), Madeira (12), Gibraltar (14-15)  and arrived  at  Toulon on the 18th.

The  ship's  call  at Miami  occasioned  much  interest  in  the  local press,  Letitia  being  the  first  Scottish  ship  to  call  there and  nothing  quite  like  her passengers and purpose  had been  seen there, either.

Original caption: A learned group of classic literature and Greek mythology scholars sailed into Miami Saturday aboard the TSS. Letitia out of Glasgow, Scotland. The 14-year-old ship, under complete charter of the Hellenic Travelers' club of England, was in command of Capt. G. K. Baillie. Youngest passenger honors went to Miss Patricia Holcroft of London. Among the other passengers were: A. H. Evans, retired lecturer from Cambridge University; Sir Henry Lunn, honorary life president of the club; Sir Donald and Lady Cameron of Lochiel, and Viscount Dunedin, ore of the British Isle's most noted judges, now retired. The ship sailed at 5 p. m. for Havana. Credit:  Miami Herald, 19 February  1939.

The Scotch cruise ship TSS. Letitia, bearing 248 members of the Hellenic Travelers' club on their annual pilgrimage to the islands of the West Indies and the Mediterranean,' slipped into the harbor at dawn Saturday for a short stay in Miami before heading out to sea for Havana, Kingston, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic at 5 p. m. 

The 536-foot, 22,943-ton vessel, hailing from Glasgow, first Scottish cruise liner ever to make this a port of call, docked at the Causeway Terminal pier and was cleared through customs shortly after 8 a. m., to allows classical and archeological research club members until 5 p. m. for shore, sightseeing trips. A chamber commerce information booth was set up aboard ship for their convenience. 

On board, confined to his bed, was Sir Henry Lunn, M. D., chairman of the Hellenic club and special lecturer aboard ship.

Widely known as a student of the classics and religion, he lectured throughout the United States in former years and at one time was literary writer on The London Times and The Daily Chronicle. 

One of the first to leave the black-hulled liner was Viscount Dunedin, 88-year-old retired English barrister, who, for 28 years, was senior judge of the House of Lords. Of Scottish birth, he now resides in London. Reportedly of the most distinguished judges in the British Isles, he formerly was president of the Court of Session in Scotland. 

Traveling here with his wife, Lady Hermonie Cameron, was Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, high chief of the world-wide Cameron clan. The former colonel in the British army was delighted with the climate and harbor of Miami. He has seen service in the South African and World wars.

Miami  Herald, 19  February  1939.

Letitia, believed to be in Phaleron Bay, Athens, 1939. Credit: National Maritime Museum.

Departing Toulon at 7:00 p.m. 18 March 1939, Letitia cruised to Naples (20), Itea (23), Piraeus (28), Izmir (29), Kos, Patmos  (30), Cnidos (31), Rhodes (1 April), Delos,  Santorini (3),  Messina (5) and arrived Toulon on the 8th.

Letitia anchored  off Thasos,  Greece, 1939.  Credit:  National  Maritime Museum.

One of Letitia's motor lifeboats at Thasos.  Credit: National Maritime  Museum. 

From Toulon at 5:00 p.m. on 8 March 1939, Letitia called at Naples  (10), Navarino (13), Nauplia (14), Piraeus (16), Istanbul , Eretria (20), Melos  (21), Palermo ( 23) and  arrived at  Toulon on the 26th.

Credit: The  Guardian, 15  April 1939.

Aboard a ship he asserted  was  "two-thirds new" following an extensive £65,000 reconditioning  and rebuilding  of  much  of  her accommodation, Mr. N.P.  Donaldson hosted  a luncheon  aboard  Athenia in  Princes Dock on 12 April 1939, the day  before  she  opened the Donaldson Atlantic  service for  the  season.

The t.s.s. Athenia (14,000 tons), of the Donaldson Atlantic Line, sailed yesterday from Liverpool on her first reconditioning, bound for Montreal.  Athenia has been in the builders' hands for four months, and a large portion of the accommodation has been entirely The accommodation has been rebuilt for passengers, 250 tourist passengers, and 750 third-class passengers. An important feature of the modernising process that has taken place is that every room in the cabin and tourist accommodation has a bedstead, as have the reconstructed rooms in the third-class accommodation. 

The claim is made for the newly conditioned Athenia (which has a sister ship, the Letitia) that she can offer comfortable accommodation as any ship, whatever her size,  now making Atlantic crossing, and it is, as far as one can judge, a reasonable claim. Visitors to the ship yesterday, for the most part English passenger agents, showed great interest in the improvements made and were not stinting in expression of appreciation. 

The Athenia, a steady ship of deep draught, takes the shortest sea route to the North American continent via the St. Lawrence River Quebec and Montreal. She sailed to Liverpool from Glasgow on Thursday, and rode at anchor in the Mersey mouth during the period of inspection, sailing immediately after the visitors had regained their tender for the shore.

At a luncheon on board Mr. N. F Graham Donaldson, a director of the Donaldson Atlantic Line, the relations of his company. Cunard independent family business, with the Star Company, with which it maintains pleasant running associations. Other speakers were Mr. A. Derry. of the Cunard-White Star Company. and Mr. C. Hood, of Leeds, a passenger agent, who said that he hoped the present year, "in spite of the whims and fancies of those who think they rule the world," would be a happy one.

The Guardian, 15  April  1939.

Clearing Glasgow on 13 April 1939, when Athenia called at Liverpool  the next day, a luncheon  and  inspection of the  ship  was laid  on  for 120  English  travel agents.  Sailing  at 3:15  p.m,  Athenia  went across with 22 Cabin, 86 Tourist and  121 passengers. It was very early  in the  season and with  ice still  reported in Cabot Strait as late as the 19th, there  was even some consideration  that the  first westbound  liners: Athenia, Duchess of  Atholl and Aurania  might have to divert  to  St.John  and Halifax.  On the  21st,  it  was  announced  all three  were  making  for  Quebec and  would be  escorted in by the  icebreaker  N.B. McLean,  but with  low water and ice between Three Rivers and Montreal,  it  was conceded  they  would probably  have  to turnaround  at  the  Ancient  Capital.  The trio arrived at Quebec on  the 25th, with Athenia berthing there  at 8:20 a.m. and her passengers for  Montreal  entraining  for there and arriving midday on the 26th. All of  her  cargo  would be discharged there  and it was  announced:

Eric Reford, deputy chief representative of Cunard White Star, general agents for the Donaldson Atlantic Line in Canada, said: "Under these circumstances, it has been arranged to sail from Quebec for Belfast, Liverpool and Glasgow on schedule at 5.00 p.m., on Friday. Passengers will be provided with rail transportation on a special train leaving Montreal at 10.30 p.m., on Friday, the same time co as in the ordinary course of events they would embark on the ship Montreal."

Montreal  Star, 25  April  1939.

Credit: The Gazette, 29 April 1939.

Credit: The Gazette (Montreal), 29 April 1939

Departing  Quebec on 28 April  1939, Athenia had six Cabin, 45 Tourist  and 154 Third Class passengers, and was the first liner to  sail  from  the  St. Lawrence that season. Calling at Liverpool on 8 May, Athenia arrived Glasgow on the 9th.

Letitia's introduction  to  the Canadian route that season was, to say  the  least,  unconventional. Having completed her final  cruise  for  Hellenic  Travellers' Club and clearing Toulon at noon 26 April 1939, Letitia called at Gibraltar on the 28th.  She then commenced  one of  the more remarkable  voyages in that  instead of returning  to  Glasgow, Letitia  proceeded  straight for  Quebec and  Montreal carrying  her  smallest ever list: 10 Cabin and one Tourist  and none in Third Class.  She arrived at Quebec on 7 May and Montreal the  next  day, occasioning  a wonderful write-up  of  her just  completed Mediterranean cruises:

Credit: Montreal  Star, 9 May  1939.

A ship on which the passengers staged a sit-down strike and were disappointed in Miami and Havana because there were no ruins, and now only just returned from Corfu, which they visited the day after Albania was taken by Mussolini, and the very day it was supposed to be subject to attack, has come to port. She is the Donaldson Atlantic Liner Letitia, and has just completed another winter taking members of the Hellenic Travellers Club from Scotland via Toulon to the ruins of the Aegean. 

The reason the passengers staged a sit-down strike is because there are only a few of them, and they are in no hurry to go anywhere. They boarded the ship at Toulon, which was the base for these archaeological tours.

These passengers are Anglo Saxons living in the south of France, but who have moved on for the time being owing to war scares. When the ship got to Quebec, the agents, the Cunard White Star, assumed that the passengers would sooner get off and come by train to Montreal, and arrangements were made by wire to this effect. When the passengers heard about it, they came to the purser. "See here, do we have to leave this ship?" one asked. "You're welcome to stay on if you wish" said the purser, on advice from Montreal. "Not often we have a private club of our own," said one passenger.

"We're in no hurry. We'll stay". stay they did. There were just 11 passengers. They have been on the Letitia since she left Toulon on the 26th of April. She was off Gibraltar April 28, and got to Quebec on the afternoon of 8 May and  Montreal the following  morning.

One of the funny is stories brought about by passengers one when the ship made an American side trip. The Letitia out of Glasgow went via the West Indies to Toulon. "Miami wasn't much of a success", said one. "The archeologists went ashore, saw everybody in bathing suits, the city looking bright and new, and said with dismay: What, no ruins!' and so Miami was a flop. "The same is true at Havana.

Quite true, it was a fiesta night, and gay Havana was never gayer. But there were no ruins, and so we had to sail at 10 at night, just when the town was warming up". Interesting things were learned about the winter cruising. When the Letitia was near Corfu, there was talk that the Italians were going to try and take it. "I was glad to get out," said one.

"I was told the wireless men heard the Italian and British wireless going all the time.' "They were going to have a try for Gibraltar". said another, "but they thought better of it when some of the fleet got there."

Praise was given the Italians by Captain Baillie  who said  they were a hospitable, kindly people.' Other vignettes of the Italian scene were supplied one sailor: "Coming through the Straits of Messina, suddenly the Italians put a searchlight on us for awhile." 

Another told of the British fleet watching Corfu. 

"There was an American gunboat taking six months to come from China, and they had exchanged movies with the British ships. One night late the British came over to the Americans to get their films. What's the hurry?' asked the Americans. 'We're leaving,' said the English laconically. They rushed outside the boom, cut off their lights, and disappeared.

 It was also learned that Gibraltar, Malta, and other ports have log booms around them, and the ships have to pick their way.

 Everybody said. a kind word about the Turks."They certainly are agreeable people, straight and honest. They have their own way of doing things, but we all admire them."

Incidentally Istanbul is called that instead of Stanbul because Turks find it difficult to say a word beginning with an "s".

Montreal Star, 9  May 1939.

Canadian newspaper advertisements heralding the final round of improvements to Athenia and Letitia for the 1939 season. 

On her  first "real"  voyage  on the  St. Lawrence route that year,  Letitia  departed Montreal  the morning  of 12  May 1939  with 16 Cabin, 40 Tourist and 86  Third  Class  passengers, going  out with Duchess  of  Bedford and Ausonia. Letitia returned  to Glasgow on the 21st  after some four  months  absence. 

Westbound  from  Glasgow  on 11  May 1939 and  Belfast  and Liverpool the  following day, Athenia had 43 Cabin, 161 Tourist  and 131  Tourist  Class, among  them a party of 100  British  farmers bound  for  a  Canadian tour including government farms in Ottawa and  Guelph as well as Quebec,  Montreal  and Niagara Falls and,  of  course, the  New York World's  Fair and all before  returning  in Athenia  on the  27th! Athenia  had  a better crossing  than their  Majesties  the  King  and Queen on their  Canadian  visit in Empress of  Australia beset  by  fog,  but she  encountered  a fair  amount  of  ice  en route. Making  her  maiden call that  season at Montreal early on  the 21st, her recent renovations  attracted  more  than an usual  amount  of  local press  attention:

The Donaldson Liner Athenia made her first 1939 visit to Montreal yesterday, and will be here till Friday. Those who recall the Athenia from other, years would hardly know the ship now. She has just completed three months in drydock, and so far as interior is concerned, she is a new ship. Her furnishings are quite modern. and with hot and cold water and every stateroom, including the third class rooms, it is easy to see where the quarter of a million dollars reported to have been spent on her, has gone. The new Athenia has bright furniture, air cooling, new hall panelling and dining saloon furniture. 

Besides, the engines have been speeded up and now she s able to hold her own with ships previously reputed faster.

An interesting feature of this ship is that she has so much business booked for July that she is actually refusing certain classes of accommodation. She is just about booked to capacity already.

To view the new  Athenia, travel  agents  are  coming from Athenia, all over  to attend a luncheon aboard ship at noon tomorrow. Visitors from as far away as Chicago will be present. There will also be a thorough inspection of the ship.

Montreal Star, 22 May  1939.

Fed with the same kind of Scotch broth as Samuel Johnson salmon praised, with sole from England, from Loch Tay, lamb the Highlands, cauliflower from Canary Islands, and Scotch trifle flavored with Demerara rum, over 100 travel agents yesterday were feted aboard the revamped and renovated Donaldson Atlantic Liner Athenia. 

This Scottish ship, making her first appearance in Montreal since she was fitted with air cooling, new tapestries, hot and cold water even in third class, and provided in fact with first accommodation even in third-class. was the centre of much activity. 

Robert W. Reford, son of the founder of the line, was present at this, one of the few such functions that he has graced in the past half dozen years.Mr  Reford compared the Donaldson Line with Noah, 

Albert Gardiner was also present. J. C. Heatherington, well known travel agent of Toronto, spoke for the Ontario agents, Eric Reford presided. 

The guests made an inspection of the ship and all were much impressed.

Montreal Star,  24 May  1939.

To  accommodate  her British  farmer groups'  return, Athenia's eastbound  departure was put back to Saturday,  27 May  1939,  at 11:30  a.m. giving  them  an extra  day to  take  in the  New  York World's Fair.  She went  across  with 58 Cabin, 188 Tourist and 246 Third  Class passengers and berthed at  Glasgow  at 2:00 p.m. Clyde  on 5 June.

Making her first sailing  to Canada from the Clyde  in 26 May  1939, Letitia had, after Belfast  and  Liverpool, 24 Cabin, 69 Tourist and 90 Third Class  passengers.  She docked  at Montreal on the  morning  of 5  June. New that season was Cunard White  Star and Donaldson  Atlantic Line using Shed 5 instead of  the  longstanding  no. 2/3 as a new wide apron  had been built in  front of  no.  5 which made it much easier to land passengers alongside.  Clearing  Montreal on the 9th, Letitia  had 14 Cabin, 19 Tourist and 119  Third Class passengers. Calling at Liverpool at 10:00 a.m. on the  17th, Letitia arrived  in the  Clyde  the  following day.

Clearing Glasgow on 9  June  1939 and Belfast and Liverpool the following  day, Athenia had  31  Cabin, 43  Tourist  and 177 Third Class  Dominion-bound  travellers including a party  of 102 Sudeten German refugees who were  spend on their way to Saskatchewan on arrival at Quebec the  evening of  the  18th:

Due to the co-operation of Government. immigration officials, the Donaldson liner Athenia was able to clear Quebec last night and arrive here this morning. The officials co-operated in accelerating the clearing of the Athenia and her 300 passengers, 102 of whom are Sudeten Germans headed for Saskatchewan. The Athenia, instead of being held overnight at Quebec, sailed on to Montreal.

Montreal Star,19 June  1939.

Smiling because at last they were on free soil, and far from oppression, 102 Sudeten Germans, most of them Roman Catholics, stepped down the gangplank of the Donaldson Liner Athenia this morning en route to their new homes in St. Walburg, Saskatchewan. The children--and there seemed to be dozens and dozens of them scampered around the sheds, most of them blond, and nearly all rosy-cheeked. " Occasionally a mother, driven to exasperation, would give a slap to keep a toddler out of the way of a truck, but for the most part, they smiled at strangers and seemed to take the whole thing as a lot of fun.

Montreal Star,  19 June 1939.

Clearing  Montreal on the morning  of  23 June 1939,  Athenia  had 63  Cabin,  90  Tourist  and 246 Third  Class passengers.  She  went out  with  Duchess of Atholl  and  Aurania and  the three  were  the  first  liners  that  season to  take  the  shorter route  via  the Straits  of Belle  Isle  that season eastbound.  Calling  at  Liverpool the  morning  of  1 July,  Athenia reached  the  Clyde  the  following day.

With 22 Cabin,  48  Tourist  and 78  Third  Class  passengers,  Letitia  coursed westwards  on  23-24 June  1939 from Glasgow,  Belfast  and  Liverpool and put in the  fastest  crossing  of  her career to date.   Among  the improvements introduced during  her winter  refit  were  new solid screws which  were  reckoned  to  give  her  as much  as another  knot  of  speed  over  the old built-up  ones.  She made  Quebec on  the  morning of 1  July 1939,  fittingly  enough Dominion Day, and  Montreal at 10:00  p.m.  that evening,  the first a westbound Donaldson Line  ship  had ever arrived in the St. Lawrence  on  a Saturday. 

Completing the fastest run she has ever made on the North Atlantic, the Donaldson Atlantic passenger liner Letitia is due in Quebec morning and will probably reach Montreal some time tonight. 

Her time for the ocean voyage was considerably better than she or other ships of her size and class in the Canadian trade have made from Old Country to the St. Lawrence, and several hours off her  usual  run.

Letitia was overhauled, last winter, during a lay-off, and equipped with new propellers which gave an additional speed of one knot. She was expected to make better time for the Atlantic crossing, but this the first voyage on which she has been opened up. The liner averaged 16½ knots from Liverpool to Fame Point, and was maintaining that speed yesterday as  she proceeded up the  Gulf toward Quebec.

Usual arrival time for the Donaldson and Cunard passenger ships of the same size as Letitia is Sunday night or Monday morning in Montreal. Letitia left Glasgow June 23. and Liverpool the following day. She is in command of Captain G. K. Baillie.

If delayed at Quebec, the liner may not reach Montreal until tomorrow morning, but longshore gangs have been ordered, for to night. She may reach around 9 or 10 p.m., if she can be cleared at Quebec in time.

Gazette, 1 July 1939.

History was  made for the Donaldson Line, when for the first time in its history, a passenger ship on a regular schedule, making all the regular stops, arrived here on Saturday night. This was the Letitia, under command of Capt. G. K. Baillie, which docked at 10 p.m.  The earliest week-end hour that any Donaldson passenger ship in the past has docked has been on Sunday morning. 

Last winter the Letitia had her engines re-conditioned, and was thus able to get a little more speed out of her machinery. Now that Belle Isle open, and ships can come this way, the greater speed and saving of time are apparent.

Montreal Star,  3  July 1939.

It  was a youthful  passenger  list  for  Letitia eastbound  on 7 July  1939 with 170  of her  passengers  belonging  to various  student and youth groups.  Fifteen girls,  sponsored by  the  Scottish Secondary  Schools  Travel Trust  were bound  for Scotland, England, France,Switzerland and Belgium, and another  group of 40 under  the same auspices,  on  a similar  itinerary. Also  aboard  were  70 Canadian delegates for  the  World  Conference  of  Christian Youth, to  be  held  in Amsterdam 24 July-2 August. In all, Letitia cleared with 49 Cabin,  92  Tourist  and 340  Third  Class  passengers. She  arrived at Liverpool the  morning  of  the  15th and Glasgow the  next day.

"Oh, that'll be fine," was the comment of a Canadian schoolboy, member of a party of forty who landed from the Donaldson Atlantic liner Letitia at Liverpool this morning, when he was asked by an Echo reporter how he was looking forward to the reception of his party by the King and Queen, which has been arranged to take place at Balmoral.

 The boys landed from the Letitia by tender and were taken straight to Lime Street Station, where they caught a train for London, the first stage of a five weeks' tour of Europe that they will undertake. 

The trip will include visits to Paris, Geneva, Belgium and famous English towns and districts such as Stratford-on-Avon and the Lakes, while the tour will finish in Scotland, where the reception by the King and Queen is to take place. 

The 40 boys form half of a party of nearly 100 school-children, the remainder being girls, who left the Letitia when she called at Glasgow and are to make the same tour as the boys only in the opposite direction.

Liverpool  Echo,  15 July 1939.

Sixty-five  Scottish  school  girls from  Glasgow  Girls' High School, Hillhead  High  School,  Laurel  Bank  School,  Hutcheson's  Grammar, Abderdeen High, Granley  Girls'  School,  Aberdeen,  and Hamilton Academy  off on a five-week-long tour  of Canada  were  among Athenia's 54 Cabin, 268 Tourist and 259 Third  Class  passengers departing Glasgow  and intermediate ports on 7-8 July 1939.   She  also  went out  with  109 members of the  Workers' Travel Association and   187 members of the Conservative  Party  of  Glasgow beginning  a tour  of  Canada and the United States and in all it was reckoned she  was  coming  over with  the  largest  number  of touring  parties  in a single  ship  that  season.   Somewhat  delayed  by  fog,  Athenia  arrived at  Montreal  on  the  morning  of the  17th.  The day before her party  of  Scottish school  girls were  greeted by  Lord  and Lady Tweedsmuir,  Governor-General, at their  Quebec summer  residence.  

Credit: Montreal  Star,  17 July  1939.

Credit: Montreal  Star,  17 July  1939.

It, however, proved  a tragic voyage in that two of  Athenia's  crew  members died on  the  way  over:

One sailor seaman disappeared  and a  seaman was killed in a fall  during the voyage of the liner Athenia which ended at Montreal this morning.

Two days out from Glasgow. John Kennedy, a seaman, was descending from the crow's nest when he fell to the deck and was killed. He was buried at sea.

On Tuesday of last week A.C. Pollock, a bedroom steward, was reported missing from the ship complete check failed to reveal his whereabouts. is thought to have fallen overboard during the night. Kennedy, who was 44 years old, and Pollock, who was 49, were both Glasgow men.

Montreal Star, 17 July  1939. 

Once again, to  give  her  many  touring parties more  time, Athenia's  departure  for the  Old County  was postponed  to  Monday 24  July  instead  of  Friday  the  21st.  She embarked  her  passengers the  evening before  as she  would clear  at daybreak,  and was the  scene of  many  bon voyage  parties.  In all, Athenia sailed with 63  Cabin,  269 Tourist  and 244  Third  Class  passengers. Touching at Liverpool  on  1 August,  Athenia returned  to  Glasgow at 10:00 a.m. on the 2nd. 

School boys  and girls  sure  had  plenty  of  travel  in hand in  the 1930s it  seems and among the 67 Cabin, 269 Tourist and 304  Third  passengers sailing  in  Letitia  for  Canada  on 19 July  1939 were 70  boys "from Britain's most travel-minded school  board," all pupils of Glasgow High School on  a five-week-long trip to  the  Dominion, including  a meeting with the  Governor-General, Lord Tweedsmuir  in Ottawa. The lads,  aged 16-18, were in the charge of  three masters.   There  was another  group  of  40  boys,  organised  by  the Scottish Secondary  Schools Travel Trust. Also aboard was  a  group  of  over  50 members of the Overseas League. Rounding out  her list  was a  party  of  lady  cricketers  en route for  matches in Canada and a  large  group of Scottish  domestic  science experts. 

Original caption: Seeking  to make the  herring and the  plate of broth popular here, and looking  also for new ideas in cooking to take back to Scotland, a large  group  of  Scottish domestic science  experts arrived in Montreal today  aboard the  liner  Letitia. They  hope to  go behind the scenes in big hotels and learn how  things are done, they  expect to  compare and exchange recipes for  favorite Canadian and Scottish dishes. The  party  includes some of  Scotland's outstanding domestic  science teachers. Credit: Montreal Star, 29 July 1939.

Letitia got  them  all over  in  a  hurry  with another capital  passage and she berthed at Montreal  on the  morning  of Saturday,  29 July 1939, a full  day  early. Early  enough  for a rugby  match  between the  Glasgow High  School boys and those from  an all Montreal  Team to be  play that early  evening,  after  which both  teams were treated to dinner aboard Letitia. The Glasgow boys won 3-0. 

Sailing  for  home on  4 August 1939, Letitia's  35 Cabin,  171 Tourist  and 251 Third Class  passengers included  60 Scottish school  girls and the  returning  37-member Overseas League  group. When  manoevering  to clear the wharf, she touched  the  dock wall  at the  outer  end  of  Alexandria  Pier,  distorting  some forward  plates but high enough  on  her bows not  to be  of  concern and following  a survey, proceeded, about an hour  and  half  late.  The crossing was further delayed some 36  hours over by  heavy  fog encountered en route and on arrival  at  Belfast  early  on  the  13th, her  wireless operator, Mr.  Charles  King, was landed from the  ship  in the tender Smeaton to Queen's Quay to  be taken at  once  to Royal Victoria Hospital, suffering  with appendicitis.  Letitia arrive at Princes  Dock, Glasgow,  the  following  morning  at 11:00  a.m.

A  quick  turnaround  saw  Athenia off  again  for  Canada  from Glasgow  the  evening  of 4 August 1939 and after Belfast  and  Liverpool  the following  day,  steamed  westwards  with  35 Cabin, 104 Tourist  and 289  Third Class,  including  another  party of Scottish  school  girls,  from Edinburgh, a party  of Canadian Car and Foundry  employees, 15 members  of the  Middlesex Teachers Guild and  18 belonging to the  British Home  Economic  Society.    In all, some  200  of  her passengers were  part  of  organised tours.

Credit: Daily Record,  5  August 1939.

The voyage of the Athenia, which left Glasgow last Friday for Canada, is one Atlantic crossing which should be a most cheerful event. Three parties of scholars from various parts of Britain were on the passenger list, not the least happy being a company of forty Edinburgh schoolgirls. Organised by the Scottish Secondary Schools' Travel Trust in co-operation with the Donaldson-Atlantic Line, this is the third such party to leave Scotland this month. The girls are under the charge of four teachers.

Two girls come from Aberdeen and one from Fife. The ship docks at Montreal, and during their five weeks' stay the girls (aged from 15-19) will visit such places as Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto, etc. On their way to Canada the girls will pass the Letitia, which is bringing home the first party of Scottish pupils which visited the Dominion in June.

The  Clydebank Press, 11 August 1939.

Homewards  on  the morning  of 18  August 1939, Athenia sailed  from Montreal with 28 Cabin, 139 Tourist  and  317 Third  Class passengers, including 155 belonging to five  different  touring parties including Glasgow High School  boys, who would "carry home  with  them a lasting  impression of our  great  Dominion  which cannot  fail  to make  them  better  Empire citizens," (Gazette,  18 August), the British  Home Economics party and  the  Middlesex Teachers party  among  them.  The Montreal  Star (18 August) noted  that "men were  scarce enough  in  the tourist  section of the  Athenia today.Among  over  150  travelling  tourist,  there were only  about 30  men,  many  attached." She also had a big cargo totalling 5,500 tons.   Athenia called at Liverpool at  noon on  the 26th and arrived Glasgow  on  the  27th.

When  Letitia  passed  down  the  Clyde, Canada-bound on 19 August 1939, she  saluted the yachts  racing  for  the  Seawanhaka Cup, but  the  contest was abandoned owing  to lack  of  wind  on an other wise beautiful beginning to what would  prove  to be  Letitia's last peacetime voyage  to Canada for the  next 15 years.  She  went  over with 57 Cabin,  104 Tourist  and  295 Third  Class  passengers, including 105 Canadian students returning  from their tours .  

Coinciding  with Letitia's  arrival at Montreal at 7:00 a.m. on  28 August 1939, it  was announced that she, Britannic, Scythia, Ascania, Alaunia and Aurania had  been requisitioned by  the Admiralty. Letitia's  scheduled  eastbound  sailing on 2 September  was  brought forward  to  the  1st, sailing at daybreak.  

The Donaldson Atlantic liner Letitia, which has been ordered back to England earlier than her scheduled sailing time of tomorrow, departed from Montreal at daybreak today for Glasgow, via Belfast and Liverpool. Passengers were all taken on board last night. Among those sailing members of the party of 47 English school girls who arrived the Athenia August 12 and have been on a tour of various Canadian cities. Also returning in the Letitia is the party of 41 Scottish school girls which has here on a similar Canadian tour, as well as  13  English school boys. In all, she  went out  with  375  passengers. 

Gazette, 1  September 1939.

On 29 August 1939 it was announced that Letitia had  been called back to Britain under Admiralty orders and to sail at daybreak 1 September  instead of the 2nd.  Passengers embarked the evening of the 31st.  Ascania, Aurania, Alaunia, Scythia and Britannic also called up by the Admiralty.  Letitia sailed the morning of the 1st with  375 passengers including  47 English school girls (who came over on Athenia), 41 Scottish school girls and 13 schoolboys all whom were returning home after touring Canada.

The Gazette (Montreal) 1 September 1939

Also sailing on 1 September 1939 was Athenia (Capt. James Cook) from Glasgow at noon.  By then the German invasion of Poland had been going on for seven hours and all but assured Britain and France fulfilling their treaty obligations and declaring war on Germany.  Amid the general anxiety among late season American tourists in Britain eager to return home, Athenia, after calling at Belfast proceeded to Liverpool where she embarked 101 American nationals in addition to the 145 who boarded at Glasgow and the 65 who came aboard at Belfast.  Altogether she had 1,103 passengers including 468 Canadians, 311 Americans, 72 Britons,  and 315 officers and crew.  She sailed from Liverpool at 1:00 p.m. on the 2nd and headed westward.  On the first day at sea, Sunday the 3rd, the ship broadcast Prime Minister Chamberlain’s declaration of war at 11:00 a.m. and following predesignated plans, Capt. Cook put Athenia on a precautionary zig-zag course on her route to Canada, portholes were painted over and preparations for black-out made.   

Athenia was first sighted by the German submarine U-30 (Kapitänleutant Fritz-Julius Lemp) at 4:30 p.m. on 3 September 1939 when she was  60 nautical miles south of Rockall, Ireland.  Three hours later, at 7:40 p.m. as second sitting passengers were at dinner, U-30 fired two torpedoes, one of which struck Athenia portside in her engine room right at the bulkhead between it and the boiler room.  Two massive explosions followed, one from the torpedo and the other probably boilers exploding. Athenia immediately settled by the stern with a portside list which she soon recovered from and much of the interior of the ship in way of the impact point was devastated with debris, dust and escaping steam.  The explosion  blew the hatch of no. 5 hold into shards of splintered heavy wood, killing five passengers standing nearby on deck.

Centre spread of the Illustrated London News, 13 September 1939 with specially commissioned drawings by G.H. Davis.

Depiction of the effect of the torpedo explosion, blowing up the hatch cover of No. 5 hold. Credit: The Sphere, 16 September 1939.

Amidst general terror and confusion  among the passengers, to their credit, Athenia’s crew managed to launch every one of her lifeboats although the loading of them was disorderly and some were terribly overloaded and others still had their plugs unsecured when lowered into the water. The last boat left the ship at 8:45 p.m. In the end, everyone not killed outright by the initial explosion was believed evacuated and fortunately there were a number of vessels answering Athenia’s distress call very close by:  H.M.S. Electra, H.M.S. Escort, the famous Swedish motor yacht Southern Cross belonging to the millionaire arms merchant Mr. Wenner-Gren, the Norwegian tanker Knute Nelson, and the American freighter (but Panamanian registered) City of Flint, the first of which were on the scene shortly after midnight on 4 September. It was prudently decided to wait for first light to effect rescue operations of those in  the  boats.

Credit: The Sphere, 16 September 1939

Athenia 3 September 1939 by Arthur J.W. Burgess. Credit: Illustrated London News, 21 October 1939.

Although  it  was  believed everyone had been evacuated from  Athenia, it transpired  a woman patient in  the  ship's hospital had  been  remarkably  forgotten.  Athenia's Chief  Officer and two  seamen  took  a navy longboat back  to  the  ship,  and  with great courage,  bundled  the  unconscious  patient in a blanket  and into  the  boat as  the water was literally lapping  over the  stern where the hospital was  located and back  to  one of  the destroyers.  They were indeed  the  last  to leave  Athenia before she  finally succumbed. 

One of Athenia's lifeboats alongside H.M.S. Electra or H.M.S. Escort with the yacht Southern Cross in the background.  Credit: The Sphere, 16 September 1939.

Tragically at the very moment of rescue, there were more casualties in mishandling accidents involving the rescue ships and lifeboats. 

In a tragic miscalculation and poor boat handling alongside Knut Nelson, boat  5A, disregarding orders, came up  alongside and just astern of No. 12, tying a line  to it, and  so far aft  as to  be but 15 feet from the tanker's screw.  When boat 12 was emptied, it was cast  adrift in a flooded condition and when  this was communicated to  the  bridge, for  some inexplicable reason and not knowing  the perilous location of boat 5A, the  order was given to go full ahead, which parted the line securing  it to boat 12,  and  causing  it to  drift with the suction into  the revolving with  catastrophic  results, the  boat being  reduced to  kindling and killing all 50  in it. 

Another accident with  fatal results occurred alongside  Southern Cross when  boat no 8, wallowing  in a heavy  swell, under the stern, suddenly  capsized, killing ten survivors.   Three  passengers were crushed and killed trying to disembark via rope ladders in heavy swell onto the destroyers. Sixty-three some  63 would be survivors, or half  the  total  of  those  killed, perished at the moment  of  their  salvation.

In all, 98 passengers and 19 crew of the total of 1,418 souls aboard Athenia perished. Of  her  passengers killed,  the youngest was 10-year-old  Canadian Margaret  Hayworth. Of her crew, four stewardesses and a 15-year-old bellboy lost their  lives. Of those, 58 were Canadians and 28 Americans. And indeed, the first Britons, Canadians  and  Americans killed  in the  Second World  War were those aboard  Athenia.   City of Flint took her 223 survivors to Halifax (landing on the 13th) and Knute Nelson landed her 430 at Galway.

Athenia survivors being  landed at Ireland and  Scotland. Credit: Illustrated London News, 16 September  1939.

Credit:  Daily  Record, 6 September 1939.

One passenger, Thomas E.Finley, of  Windsor, Ont, contributed one of the earliest accounts of  the sinking:

The  explosion aboard the Athenia occurred at 7:30 p.m. (ship's time) Sunday.

 The noise was not deafening, but it was loud enough to be disturbing.

 I was sitting on the tourist deck at the back of the funnel and I distinctly felt the explosion as it came up through the hatch at the back of the funnel.

The lights on the  ship went   out immediately. It  was not dark on deck at  the time, but it was dark below. As my wife, Mildred, and I made a dash for our state room to get life preservers, I saw two of the crew dead on the deck. They had been blown through the hatch by the explosion. 

We went to our boat stations. My wife got off on the first boat, but I was the last passenger to leave in the last passenger boat.

The captain and some officers were still on the bridge as I left and it is my impression that they were picked up by a motor lifeboat. 

It took about an hour to evacuate the ship entirely. 

The ship listed badly at first. Then it stayed in one position until it sank. I noticed a puff of smoke about half a mile, I should to the left of the ship immediately after the explosion.

A great many other passengers also definitely identified it as a puff of smoke. 

There was no hole in the starboard side of the Athenia, but there was one on the port (left) side. As we were leaving the ship a message was megaphoned from the bridge that a rescue boat would be alongside in about half an hour.

It was at least thee hours before the first one came. Then another  ship appeared.  I understand these were the Knute Nelson and the Southern Cross.

 In my lifeboat, which was heavily loaded, we were unable to set off flares until late at night. The sea was comparatively calm, but it roughened towards morning.

My lifeboat shipped no water whatsoever except the normal amount which could be baled out. 

We were at no time very close to the Knute Nelson or Southern Cross, but were in the general area where they were picking up passengers. 

As it began to get light on Monday morning we saw three British destroyers approach. My particular was the last one to be picked up from the sea, around 7 a.m. (Monday), 

The destroyer which rescued me picked up about 180 passengers altogether.

The sailors did everything they could for us. They put us to bed in their hammocks and supplied us with food, tea and cigarettes.

Montreal Star, 5 September  1939.

The most  detailed account  from a survivor  was supplied  by E.R. Etherington and widely  published  in Canadian  and American newspapers:

It is about 7:30, ship's time  Sunday evening, on 3 September.  Crowds are moving cheerfully along the electric lighted passage way connecting the open "B" level decks fore and aft. Without warning the first torpedo strikes on the port side. The explosion, muffled by bulkheads, is not the ear-splitting crash of near-by thunder, but a deeper, menacing noise like heavy blasting. almost felt as well as heard.

We feel the transmitted impact, but the ship has remained taut and unshakable and has not reeled away from the blow. 

Simultaneously with the explosion, the lights fail, leaving the interior in absolute darkness, the daylight which should be visible at the end of the passage is blacked out by a dense acrid smoke filling the passage. There are a few screams but there is no panic. In the pitch dark, friends and family groups, straggling before the explosion, call to and reach for each other and assemble calmly but a little uncertainly in groups. Within a few moments the ship has taken a pronounced list to port.

One can sense the final nature of the blow below the belt, and for a moment few people in the passage have serious hope of survival. One hears farewells, either seriously or flippantly spoken, and we await the wall of water which is expected to sweep down the passage. Then comes the realization that the list of the ship is not increasing and that the passage is many feet above water level- -let us at least get out into the open air. the passage and the passengers Some one calls to moves along respond instantly, groping but neither pushing nor crowding. Such calls as "It's only a slight accident in the boiler room" (a conscious lie).

"It's all right, it's only a warning" (meaningless, yet vaguely re-assuring) contribute to the general orderliness of the movements, until the opening is at last visible through the thinning smoke and we reach the deck, where the light is still fairly good. On deck there is much excitement but no panic, and little confusion. Many of the children are amazingly resigned and calm; the younger ones bewildered but also calm. The ship is still listing considerably, there is water sloshing across the decks -hardly encouraging until we realize that it was probably thrown up by the explosion.

Many passengers caught below,  had  scrambled  over  the debris  of  collapsed decks to  safety, some injured  by failing  or flying objects.The blast had lifted at least one hatch cover; for those caught below in region there had been no escape alive. 

What of the external evidence of  the cause of the explosion?  About half a mile from the Athenia, on the port (left) side little to the rear, could be seen a stationary column of from the surface dense black smoke extending up The first impression that this marked the location of a submarine was quickly corrected when the wake of the Athenia was seen extending almost in a semi-circle from this column round to our present position. The smoke marked the location of the ship at the time of the explosion after which we had slewed round in a circular course.

The passengers, previously well instructed, assembled at their respective life boat stations, many with life-belts tied on in regulation style--probably more, caught far from their cabins, are without. At least to the inexpert eye, it looks as though the ship will remain afloat for some time. Some passengers find their way below with flash lamps or matches to get their life-belts, and warm clothing here they are assisted by stewardesses who wait below with fine sense of duty in the same intermittent illumination. Other passengers, fearing a second torpedo, prefer their chance, clad as they are without life belts. Perhaps still others, having escaped from the dark interior cannot bring themselves to return to it. 

The lowering and loading of life boats proceeds with haste--not without minor mishaps, but under the circumstances efficiently and without loss of life or serious accident. There is the usual tendency to overcrowd the first boats lowered; but there is general observance of the tradition "women and children first" if a very few men start, perhaps at the entreaties of their families, to climb into some of earlier boats, they instantly and sheepishly respond when recalled. 

Of those remaining to be taken off on the later boats, a few sit smoking in deck chairs -now in little demand; one smoker is frantically stopped as he attempts to light a third cigarette with a match: two passengers discuss the ethics of raiding the bar for whiskey and cigarettes at such a time; another, anticipating a long period in an open boat, is primarily concerned with getting a drink of water, another in a detached way asks an officer whether there are enough lifeboats for the abnormal number of passengers carried. In short the entire atmosphere is one of philosophic unconcern. 

A passenger sees a bright flash and strolls idly forward to investigate, but is stopped and back by a breathless and slightly shaken seaman running aft. The passenger complies, but is mystified -this excitement on the part of the sailor can hardly be the result of a torpedo fired perhaps an hour ago. In retrospect the passenger believes the flash was caused by a gun firing at the Athenia- the sailor will know whether this is so. Did the passenger hear the noise of a gun?He does not recall: there were many noises but with so much action and activity noises do not register clearly.

In the lifeboats, fortunes  vary  widely. There  is  a moderate  sea, not heavy enough  to  cause  imminent danger of swamping, but increasing noticeably  towards  morning. The  boats pull away and throw in their sea anchors (a canvas drag, to hold the bow into the wind) at what is judged a safe distance from the Athenia, which now has its emergency lights operating. The lifeboats, now in complete darkness, maintain a comforting contact by means of their lanterns -when these can be kept alight, flashing brightly as the boats ride on the crest of a wave and disappearing as the boats fall into the trough. Later the moon, well past the full, rises in a partly clouded sky. Few of the cold and violently seasick passengers, in a predicament that many consider hopeless, can appreciate the beauty of this scene, -the Athenia still well afloat and not yet abandoned by the ship's officers, the intermittent flashes from a score of life boat lanterns encircling the Athenia, the good visibility for a few yards around the boat and blackness beyond. 

Some one sees the lights of a ship some passengers do not trouble to look around -this is the third ship which has been sighted--the first was a lifeboat and the second the rising moon! -and do we not frequently travel for several days on the Atlantic and never see another vessel? But it is a ship and is coming up fast. We start to row towards it, and lifeboats all around commence to use their precious store of red flares the presence of the ship may be a pure accident- we do not even know that the Athenia has been n able to radio for help we know yet can scarcely believe that a ship on so vast expanse of ocean can give its position with an accuracy which will permit another to find it -we know of radio direction-finding yet we are skeptical of miracles. The.

The rowing, inexpert and almost ineffectual, is led by a skeleton crew of seamen, the balance being made up of stewards, passengers and even a few women passengers- in one boat the boatswain gives up the tiller to a woman passenger in order to help row. Some boats are without rudders or the rudder may be beneath the inevitable large and flaccid but immovable passenger who sprawls useless in the boat. A boat without a rudder is the despair of an amateur crew, attempting both to make headway and to avoid being turned broadside into the swell. "Both board, pull port!" "Backtogether, pull!- backwater starwater port, pull starboard!" Simple instructions yet not conducive to progress still less SO when one of the two men on an oar "pulls" while the other "back"waters." If we make progress it is not apparent but the ship, to our eyes brilliantly lighted, is certainly standing by and will probably pick us up eventually--let us light another flare in case she leaves thinking there are no more boats. 

Astern, another ship even more brilliantly lit than the first, comes up rapidly and stops broadside on to us. We continue towards the first ship and light a flare we are relieved to see other flares and to know that we are not the last boat to be picked up. The second vessel turns a powerful searchlight onto the water, swinging in a wide are appearing to pick us out, lose us, and return to us. The search light is switched off and the ship turns, exposing its red and green running lights, so that we know that at least it is headed in our direction the ship, measured by its lights grows rapidly in size the boatswain finally acknowledging the error of his ways, permits us to await the second ship instead or rowing away from it towards the first. The ship stops still some distance away and swings round -we know it must to pick up another boat and that our turn will come--but just the same we light another flare. Finally de discern the beautiful lines of the 3000-ton Swedish yacht Southern Cross and our turn has come.

The crews of some boats, having seen unmistakably the periscope of a submarine; or having seen the and having heard the swish of a second torpedo; or having seen the long lifeboat like form that was dark grey instead of white, or the flash of a gun--these preferred the temporary obscurity of their life boats to brilliant targets presented by the unidentified rescue ships. 

None of the passengers will forget the wonderful sacrificing hospitality shown by the owners, officers, and d crew of the immediate rescue ships, Southern Cross (Swedish) and the Knute Nelson (Norwegian) and by the ship's company and passengers of the American freighter City of Flint, which later took American bound passengers from the Southern Cross. These ships, in spite of their neutral flags, ran a real risk in coming to our assistance - - torpedoes may respect flags, but no one knew whether mines might have been laid to catch rescue ships.

Safe aboard the "City of Flint" and out of the danger zone, one hears many unfair criticisms. "My boat had no rudder." "My boat leaked and we had to bail all the time.' "The plug at the bottom of the boat was out and the boat filled with water." "There were not enough members of the crew to row." "We should not have been allowed to get so close to the propeller of the rescue ship then we should not have been capsized", and so on. These things did occur, boats were capsized, and one boat was broken by the propeller of a rescue ship. Some people did travel many as 4 lifeboats (with 3 intervening immersions) before reaching safety. But thinking passengers will agree that such criticisms are unfair--we understood that the Athenia was to be crowded beyond its normal capacity and it is a reasonable inference that more life boats would be required in an emergency, with Less regular seamen available in each boat used. Also we do not know how many members of the crew were killed in the explosion. Let us at least await the findings of whatever official investigations may be held, and be thankful that so many of us were saved.

E.R. Etherington 

The  Montreal Star, 16  September 1939

Athenia in the first light of 4 September 1939, still afloat 14 hours after being torpedoed, but settling by the stern and gone by 10:40 a.m. 

Stalwart to the end, Athenia stayed afloat until all her passengers and crew were off and settled slowly by the stern with a slight list to port and finally succumbed at 10:40 a.m. on 4 September 1939, sinking by the stern.  In October 2007 the BBC reported that shipwreck-hunter David Mearns located the wreck from sonar data, laying 200 meters down on Rockall Bank, off Ireland. “It is split in the aft section where the torpedo hit, but otherwise is sitting proud of the sediment and looks to be in reasonable shape.”

Officers and crew of the Norwegian tanker Knute Nelson watch as Athenia finally sinks by the stern at 10:40 a.m. 4 September 1939. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. 

Athenia sinks stern first with her bows rearing out of the sea.  This photo was taken by Mr. W.F. Williams who was serving in one of the rescue ships, H.M.S. Electra.  Credit: The Age, 17 November 1958. 

The sinking of Athenia created, of course, a propaganda firestorm and no little embarrassment for the Germans as her torpedoing was both in violation of international law as well as standing orders issued by the Germany Navy as regards attacks on passenger liners.  So much so that the Germans denied one of their U-Boats had been involved and blamed it instead on an attack by British destroyers designed to draw America into the war.  The unfortunate Kapitänleutant Fritz-Julius Lemp was denied the "kill" and all mention of the sinking removed from his log and records and it was not until the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials that the facts were made known and Germany accepted responsibility.

As historical asides, Winston Churchill's first statement as the just appointed First Sea Lord was to announce to the Commons the sinking of Athenia.  The second Athenia went down just 271 miles from where the first one herself was torpedoed in August 1917.  Lemp did not survive the war and was lost when his U-110 was captured at sea by H.M.S. Bulldog on 9 May 1941 and famously with its "Enigma" coding machine and code books intact.  Ironically, the man who fired the first shot of the Battle of the Atlantic was a participant in a key engagement which led to its eventual victorious end by the Allies.

Original caption:Three pictures of Jack  Kennedy, second son of  the  United States Ambassador in London when  he  visit Glasgow  yesterday as special envoy  from his father to  American survivors of  the  torpedoed Athenia. Left-Chatting with Mrs. Thomas E. Finley, of Windsor, Connecticut. Centre-Mr. Kennedy and Lord Provost Dollan with rescued American children in the Beresford Hotel. Right--Chatting with Mr. Michael Dollan with rescued Flynn, of Grange City, N.Y., in the Western Infirmary.  Credit: Daily Record, 8  September 1939.

Among those  offering  comfort  and support  to rescued  American passengers at Glasgow was John F. Kennedy, the  second  son of U.S. Ambassador Kennedy, and future President of  the  United  States.

Mr. Kennedy, the nineteen-year  son of the  American Ambassador, who arrived in Glasgow yesterday morning, came as an ambassador of mercy, and during the morning he made a hospital visit and spoke to Americans injured when the Athenia was torpedoed.

 "I have never seen people more grateful for all that has been done for them by Glasgow than those to whom I have spoken to-day," Mr. Kennedy told the Daily Record. "I have told Lord Provost Dollan that it is the desire of the American Government to undertake complete responsibility for the care of our nationals, but he has insisted that Glasgow regards it as a privilege to undertake this responsibility.

 "That is a very generous gesture indeed, and it will be fully appreciated by my countrymen."

Daily Record, 8 September 1939.

The New  York & Cuba Mail liner  Orizaba  made a special  trip to  the Clyde to  repatriate the 150 American  survivors, departing for  home on 19  September 1939.

T.S.S. Athenia

3-4 September 1939

Roll of Honour

Hannah Baird, Stewardess

James Carln, Asst. Steward,  56

Ian Donnelly,  Asst. Steward, 26

John Donnelly, Asst.  Steward, 23

James Elder, Donkeyman, 45

Charles Fordycem, Watchman, 65

Hugh Gallagher, Greaser, 23

Alison Harrower,  Stewardess, 41

John Hogg, Asst. Steward,  51

Margaret Johnston, Stewardess, 41

John Kent, Asst. Steward, 50

Jessie Lawler, Stewardess, 60

James  Marshall,  Bellboy, 15

Michael J.  McDermott, Asst. Steward, 33

John McJarrow, Printer, 39

John McKeown,  Steward, 47

David  Morrison,  Steward,  32

David Provan, Barber,  45

Samuel Thomson, Asst. Steward,  45

Original caption: Some of the 19 members of the crew of the liner Athenia who, it was officially announced yesterday, had lost their lives when the Glasgow; ship was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat. Left to right- Jessie Lawler, 45 Cornwall Street, Glasgow; Ian Donnelly, 52 Gorbals Street, S. Thomson, 49 Adelphi Street, Glasgow; John Hogg, 166 Hospital Street, Cathcart Glasgow; Road, John Glasgow. Donnelly, 100 Kellas Street, Glasgow; and Margaret Johnston, 1253 Cathcart Road,  Glasgow. Credit:  Daily  Record, 27  September  1939.

Athenia was but the first of a staggering 2,426 British merchantmen lost to enemy action in the Second World War and her sinking understandably overshadows a successful career of what was always a happy and popular ship.

Amidst the  shock and  grief over  the sinking  of  Athenia  and death  of  her  passengers and  crew, came  also  heartfelt  regret over  the  loss  of  a fine  ship and a  familiar  friend  for  16 years in  Canadian  ports  and  the  Clyde.

The 14,000-ton Donaldson liner Athenia was one of the best known passenger vessels crossing the Atlantic to Montreal. For in addition to the many hundreds from this city who have crossed on her, she was used in the summer of 1935 as the home of a special exhibition of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. At this time, while she was docked as a "show boat" in Montreal harbor. Montrealers visited her by the thousand.

Built by the Fairfield Company, Limited, Glasgow, in 1923, the Athenia was the second ship to bear the name, and replaced the first Athenia, which suffered a similar fate to this one, being torpedoed by an enemy submarine in 1917 during the Great War.

With a length of 526 feet, a breadth of 66 feet and a depth of 38 feet, the new Athenia, with her sister ship the Letitia, was originally built for cabin and third class passengers only. Both vessels, however, were sufficiently spacious to permit of the introduction afterwards of the tourist class with ample and well furnished public rooms and dining saloon accommodation. The cabin class was also modernized and in 1934 rooms with adjoining bath were  installed. The Athenia belonged to the Donaldson Atlantic Line run by the Donaldsons of Glasgow.

Montreal Star, 4 September  1939.

T.S.S. Athenia, 1923-1939. Credit: Reddit,  oceanlinerporn.

The bitter reality of war is brought home to me to day with the news that Donaldson Atlantic liner Athenia is  the  first shipping victim of  hostilities

It is  only a week ago since the Athenia arrived  at Greenock from Quebec, and when I boarded the vessel on Sunday, 27th August at the Tail of the-Bank I little realised that it would be the last occasion on which  would visit her in search of news. 

The Athenia is among the best-known black and white funnelled liners to travel to and from the Clyde and Canada. She was one of the vessels most familiar to Greenock people.

Greenock Telegraph, 4  September  1939.

Meanwhile, Letitia which  had sailed from  Montreal  at daybreak  on  1 September 1939 was in the Belle Isle Strait when, late on the 3rd,   upon the news of the sinking of her sister, she was ordered to return immediately to Montreal.  She berthed at Shed 3 early  on  the afternoon of the  4th, landing all of her 375 bewildered passengers.

All the passengers who had gone on the ship, approximately 375, came back. Their luggage was taken off. Those residing on the other side and naturally anxious to get back to their homes were told to await advices on the first sailing. It was thought possible that a sister liner, the Antonia, may be able to sail for the United Kingdom during the next few days. 

Among disembarking three juvenile parties. In one were 47 English school girls who came to Canada on the ill-fated Athenia  August 12 for a tour of various Canadian cities. Another party was composed of 41 Scottish school girls, while the third was 13 English school boys, also having taken a tour of leading Canadian cities. These were part of the large number of arriving touring parties in Canada this year, doubtless stim.lated in large degree by the visit of Their Majesties to the Dominion earlier this year. 

Canadians who were on the Letitia and were going to the United Kingdom merely a visit and holiday appeared disposed to cancel their plans, owing to the serious turn in the international situation. 

An elderly couple, busy checking up on their luggage and directing it to the address friends, summed up the feeling of the returning Britishers on board in the following manner: 

"Naturally we are anxious to return to our homes, under prevailing circumstances, and we shall take the first boat back we can get, but we can see the wisdom of not venturing into the ocean unless the authorities consider it safe."

The  Gazette,  5 September 1939.

In 1939, Athenia completed 10 crossings to Montreal carrying 3,980 passengers and Letitia 9 crossings carrying 2,680 passengers.

The Donaldson Sisters, 1923-1939

                                    No. of Crossings (one-way)    Passengers  Carried     Cruises
T.S.S. Athenia         294                                               110,375                               nil
T.S.S. Letitia           246                                                94,294                               29                                                       

No two ships better fulfilled their role linking Mother Country and the Dominion of Canada than did Athenia and Letitia, figuring in the  lives  of  the  thousands of new Canadians they brought to new beginnings.

Now only Letitia was left and she had another 21 years of faithful service during which she fought in the Battle of the Atlantic under the White Ensign, carried troops, served as Canada's largest hospital ship and as Empire Brent and Captain Cook went on to link even more far-flung Dominions, embarking thousands more  on new starts in life. 

The ensuing history of Letitia, Empire Brent and Captain Cook is told here:

https://wantedonthevoyage.blogspot.com/2020/09/donaldson-dominion-duo-rmsathenia.html

Athenia outbound from Montreal, 1933. Credit: Clifford M. Johnston / Library and Archives Canada / PA-056574

Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd., Govan, Scotland, Yard nos. 596 & 601

Gross tonnage       13,465 (Athenia)

                                 13,475 (Letitia)
Length: (o.a.)        538 ft. 2 ins.
              (b.p.)         520 ft.
Beam:                     66 ft. 4 ins.
Machinery: geared turbines, three double- and two single-ended oil burning Scotch boilers 210 psi. 8,700 s.h.p.
Speed:                    15 knots service
                                17 knots trials
Passengers            Athenia       

                               516 Cabin Class 1,132 Third (1923-1927)

                               314 Cabin Class 310 Tourist Third Class 928 Third Class (1928-1938)

                               125 Cabin Class 250 Tourist Class 630 Third Class (1939)

                               Letitia

                               516 Cabin Class 929 Third Class (1925-1927)

                               298 Cabin Class 310 Tourist Third Class 945 Third Class (1928-1938

                              125 Cabin Class 250 Tourist Class 630 Third Class (1939)

Officers & Crew   297

Letitia as built, drawn by J.H. Isherwood. Credit: Sea Breezes

Donaldson Line, P.J. Telford, 1989.

Merchant  Fleets,  Donaldson Line, Duncan Haws, 1988.

North Atlantic Seaway, Vol. 3, N.R.P. Bonsor, 1979.

Architectural Review

The Builder

The  Bystander

Illustrated London News

Sea Breezes

Shipbuilding & Shipping Record

Shipbuilder

The Sphere

The Tatler

Ballymena Observer

Belfast News-Letter

Belfast Telegraph

Boston Evening Globe

Clydebank Press

Daily Record

Daily  Telegraph

Dundee Courier

Dundee Evening Telegraph

Edmonton Journal

Evening Mail

Evening Record

Evening Telegraph

Exeter  & Plymouth  Gazette

Forar  Herald

The Gazette

Greenock Telegraph

The Guardian

The Herald

Highland News

Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool Echo

Liverpool Journal of Commerce

Leven Advertiser & Wemyss Gazette

Montreal Star

Northern  Whig

Portadown News

The Province

The  Scotsman

Sunday Post

Telegraph-Journal

Wishaw Press

Vancouver Sun

Victoria Daily  Times

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https://trove.nla.gov.au/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Additions/Corrections/Contributions welcomed

contact the author at posted_at_sea@hotmail.com

© Peter C. Kohler