The Heritage Page on Cunard's Website

[Paul NH]

I was looking over Cunard's Heritage page and noticed an error. It says: "Cunard introduced the first indoor swimming pool on a ship (Aquitania, 1914)." I am attaching a picture of a pool on a particular ship that came before the Aquitania. Anyone recognize it?

 

Also, I believe there is another misstatement regarding the first twin-screw steamship. I am double checking my facts, but I believe there was one that came five years before the Campania.

 

Here is the webpage link ... http://www.cunard.com/AboutCunard/default.asp?Active=Heritage&Sub=Firsts

 

This is intended as simple entertainment for Cunard fans (not to be nitpicky).

 

Paul

[Linerguy]

Olympic and Titanic had indoor pools and they were pre-Aquitania.

 

Russ

[guernseyguy]

Also, I believe there is another misstatement regarding the first twin-screw steamship. I am double checking my facts, but I believe there was one that came five years before the Campania. This is intended as simple entertainment for Cunard fans (not to be nitpicky). Paul

 

Paul,

1. CUP has Philadelphia as the first twin screw steamship in 1888: http://www.answers.com/topic/steamship
   
2. DON'T APOLOGISE FOR NIT PICKING! For a line thar markets itself on 'heritage' we should hold their feet to the fire on their 'facts'.

Peter

[Paul NH]

Russ and Peter,

 

Congratulations on the correct answers. I was especially surprised by the claim of the first pool being on the Aquitania, considering how famous the Olympic and Titanic were.

 

Paul

[roscoe39]

i dont want to be toooo nit picky....but the pool on the Titanic was actually called the Turkish Bath and was included in a complex of a warm and cold steam area and small plunge pool..... if you approached Cunard about their claim...im sure that some smarty would point this out to justify their claim..........sorry but couldnt help putting in my two cents....

[guernseyguy]

if you approached Cunard about their claim...im sure that some smarty would point this out to justify their claim

 

Cunard would still be wrong, the IMPERATOR (which Cunard later had as BERENGARIA) had a magnificent pool, based on the RAC Pool in London, and sailed before AQUITANIA. Even so, the ADRIATIC of 1907 was the first ship with a pool, according to: http://www.greatoceanliners.net/imperator.html

 

BTW, checked my OLYMPIC/TITANIC deck plans and can see no pool.....where was it? They did have a large Squash Rackets court way down in the ship - traditional location of a pool - perhaps the reference is to a 'plunge bath'.

 

Peter

[Linerguy]

roscoe39:

 

Sorry but, I beg to differ. While it's true the Turkish & Electric Baths were on the same deck as the pool (F Deck, otherwise known as Middle Deck), they were completely seperate. The Turkish Bath consisted of a hot room, a sauna room, a temperate room and a cooling room. The Electric Bath and shampooing rooms were located in the same facility, i.e you had to enter the Turkish Bath to get to them, but the pool, or Swimming Bath, was off a completely seperate corridor.

 

The Turkish Bath had only three changing stalls whereas the Swimming Bath had over a dozen,....a bit of overkill if it were a simple "plunge pool".

 

Cunard could argue semantics until they're blue in the face but, the fact remains, AQUITANIA did not have the first indoor swimming pool. And Peter is 100% correct that Charles Mewes lovely Pompeian Bath, IMPERATOR's pool, was introduced prior to AQUITANIA in December, 1913.

 

Now can anyone tell me what ship had the first retractable dome over a pool?

And, no, it's wasn't the OCEANIC of '65.

 

-Russ

[guernseyguy]

the Turkish & Electric Baths were on the same deck as the pool (F Deck, otherwise known as Middle Deck), they were completely seperate. The Turkish Bath consisted of a hot room, a sauna room, a temperate room and a cooling room. The Electric Bath and shampooing rooms were located in the same facility, i.e you had to enter the Turkish Bath to get to them, but the pool, or Swimming Bath, was off a completely seperate corridor.

 

Got it! As Russ says, defintely a swimming pool - and still preceded by ADRIATIC - AQUITANIA must have been about fifth with a pool: ADRIATIC, OLYMPIC, TITANIC, IMPERATOR, VATERLAND, then AQUITANIA.

 

Peter

[Paul NH]

And they were real pools too. I do not know why the picture I posted mutated, but had it survived, you would see that it was an up-and-up pool on the Olympic (and sister ship Titanic).

 

Paul

[roscoe39]

russ..oh and Linerguy too of course.....I bow to your superior knowledge and promise never to contradict anything you as my superiors may note in the future...you're right...i should have checked first before blowing my mouth off....but...........as a sideline...ive done some further research and have found a site

http://www.belfast-titanic.com/ which under its facts sheet claims that the Titanic had the first ever swimming pool built on a vessel......but none the less....a pool and a turkish bath....how flash!

[guernseyguy]

....ive done some further research and have found a site

http://www.belfast-titanic.com/ which under its facts sheet claims that the Titanic had the first ever swimming pool built on a vessel

I guess you have to come to a judgement on the objectivity of a site like 'Belfast Titanic' dedicated to the glorification of one ship, with that of, for example http://www.greatoceanliners.net which covers a much wider range of liners, with no particular axe to grind. Since Olympic and Titanic were near identical how could Titanic be the first, given Olympic entered service 10 months earlier?

 

Peter

[Linerguy]

roscoe39

 

If sarcasm was your intent, you've hit the nail on the head.

 

No one is claiming superior knowledge at all; you rang in stating that OLYMPIC and TITANIC's pools were actually small plunge pools within the Turkish Bath complex,...that is simply not the case and that's the point that both Peter and I were making.

 

I should think that you would be thrilled to learn something new. That's the reason I visit this forum,...to learn and share knowledge about ocean liners and cruise ships. The intent is not to prove who knows more than the next guy.....the intent is that the truth be known.

 

Regards,

 

Russ (linerguy)

[Linerguy]

Roscoe39....

 

If sarcasm wasn't your intent, I bow my head graciously.....

 

LG

[roscoe39]

sorry liner guy....no disrespect intended....my point was that as pointed out by guernseyguy. You have to question the objectivity of any claims by certain lines as to who did what first where when and how.

[Linerguy]

Many thanks for clearing that up. The disadvantage of these forums is that it's sometimes difficult to get a handle on the tone of the posted messages. It's all good.

 

And I agree, as much as I am fond of the OLYMPIC class vessels, there are those who tend to over-esculate their features. There are still people in the world who think TITANIC was the largest ship ever constructed....

 

Russ

[Paul NH]

Just checked up on Cunard's Heritage Page and noticed they removed the previously observed errors. Glad to see someone there is paying attention to us Cunard enthusiasts!

 

Now, if Cunard would just fix that heritage error of a Red Hook departure ...

 

Paul

[Calliope]

Hey, Russ, I'm wondering if the first retractable roof was on the SANTA ROSA. I'm a bit out of my element here, but I know it wasn't on a Mississippi River steamboat or the French Lick Springs Hotel in French Lick, Indiana! ;-)

[Linerguy]

Calliope:

 

Nope,...wasn't the SANTA ROSA.

 

Russ