Full hull model; Rigged model

Scale: 1:96. Another model of a Royal Mail Line ship built by Harland & Wolff of Belfast and completed just before the outbreak of the First World War (see SLR1410 and SLR1420). She was to have been given the name 'Ormeda', but in the end was named 'Orduna' (1914). In 1914 she was chartered to the Cunard Line, returning to Pacific Steam Navigation Company five years later. In the last throes of the First World War she managed to sink a German submarine with gunfire. In 1921 she was transferred to the Royal Mail Line for the Hamburg-Southampton-New York route. From 1941-1950 she served as a troopship before being scrapped at Dalmuir, Scotland.

This model, by Bassett-Lowke, is virtually identical in style to the 'Almanzora' (SLR1420). Both models have identical mahogany baseboards, gunmetalled urn-shaped plinths and handwritten information plaques. There are tables and chairs arranged on two verandas abaft of 'A' and 'B' decks, so that passengers could enjoy the benefits of the sea air but sheltered from inclement weather. There seems to be far too many lifeboats on both vessels, until one realizes that 'Orduna' and 'Almanzora' entered service in 1914, just two years after the 'Titanic' disaster.

Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London