'Atlantis'; 'Andes'

Scale: 1:96. A very fine-looking triple-screw passenger liner built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, originally for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, but transferred to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company before her launch in 1913, bearing the name 'Andes'. She was the sister ship to 'Almanzora' (SLR1420), and 'Alcantara'.

In the First World War 'Andes' formed part of the Tenth Cruiser Squadron, as an armed merchant cruiser, patrolling the North Atlantic. After the war she returned to her place of build for a refit and then resumed her liner work plying between Southampton and the River Plate, South America.

In 1929 she was refitted as a luxury cruise ship, and renamed 'Atlantis', the largest vessel in the world solely devoted to cruising. At the outbreak of war in September 1939 she was moored in Danzig, but managed to escape, and made her way back to Southampton where she was fitted as a hospital ship. She survived the war and had another new lease of life, in 1948, this time as an emigrant ship, chartered by the New Zealand Government. She was finally pensioned off in 1952, after almost 40 years of service and two World Wars, and sold for breaking up at Faslane, Scotland.

The model depicts the vessel as the 'Atlantis' in her hospital ship colours. Her hull had already been painted all-white as a cruise ship, the internationally recognized red crosses and green horizontal stripes were added to mark her clearly out as a vessel used for humanitarian purposes. There are striped sun loungers out on two decks and the demountable swimming pool, positioned over a now defunct hatch cover, has been assembled for use.

Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London