Vintage White Star Line poster Liverpool Queenstown Philadelphia – Circa 1930 – Montague Birrell Black
A great reproduction print of a 1930s vintage White Star Line poster. It was created by Montague Birrell Black around 1935 to promote the famous shipping company’s Liverpool Queenstown, Philadelphia transatlantic service. The fabulous poster features a dynamic image of a White Star Line ocean liner being piloted along the River Mersey by a White Star tugboat.
The ship featured on the vintage maritme poster carries no name. However, the ship with its two large funnels, the positioning of the lifeboats and the publication date of the poster would suggest that it is either the MV Georgic or its more famous sister ship the MV Brittanic. The two ships were the last two built for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. Ltd, better known throughout the world as the “White Star Line” before its merger with Cunard Line in 1934.
White Star Line had numerous offices in Europe and the United States. The company provided passages from Liverpool and Queenstown (Cobh) in Ireland to major American ports including Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Portland, Maine. Services also extended to Canada, namely Halifax, Montreal, and Quebec, and the Mediterranean as well.
Although the Georgic and the Brittanic were not the largest or fastest liners of the era, They both proved popular. By the time the ships entered service, the Great Depression had caused a global slump in merchant shipping. Compared to the traditional steamships the lower running costs of the Georgic and the Brittanic ensured that in the early-1930s the two most profitable ships in White Star Line’s fleet and helped to keep the company afloat financially through the slump.
The poster was originally printed by Liverpool Printing & Stationery Company Limited.
The White Star Line shipping company
The White Star Line was a British shipping company that operated from 1845 to 1934. The company was initially founded by John Pilkington and Henry Wilson in Liverpool in 1845. The company was acquired by Thomas Ismay in 1868. It was the beginning of the company we recognise today. A partnership with Harland & Wolff shipyard was forged soon after and resulted in the building of the White Star’s first ship, OCEANIC of 1871. She was the first of many groundbreaking liners that gradually grew larger, faster, and more luxurious.
This culminated in the trio of Olympic-class ocean liners built between 1911 and 1913. The lead ship in the trio was RMS Olympic which was launched in 1911, this was followed by the RMS Titanic in 1912 and HMHS Brittanic in 1913. The three ships were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White Star Line’s fleet, which at the time comprised 29 steamers and tenders.
The sinking of the Titanic
Tragically, OLYMPIC was the only one in her class to have a successful career. The RMS Titanic, the second of the three new ships, was the largest ship afloat at the time she entered service. The first-class accommodation was designed to offer the highest levels of comfort and luxury. It boasted a gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants, and opulent cabins. It also had advanced safety features, such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, contributing to its reputation as “unsinkable”.
However, on 10th April 1912, she left her berth at Southampton bound for New York but instead of landing in New York, she collided with an iceberg on 14th April. She sank in just 2 hours and 40 minutes and of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it the deadliest sinking of a single ship up to that time. To this day it remains the deadliest peacetime sinking of a superliner or cruise ship. The Titanic disaster is one of the worst disasters in maritime history.
The sinking of the HMHS Brittanic
The Brittanic was the third and final vessel of White Star Line’s Olympic class of steamships. She was designed to be the safest of the three ships. Lessons learned from the sinking of the Titanic led to design changes during the construction of its sister ship, Brittanic. She was designed to be the safest of the three ships. She was launched in 1914 just before the start of the First World War. Before she could begin her career as a transatlantic passenger liner she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy, and from 1915 served as the world’s largest hospital ship between the United Kingdom and the Dardanelles.
Tragically, on the morning of 21 November 1916 she was shaken by an explosion caused by a German naval mine near the Greek island of Kea. Brittanic sank in just 55 minutes killing 30 people. Of the 1,066 crew members, medical staff and wounded soldiers on board, 1,036 were rescued. Britannic was the largest ship lost in the First World War. To this day, it is still the largest intact passenger ship on the seabed in the world.
The demise of the Britannic and, particularly the Titanic, has ensured that the White Star Line company remains in the public consciousness many decades after it ceased to exist.
White Star Line Liverpool to Philadelphia, New York & Boston
White Star began its North Atlantic run between Liverpool and New York in 1871. It had six nearly identical ships, known as the Oceanic class: The ships were Oceanic, Atlantic, Baltic and Republic, and the slightly larger Celtic and Adriatic. The line also adopted a buff-coloured funnel with a black top as a distinguishing feature for their ships, as well as a distinctive house flag, a red pennant with two tails depicting a white five-pointed star.
The White Star Line ships began their careers with notable success. After barely a month in service, the Adriatic became the first White Star ship to capture the Blue Riband, having completed a record westbound crossing in 7 days, 23 hours and 17 minutes. Just nine months later the Baltic achieved the same for an eastbound crossing to Liverpool in 7 days, 20 hours and 9 minutes.
The White Star Line expanded its business with routes to India, South America and across the Pacific and North Atlantic to Canada. With the introduction of ever more ships, the White Star Line quickly became one of the most powerful shipping lines in the world.
With White Star’s rivals once again catching up In November 1899, Ismay and his partners at Harland & Wolff set out to design two new liners for the North Atlantic run. The new steamers, Oceanic and Olympic were intended to be the largest and most luxurious liners the world had ever seen. They were intended to replicate the impact on the shipping industry the Teutonic and Majestic had done previously.
Oceanic sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool on 6 September 1899, arriving in New York to much fanfare on the morning of 13 September with 1,456 passengers aboard. Just a few weeks after Oceanic was launched, he began complaining of pains in his chest, from whence his health steadily began to decline. In fact, his health began to deteriorate so rapidly that managers of both White Star and Harland & Wolff decided to cancel plans to construct Olympic. After suffering a heart attack on 14 September, Thomas Ismay passed away on 23 November 1899 at the age of 62.
The Cunard White Star Line
With his death, Ismay’s eldest son, Bruce, took over as head of the White Star Line. He was joined at the helm of Ismay, Imrie & Co. by his friend Harold Sanderson, original founder William Imrie and his brother, James Ismay.
The company retained a prominent hold on shipping markets around the globe until the time of the Great Depression. The decline during this time led to a merger with its main rival, Cunard Line. The companies operated as Cunard-White Star Line until 1950 when Cunard purchased White Star’s share in the joint company. Cunard Line then operated as a separate entity until 2005 and is now part of Carnival Corporation & Plc. As a lasting reminder of the White Star Line, modern Cunard ships continue to use the term White Star Service to describe the level of customer care expected of the company.
The Cunard line is still in business today and owns one of the largest passenger liners in the world the Queen Mary 2, which has been in service since January 2004, the magnificent Queen Elizabeth 2 which has been in service since 1969 and the Queen Victoria which entered service in 2007. The original Queen Mary is now a hotel and tourist attraction in Long Beach, California.
The history of the White Star Line is long and fascinating. It dates back over 170 years and provides a legacy that continues to this day.
Other White Star Line Posters
Hundreds of White Star Line posters were produced between the company’s inception in 1845b and its demise in 1934. The company embraced shipping posters to advertise their services and promote their latest ships. White Star Line commissioned the talents of many artists to produce incredible, dynamic illustrations. Artists include Fred J Hoetz, Montague Birrell Black, Ottomar Anton and Kenneth Steel amongst others.
We are continually adding reproduction prints to our White Star Line, Cunard Line posters as well as other shipping posters. Here are some of our favourites that are available to buy on this website.
Our earliest White Star Line poster was originally published sometime around 1890. It was illustrated by an artist whose name has been lost to time. As well as including a great early image of a transatlantic steamer, the 1890s Royal Mail Steamers poster offers some fantastic hand-drawn lettering. It was common for most shipping company’s to include images of their latest expensive aquisitions. Another, the White Star Line Liverpool to New York poster shows how quickly the design styles changed. It offers more focus on the ship and includes far less text.
The White Star Line to United States and Canada poster is a great example of their ‘branded’ posters of the era. The art deco influenced design features the company’s deep red background with the five point star in the middle. Destinations offered by the company surround the star whilst the RMS Olympic is shown sailing out of it. Another art deco designed poster, this time from the 1930’s is one depicting their Winter Cruises de Luxe. It features a superb image of a fashionable young woman on the docks. She is portrayed sitting on her luggage case in front of the Majestic ocean liner.
It would be remiss of us not to include Titanic posters in this selection. Today, more than 112 years after its sinking, the Titanic is still one of the best known ships in the world. And it’s no surprise that Titanic posters are amongst the rarest and most valuable of all Shipping posters. One of the most famous is the poster advertising sailing trips to New York. The poster names both the Olympic and Titanic transatlantic steamships. One of the most popular Titanic posters was created by an unknown artist. It advertises the Southampton-New York service. It features a dynamic image of the famous ship and includes the white star banner in the top left hand corner. A third poster depicts the Titanic being escorted out of dock by tugboat. It explains that the Titanic is the Largest Liner in the World.
Montague Birrell Black
Montague Birrel Black, also known by the name Montague B. Black, was a renowned British painter, illustrator and poster artist. Black was a prolific lithographic poster artist between 1910 and 1936. His work encompassed maritime posters for the French Line and White Star Line shipping companies. He produced poster for the London Underground Group as well as Railway posters for the London North Western Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, Southern Railway & British Railway. In addition to his destination railway posters, he also produced railway carriage lithographs and is known for his popular pictorial railway maps.
MBB is perhaps best known for his poster artwork for the White Star Line posters and in particular his illustration for the HMS Titanic and her sister ship, HMS Olympic. Another superb White Star shipping poster is the 1930 Liverpool Queenstown Philadelphia showing the Royal Mail Steamer being guided along Liverpool’s River Mersey by a White Star Tug boat.
His futuristic London 2026 Underground poster created in 1926 is extremely rare and highly sought-after, with one selling way back in 2012 for over $6,000.His most popular railway posters advertise destinations across the country and include Colwyn Bay and the Lake District for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. His Largs, Ayrshire poster, Port Stewart Northern Ireland, for British Railways. Margate for Southern Railways
