RMS Olympic’s Last Voyage 1934 - 1937 (HD/audio)

A montage of the last news items about RMS Olympic from 1934 to 1937. In the first news item, from October 1934, we see Olympic arriving in Southampton being guided by tugs. In her last role captured on film she is seen carrying a US aircraft for the England - Australia Air Race of 1934 (The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race, also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race). A prize fund of $75,000 was put up by Sir Macpherson Robertson, a wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer. The aircraft shown here is a Granville R-6H ’.’ for pilot Miss Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to compete in the race, who later withdrew with malfunctioning flaps, after landing damage at Bucharest. In 1934, the White Star Line merged with the Cunard Line at the instigation of the British government, to form Cunard White Star. Olympic was withdrawn from the transatlantic service, and left New York for the last time on 5 April 1935, returning to Britain to be laid up. In a news item on the Mauretania we see a fantastic aerial shot of Olympic as she is laid up out of action, filmed approximated on the 16th of May 1935. In a news item entitled “Olympic Begins Last Trip“, released on the 14th of October 1935, we see shots of her funnel, her deserted decks and he Blue Peter flying. Finally she steams away. Later on the 17th of Oct 1935, another news story headlines that the “Olympic Brings Cheer To Jarrow“. It shows shots of Jarrow, a town in north-east England, located on the River Tyne, with a street scene, with houses and people, including a shot of a pawnbrokers. Crowds on the bank of the river Tyne wait as “Olympic“ arrives. Finally, on the 23rd of September, 1937 we have the last film footage of Olympic. By then the “Thomas Ward & Sons” breakers yards had stripped the ship down to her lower hull section and on September 19, 1937 her hull was towed to Inverkeithing, in Scotland, for final breaking up. For more information: