End of a Dream

    By 1935 the number of transatlantic travelers had dropped to 500,000.  Since that could never sustain the liners, many of them escaped to cruising.  Some of them to the Caribbean, others  to nowhere.  At least, to where Prohibition wasn't in effect.  Just cheap weekend cruises.  Really cheap.  Mauretania had been painted white and sent to the Caribbean.  Aquitania and Olympic continued to remain in service, but the end was close at hand.  Mauretania was laid up at Southampton's "Death Row" already, and Olympic followed soon afterward in April that year.  The two of them, as well as Majestic, Homeric, and Calgaric, would be replaced by Queen Mary. Aquitania was to stay until the Queen Elizabeth was ready for passenger service.

    Olympic's future was very much in doubt.  Rumor had it that the Italian government was going to buy the Olympic and convert her into a troopship.  Italy investigated what was going on in its African territories and saw that there was no need for the ship.  Nothing came to pass.  As 11 October that year came along, the ship was sold for scrap, and left Southampton for the last time.

    The ship was bought by Metal Industries Ltd., dismantled at Jarrow on the River Tyne down to her superstructure.  The rest of the work was completed at Iverkeithing in 1937, with her metal melted down in preperation for another World War.  And so was the end of Olympic.  Or was it?  There was a rumor that Olympic was scrapped down to a certain point, and then converted into an oil barge.  However, there is nothing to prove that this actually took place.

    Many of Olympic's furnishings have landed throughout Britain.  The restaurant panelling wound up in a private residence unbeknownst to the house's owners.  Some parts of the staircase were found in a barn.  However, most of the furnishings now reside in the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick (pronounced "Annick") where there is the ship's lounge, parts of the staircase, dome without the glass, and the ceiling of the dining saloon.  However, none of the Smoking Room's furnishings (minus the Wilkinson painting and revolving door) were ever saved.

    The life of the Olympic spanned almost a quarter of a century.  She was the only ship of the Olympic Class to ever live up to Ismay and Pirrie's dreams that were formulated so long ago that summer evening 30 years prior.