I SEE that there is still interest in the ships in the old docks picture from Wednesday February 10.

There are two clear pointers as to which year the photograph was taken.

The Empress of Britain was new in 1931.

The Mauritania was soon to be painted white for cruising although she is till seen as plack hulled in the picture.

She went off to the scrapyard with a white hull in 1935.

This probably dates the photograph around early 1931.

The three funnelled liner wrongly named is probably the white star line’s Majestic.

Sadly, the Empress of Britain became a war loss but the lovely old Alcontara lasted until 1958.

The floating dock went to Portsmouth in 1940 and the stately old Agutania finally went to the breakers in 1950.

Ron Heather

Old Shirley