Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Black and white postcard of a drawing of the R.M.S. LUSITANIA & MAURETANIA in New York. Handwritten message and address on reverse, with green halfpenny stamp postmarked Goodwick 10 April 1914.

R.M.S. LUSITANIA which first called at Fishguard in September 1909, was in fact the last transatlantic liner ever to call at Fishguard, on 14 September 1914. Whilst the Great Western Railway hoped that the transatlantic trade via Fishguard could be resumed after the First World War, this did not transpire. On 7 May 1915, she was struck by a German torpedo off the Irish coast, on her homeward voyage across the Atlantic from New York to Liverpool. She sank within twenty minutes. 1,198 of the 1,959 passengers aboard, including children and crew, perished.