Canvas awnings and side screens are fitted throughout the length of the boats to protect passengers from strong tropical sunlight, and comfortable seating is provided fore and aft of the engine house easing amidships. Klaxon horn, searchlight and port and starboard running lights are fitted and toilet facilities are provided.

To accommodate the six launches, special sets of gravity davits were designed and constructed and are the largest ever fitted to a passenger liner. The six sets of davits handling the launches are suitable for loads of 20 tons and have exceptional outreach to accommodate the 15-foot beam of the boats. Lifeboat winches for recovering the launches are the most powerful electric boat winches yet installed in an ocean liner.

The Caronia's davits are capable of picking up Bell's steamer “Comet”, which sailed the Clyde in 1802 and was one of the famous forerunners of the modern steamship, and hoisting it into the position which is occupied by one of the diesel driven launches. Each launch equals the Comet's length of 45 feet, is five feet broader, and with a full complement of passengers en route to a colourful foreign port is driven by a 130 horsepower engine at ten knots as compared to the Comet's 5½ knots.

These six special landing launches are but one feature of the new Caronia's facilities for cruising.

A Modern Seagoing Laundry…

One of the largest and most modern fully-equipped laundries ever installed in an ocean liner provides service to passengers aboard Cunard White Star's new Caronia, which arrived in New York after her maiden voyage from Southampton and Cherbourg on 11 January.

Comparable in size to a commercial plant ashore capable of handling the washing and ironing needs of over 2,000 persons, the Caronia's laundry introduces for the first time a seagoing ironing machine with twin rolls 24 inches round. Other equipment includes automatic washing machines, hydro extractors, drying tumbler, a wide range of presses for all purposes, sleeve and puff irons, skirt boards, marking machines, electric irons and water saving tanks.

The washing machines are of the most modern rotary type, with an estimated capacity of 260 pounds dry weight per hour. The circumference of the brass washing cage is closely perforated and designed to ensure maximum penetration of detergent solutions for quick and effective cleaning. Design and regulated speed of the machine reduces wear on articles to an absolute minimum.

After washing, laundry is transferred to high-speed revolving hydro extractor cages, whose centrifugal action squeezes most of the water out and leaves articles damp dry and ready for finishing. Articles such as towels and woollens which do not require pressing or ironing are placed in the drying tumbler, which consists of a revolving perforated cylinder through which high velocity fans direct a steady flow of warm filtered air until the load is dry. This operation takes approximately 15 minutes.

A twin-roll ironing machine (callender) with rollers 24 inches in diameter and 120 inches long is used for linen, sheets and such. Articles are passed between heated polished beds and pressure-controlled padded rollers and delivered dry and ready for folding.

Steam-heated pneumatic presses of the latest design, operated by safety button control, are used for the finishing of shirts, washable dresses and jackets and such. Assorted shapes of pressing heads are available to suit all shapes of articles.

The new Cunard White Star luxury liner Caronia, which arrived in New York at the end of her maiden transatlantic crossing on 11 January, is the first passenger ship ever fitted for single-sideband telephony, an innovation in ship-to-shore communication which will allow the vessel, while undertaking lengthy cruising, to provide reliable radiotelephone and radiotelegraph service to the United States and England from any part of the World.

The radiotelephone installation consists of a single-channel single-sideband transmitter with associated drive equipment and one double-channel single-sideband receiver. In addition, a high power double-sideband transmitter is installed for supplementary duties, for calls to countries where single-sideband is not yet available or for inter-ship calls. It is also available for high quality broadcast transmission from the ship.

Every stateroom aboard the new liner is fitted with private telephone from which ship-to-shore calls may be made. For daytime telegraph service, an acceptance office is located on the Promenade Deck square. For those who wish to file messages during the night, an office is also located adjacent to the Radio Room.

This office includes a telephone booth connected to the terminal equipment on a four-wire circuit and has a loudspeaker so that more than one person may listen-in on a conversation if desired. This feature is expected to prove popular with family groups or friends making a joint call.

The extensive public address equipment, apart from the broadcast facilities, is installed in a special room aboard the Caronia. All necessary equipment is available for reproduction of recordings, relay of ships orchestras and announcements throughout the vessel, and rediffusion of incoming and outgoing programmes. Four separate programmes may be handled simultaneously.

The broadcast receiver is of the latest type, incorporating elaborate “bandspread” tuning on high frequency bands enabling stations to be logged and received consistently from day to day in the remotest parts of the World. Apart from the emergency installation, all the radio equipment is operated from the Caronia's 220-volt three-phase alternating current supply from the ship's own generating plant.