THE BIG FOUR OF THE WHITE STAR FLEET Celtic, Cedric, Baltic and Adriatic

by Mark Chirnside

(History Press £25) ISBN 9780-7509-65972

Precursors to the larger Titanic, Olympic and Britannic, these four ships carried one and a half million passengers across the North Atlantic for a combined total of 110 years. Celtic and Cedric served as armed merchant cruisers in the First World War and this is the quartet’s illustrated story. (194pp, hardback)

The White Star Line was Cunard’s main trans-atlantic rival before the First World War (see The Big Four).