The beautiful Ile de France has been immortalized in song and story, but for those alive today she is perhaps best known for the rescue mission she performed when the Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided off Nantucket in the 'fifties. 

France was newly enthralled with the Art Deco style after the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderns from which it gets its name.  The Ile's interiors were greatly influenced by this style, and in some ways she was thus more successful than the over-the-top Normandie.  

The Ile outlived the Normandie and Paris, and was used in the filming of a cheesy Japanese ship-disaster movie prior to her scrapping in 1959.

• Uncommon Journeys: Ile de France

Prints of this CGT poster featuring the Ile de France and the routes of the CGT are available from affiche-francaise.com