Cunard Steamship Co Ltd

In 1839, Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the following year the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. was formed. In 1878 the firm became the Cunard Steamship Company Ltd and by the 1890’s the company’s twin-screw liners, RMS Campania and RMS Lusitania, were milestones in terms of size and speed. In 1904 the company built the steam turbine-powered 20,000-ton RMS Carmania. The success of the Carmania led the company to enter into an agreement with the British government in 1907 to build two large steamers, the RMS Mauretania and RMS Lusitania. Both were completed in 1907 and captured the Blue Riband for the record highest speed for a regular passenger liner crossing the Atlantic.

Although Cunard purchased Anchor Line to gain access to Anchor’s lucrative emigrant trade, it faced many competitors from around the world. It survived in part due to its reputation for a focus on safety: Cunard ships were not usually the largest or fastest but were widely seen as the most reliable and safest. Between 1914 and 1918 Cunard built its European headquarters in Liverpool. During WWI the company lost thirteen of its twenty-six ships, including the Lusitania, which was torpedoed in 1915. Carmania acted as an armed merchant cruiser and other Cunard vessels were used as wartime transport, hospital ships, armed cruisers and even a seaplane carrier. After the war the fleet was rebuilt and Cunard’s express service was moved from Liverpool to Southampton.

In 1934 Cunard merged with their main competitor, White Star Line, becoming known as Cunard White Star Line. RMS Queen Mary was built in 1936, shortly followed by RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1940, with the assistance of the government. Both ships played vital roles as troopships in the Second World War. By the end of the war Cunard regained its position as the largest Atlantic passenger line. It was renamed Cunard Line in 1950 and by the mid-1950s operated twelve ships to the United States and Canada. However, transatlantic passenger ships became increasingly unprofitable due to the increase in air travel, so from the late 1960s Cunard focused on cruising.

Today Cunard has three ships: Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and remains based in Southampton.