A Brief History of Cunard

  We all now Cunard is one of the most historic and iconic brands available in cruising. Its name synonymous with style, luxury and grandeur, but it wasn’t till speaking to a Cunard rep. recently that I realised how much history this brand had behind them. What follows is just a quick summary of this iconic brands history through numerous depressions, wars, disasters and upheavals to give us today the brand we all know and hopefully love.

  1839- Samuel Cunard, the founding father of the line is awarded the contract for carrying the Royal Mail to Canada and the U.S. of A, forming the North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, also called the Cunard Line.

1854- Eleven Cunard ships were requisitioned for the Crimean war, with several of them transporting the horses actually used in the charge of the light brigade.

1859- Samuel Cunard is made a Baronet in recognition of his company’s services during the Crimean War.

1865- Samuel Cunard dies aged 78 on April 28th 1865

1881- The Servia enters service as the worlds first ship lighted by electricity. It is also Cunards first vessel to be funded by passenger revenue only.

1907- The Mauretania is launched. For the next twenty two years it holds the Blue Riband award for the fastest transatlantic crossing.

1912- On the 15th of April of this year the Carpathia rescues all the survivors from the Titanic operated by the white star line, Cunards main competitor of the time.

1913- The Aquitania is launched. Cunards first ship with an indoor swimming pool.

1914- The First World War puts all Cunards business plans on hold as their fleet is called into active service. They transport over one million troops and up to ten million tonnes of cargo for the war effort. Twenty two ships, including the Lusitania are lost.

1920s/1930s – Cunards slogan “getting there is half the fun” becomes a household catchphrase.

1922 –Cunard offer the first ever around the world cruise in the Laconia.

1939- Cunards ships are once again requisitioned for war. Between them the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary carry over one and a half million troops. Churchill himself commented that the two ships probably hastened the end of the war by at least a year.

Late 1940s- The two Queens begin their transatlantic shuttling from Southampton to New York, carrying tens of thousands of guests from ordinary passengers to royalty.

1959- Air travel had for awhile been gaining in popularity. It was in this year when more people crossed the Atlantic by air rather than sea.

1975 – First world cruise of the QE2

1982- The Falklands war, and once again two ships, the QE2 and the Cunard Countess are requisitioned for use in the conflict. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother welcome the ships home.

1990 – Cunard celebrates its 150th anniversary with the QE2 sent on a special around the British coast line cruise. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip both attended this cruise.

1991- The Cunard Princess is chartered to the U.S. of A. Government for use in the first Gulf war for as a base for ‘rest and recuperation’.

1996 – During her twentieth around the world cruise the QE2 achieves her four millionth mile, the equivalent of around the world a hundred and eighty five times!

2004 – The Queen Mary 2 is finished as is named by Her Majesty the Queen

Not sure if you found this interesting or really boring. If you did find it interesting make sure you let me know and I will look at blogging some histories for some of the other cruise lines.

Happy Cruising