Cunard Line

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Image:Cunard logo.gif The Cunard Line formerly Cunard White Star Line is the British cruise line that operates the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) and RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) ocean liners.

1 History
2 Ships
3 Firsts
4 External links

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History

Cunard had its beginnings in 1838 when Canadian shipping magnate Samuel Cunard, along with engineer Robert Napier, and businessmen James Donaldson, Sir George Burns, and David MacIver formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The company successfully bid on the rights to a transatlantic mail shipping contract between England and America. (Winning this entitled them to use the RMS, or Royal Mail Ship, identifier as part of their vessel's names.) Later, the company would change its name to Cunard Steamships Limited.

Image:MandK Captain on Cunard 1901.jpg

In 1840 the company's first steamship, the Britannia, sailed from Liverpool to Boston, marking the beginning of the first ever regular passenger and cargo service by steamship. Cunard faced many competitors from Britain, the United States and Germany but survived them all. This was mainly due to a great focus on safety. Cunard ships were usually not the largest or the fastest but they earned a reputation for being the most reliable and the safest. The prosperous company eventually absorbed Canadian Northern Steamships Limited as well as Cunard's principal competitor, the White Star Line, owners of the ill-fated RMS Titanic.

For more than a century and a half, Cunard dominated the Atlantic passenger trade and was one of the world's most important companies. Its ships played important roles in the development of the world economy, and also participated in all of Britain's major wars from Crimea to the Falklands War (where Cunard's container ship Atlantic Conveyor was sunk by an Exocet missile).

The line began to decline in the 1950s as speedy air travel began to replace ships as the main transporters of passengers and mail across the Atlantic. Cunard tried to address the displacement by forming a partnership with British Overseas Airways Corporation. In 1962, BOAC and Cunard formed BOAC-Cunard Ltd. to operate scheduled air services to North America, the Caribbean and South America. But the operation was dissolved in 1966.

For much of the late 20th century and for the first few years of the 21st century, the line's only vessel making transatlantic crossings was the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. In 2004 the "QE2's" service was limited to world cruises and her transatlantic route was taken over by the new liner RMS Queen Mary 2, the first ocean liner to be built in 30 years and the largest passenger liner ever built. In 2006 she was expected to be eclipsed in size by the cruise ship Freedom of the Seas but she would remain the largest passenger ship capable of transatlantic travel.

In 1998, Cunard became one of a number of lines owned by Carnival Corporation, now Carnival Corporation & plc. On January 1, 2005 the business, assets and liabilities of Cunard Line Limited were transferred to Carnival plc. This ended the Cunard Line Company as a business entity. Nonetheless, the Cunard name still appears on the side of Queen Mary 2. However, all aspects of ship itinerary, operation and manning are now controlled and provided by Princess Cruises in California.

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