European Guide on
Banking and Reverse Mortgage Loans

History of the company/bank and archive description for Cunard Steam-ship Co. (University of Liverpool)

• 1839 Samuel Cunard establishes the British and North American Steam Packet Company - known as the Cunard Line - principally to carry the Royal mail to Canada and the USA.
• 1840 The 1,154-ton paddle steamer Britannia and three near sisterships, Acadia, Caledonia and Columbia, enter service. These vessels make the Atlantic voyage in 14 days at 8.5 knots and maintain weekly departures from Liverpool.
• 1852 Cunard´s first iron-hulled, screw-driven vessel, the Andes, is introduced but not used in the transatlantic service.
• 1854 Eleven Cunard ships are requisitioned for the Crimean War.
• 1856 The famous Persia is built, the company´s first iron-hulled transatlantic vessel.
• 1859 Samuel Cunard is created a baronet in recognition of the company´s service in the Crimean War.
• 1862 China enters service - the company´s first propeller-driven ship. Admiralty permission is required to use the ship to carry the Royal mail as the Mail contract stipulated "paddle steamers".
• 1865 Sir Samuel Cunard dies on April 28 aged 78.
• 1881 Servia enters service - Cunard´s first steel vessel and also the first ship in the world to be lighted with electricity. She is the first vessel Cunard intended to rely solely on passenger revenue.
• 1893 The 12,950-ton Campania is the first twin-screwed Cunarder.
• 1905 The first steam turbine-driven Cunard ship, the Carmania, is built, opening a new era in sea propulsion.
• 1906 / 1907 Liners Lusitania and Mauretania are launched. The latter holds the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing for 22 years.
• 1912 On April 15 the Carpathia rescues all the survivors from White Star´s Titanic.
• 1913 The Aquitania is launched - the first Cunarder with an indoor swimming pool and regarded to this day as perhaps one of the finest liners ever built.
• 1914 The First World War interrupts Cunard´s fleet development as the company is called into active service. Cunard carries more than one million troops and ten million tons of cargo for the war cause. 22 ships - including the Lusitania - are lost.
• 1917 The Cunard Building in Liverpool, the company´s Head Office until the late 1960s, is completed. Cunard is awarded the German liner, Imperator, by the British Government to compensate for the loss of Lusitania. The vessel is renamed Berengaria.
• 1920s and 1930s The heyday of transatlantic shipping, when Cunard´s slogan "getting there is half the fun!" becomes a household phrase.
• 1922 The Laconia undertakes the first-ever world cruise.
• 1934 The 80,744-ton Queen Mary is launched and after entering service in 1936 soon gains the Blue Riband. The Queen Mary is the first merchant vessel to be launched by a member of the Royal family (Her Majesty Queen Mary).
• 1938 The Queen Elizabeth - the largest liner ever built - is launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, now the Queen Mother.
• 1939 Mauretania (II) is launched. Cunard ships are requisitioned once more for war. The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth carry between them over 1.5 million troops - Churchill remarks that the two ships helped shorten the war in Europe by at least a year.
• Late 1940s The Queens begin their transatlantic shuttle, carrying tens of thousands of passengers, from film stars and diplomats to businessmen and tourists.
• 1949 Cunard´s first cruise ship, the Caronia, enters service. She is known as "The Millionaires Ship" because of the passengers she carries and also the "Green Goddess" because of the colour of her hull.
• 1950s Twelve liners in service, carrying one third of all passengers crossing the Atlantic.
• 1959 First jet crosses the Atlantic. Air crossings continue to gain passengers at the expense of the great liners. It was this year when, for the first time, more people crossed the Atlantic by air rather than by sea.
• 1967 The Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched by her Majesty the Queen.
• 1969 Maiden voyage of Queen Elizabeth 2.
• 1971 Cunard Steamship Company is taken over by Trafalgar House PLC after an independent existence of 131 years.
• 1975 First world cruise of QE2.
• 1976 Cunard Countess is launched.
• 1977 Cunard Princess is launched.
• 1982 Queen Elizabeth 2 is requisitioned by British Government for Falkland Islands campaign. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, welcomes the ship home. Cunard Countess is also chartered for use in the Islands.
• 1983 Cunard purchases top-rated Sagafjord and Vistafjord, from the Norwegian America Cruises, to bring the fleet to five vessels. Cunard charters Concorde for the first time, thus making use of the company´s greatest competitor on the Atlantic, the jet aircraft. Cunard becomes the largest charterer of Concorde in the world.
• 1986 Cunard acquires luxury Sea Goddess I and Sea Goddess II vessels, bringing the fleet back to seven ship - the largest number for 25 years. A six-month 110 million pound re-engining and refurbishment programme on the QE2, the largest such refit in the history of the merchant marine, is undertaken and successfully completed in 1987. HRH the Prince of Wales boards the ship on her return to Southampton. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, boards the QE2 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Queen Mary´s maiden voyage.
• 1988 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, boards QE2 for the third time - celebrating the launch of the Queen Elizabeth 50 years earlier.
• 1990 Cunard celebrates its 150th anniversary of transatlantic travel. The QE2 is sent on special Round Britain cruise which culminated in a rare Spithead Review and Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by Prince Philip, go on board.
• 1991 Cunard Princess is chartered to the US Government for use in the Gulf Conflict as a "rest and recuperation centre".
• 1992 The Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher boards QE2 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Falklands War. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH Prince Edward attend an overnight "Royal Ball" on QE2 to raise money for the Duke of Edinburgh´s Award Scheme.
• 1993 Cunard enters into a long term joint venture agreement with Crown Cruise Line. Two Crown ships are already in service (Crown Jewel and Crown Monarch) with a third (Crown Dynasty) about to be delivered. The Cunard fleet now has 10 ships and the deal sees the number of berths Cunard offers increase by 40% to over 7,000. QE 2 becomes the first ever ship to be awarded Five Stars by RAC. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Queen´s Coronation, HRH Prince Edward lunches on board QE2 as she sails out of Southampton.
• 1994 April - Cunard launches "Cruise Miles", the first frequent passenger awards programme in the industry. May - QE2 celebrates her 25th year of service. June - QE2 and Vistafjord take part in the "D" Day Flotilla. July - Cunard purchases the world´s highest rated cruise ship, the Royal Viking Sun, for $ 170million. Cunard now has six of the world´s top 11 cruise ships. Three distinct brands of Cunard cruising are introduced : Cunard Queen Elizabeth ; Cunard Royal Viking and Cunard Crown. November - Vistafjord undergoes a 10 million pound refit and refurbishment. December - QE2 completes her 30 million pound refit which sees dramatic changes to the interior and launches the ship into the next century.
• 1995 May - Cunard Princess and Crown Jewel leave the Cunard fleet to enter service elsewhere under new ownership. Crown Dynasty is taken on long-term charter making her effectively a Cunard ship.
• 1996 Trafalgar House, parent company of Cunard, is bought by Norwegian business group Kvaerner for 850 million pounds. September - The three-star Cunard Countess is sold to new FarEast Line, Awani Cruises of Indonesia, for 18 million pounds as Cunard concentrates on five-star cruising. October - The Sagafjord is sold for 30 million dollars to Saha Holidays.


• 1997 March - Cunard Crown Dynasty is chartered to Florida-based Majesty Cruise Line.
• 1998 May - Cunard is sold by Kvaerner, the majority interest being acquired by the Florida-based Carnival Corporation.

• Babcock , F.L. : Spanning the Atlantic. AA Knopf, New York, 1931.
• Braynard , F. / Miller , B. : A Picture History of the Cunard Line. 1991.
• Hurd , A. : A Merchant Fleet At War. Cassell & Co. 1920. (History of Cunard during the First World War)
• Hyde , F.E. : Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840 - 1973. Macmillan, 1975. (A history of the financial management and development of the company)
• Johnson , H. : The Cunard Story. Whittet Books, 1987.
• Lobley , D. : The Cunarders, 1840 - 1969. Peter Barker Publications, 1969. (Manily concerned with the QE2)
• Mitchell , W.H. : The Post War Cunard Story. Marinart, 1975.
• Rentall , P. : Historic Cunard Liners. Atlantic Transport Publications, 1986.
• Woolley , P.M. / Moore , T. : The Cunard Line: A pictorial history, 1840 - 1990. Ship Pictorial Publications, 1990.

• Grant , K. : Samuel Cunard, Pioneer of the Atlantic Steamship. Abelard-Schuman, 1967.
• Jones , C.W. : Pioneer Shipowners. C. Birchall & Sons, 2 Vols. 1935 - 1938. (Cunard included in Vol 1, Brocklebank in Vol. 2).
• MacIver , H. (ed.) : Clan MacIver. 1912.
• MacMeehan , A. : A Life of Sir Samuel Cunard. 1930.
• Napier , J. : The life of Sir Robert Napier. William Blackwood & Sons, 1904.
• Roche , T.W.E. : Samuel Cunard and the North Atlantic. Macdonald & Co. , 1971.

Head of Special Collections and Archives: Maureen Watry
University Archivist: Adrian Allan

Special Collections and Archives, Sydney Jones Library
University of Liverpool
P.O. Box 123
GB - Liverpool L69 3DA
United Kingdom

Tel.: +44 / 151 / 794 26 96
Fax.: +44 / 151 / 794 26 81

e-mail: archives@liv.ac.uk

Hours: Monday - Friday , 9:30 a.m. - 16:45 p.m.

Appointment : a prior appointment is required.