The Cunard Line, formerly the Cunard White-Star Line, is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century.
History[]
The Company was founded in 1840 by Samuel Cunard.
Grand Trio Class ocean liners[]
- RMS Lusitania (1906 - 1915)
- RMS Mauretania (1906 - 1935)
- RMS Aquitania (1913 - 1950)
Mergers[]
White Star Line and Cunard Line were merged together in 1934, creating Cunard White Star Line, Ltd.
Cunard Line today[]
Cunard Line still exists today with their flagship being the Queen Mary 2, the last ocean liner in service, as passenger ships are a very rare thing. Most travel across oceans is done by planes. People seldom board a liner in the modern era, as they only take ships to go a cruise, from place to place, rather than sailing with a direct destination in mind.
Disasters of the line[]
- The most famous disaster was the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7th, 1915, after German U-boat, U-20, had slammed just one torpedo in her side, causing a huge explosion, which gave her a 20 degree list, bringing her down in 18 minutes. More than 1100 lives were claimed in the process.
- Titanic's hero, RMS Carpathia, sunk after being torpedoed 3 times on July 17th, 1918.
- RMS Mauritania had caught fire in 1920.
- RMS Lancastria was bombed in June 17th, 1940, resulting in estimated 4,000 to 6,500 deaths, making it the worst maritime disaster in British history.
- The RMS Laconia incident in September 12th, 1942, causing more than 1600 deaths.
- RMS Queen Elizabeth (by then named MV Seawise University) was irrepairably burned in January 9th, 1972.