CUNARD HISTORY
AT A GLANCE

1839 Samuel Cunard establishes the British and North American
Royal Mail 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,
introduced, but not used in the transatlantic service.

1854 Eleven Cunard ships requisitioned for the Crimean War.

1856 The famous Persia built, the company’s first iron-hulled
transatlantic vessel.

1859 Samuel Cunard created a Baronet in recognition of the
Company’s service in the Crimean War.

1862 The China enters service - the company’s first propeller-driven
ship. Admiralty permission required to use the ship to carry the
Royal Mail as the Mail Contract stipulates ‘paddle steamers’.

1865 Sir Samuel Cunard dies on 28 April at the age of 78.

1881 The Servia enters service; Cunard’s first steel vessel, the first
ship in the world to be lighted with electricity, and the first vessel
Cunard intended to rely solely on passenger revenue.

1906/07 The liners Lusitania and Mauretania launched. The latter holds
the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing for 22 years.

1912 On 15 April the Carpathia rescues all the survivors from White
Star’s Titanic.

1913 The Aquitania launched; the first Cunarder with an indoor
swimming pool.



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