The name Cunard conjures up all the glamour and elegance of the 1930s - an era which is echoed in the Art Décor theme of current Cunard cruise liners. And there is no one better to talk about the history of Cunard than Steve Herra, our speaker at the u3a monthly meeting of July 7th. Steve is the third generation of his family to be employed by Cunard, first as purser but now giving conducted tours of both P&O and Cunard liners.
Steve took us back to the early days of sea travel between England and America when sailing ships took at least six weeks to make the journey. And a perilous journey it was! In 1836, food on board ran out and passengers actually died of starvation! This situation clearly couldn’t continue and the Admiralty decided to act. By this time, steam was fuelling more and more land travel and domestic needs and the Admiralty offered £55,000 per annum – a vast sum in those days – to anyone who could provide a fleet of ships powered by steam. The caveat was that there would be a fine of £500 for late arrival and a fine of £1,500 for cancelled voyages.
Samuel Cunard – born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1787 – took up the challenge, despite having no ships and no money. He persuaded several British businessmen to back him and the Cunard empire was born.
Early ships had steam engines but also featured sail for emergencies and for cheaper running when possible. Early ships carried just 115 passengers plus a cow for fresh milk, chickens for fresh eggs and three cats to deal with the mice. The important thing was that the journey to the States was now faster, safer and more reliable.
However, in 1842, Charles Dickens failed to enjoy his journey. Stormy weather made him seasick which sleeping on the upper bunk didn’t help. And he described trying to fit his wife’s luggage into the tiny cabin as ‘like trying to fit a giraffe into a flowerpot’.
Cunard ships sailed from Southampton to Boston and the latter city was so grateful for the enhanced trade that they presented Cunard with an ornate silver trophy, still to be seen on today’s Queen Mary.
In 1854, half the horses that took part in the Charge of Light Brigade were transported by Cunard.
By 1870, mod cons began to be installed such as electric lights and bathtubs, well, two! After this, the innovations came thick and fast: libraries, reading rooms, writing rooms, cafes, luxurious lounges, elevators. The aim was to emulate the comfort and amenities of a grand country house. The Lusitania even had a gym.
The Aquitania was even more luxurious and attracted such celebrities as the Dolly sisters, Bob Hope, Fred Parry and cowboy film star Tom Mix, who brought his horse with him and rode it down the gangplank on arrival.
When The Titanic sank, the Carpathia, captained by Arthur Roston, rescued more than seven hundred and fifty of the passengers. This earned him plaudits and citations.
When the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, a hundred and twenty-eight American passengers were drowned, which proved instrumental in bringing America into the First World War.
At the end of the war, in 1918, Cunard liners were booked solid for two years. Among the famous names on the passenger list were David Lloyd George, Pavlova, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Laurel and Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin.
Then came the 1929 Wall Street crash. Many of the people who would be typical passengers on Cunard lost everything. Cunard, too, began to lose money and the Government agreed to a loan only if Cunard merged with the White Star Line, which they reluctantly did.
By 1936, things were looking up. Entertainment on board included such famous names as Henry Hall and Larry Adler. Name a celebrity and they have probably sailed with Cunard: Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, Clark Gable, the Kennedys, the Windsors, Ginger Rogers, actress Frances Day (who brought her white Rolls Royce with her and her own chickens to provide her with fresh eggs for breakfast). Helena Rubenstein stored priceless jewels, not in the ship’s safe, but in a Kleenex tissue box which she threw in the wastepaper bin by mistake when packing up to leave and which a steward subsequently threw overboard!
Come the Second World War, a clock was installed that reminded the helmsman to change course every twenty minutes in the hopes that a zig-zag course would confuse the enemy. It worked. After the war, Cunard carried demobbed troops back home.
In the late 1950s, both the ‘Queens’ were sold, the Queen Mary to become a hotel in California and the Queen Mary, sadly, to sink in Hong Kong in 1968. However, The Queens Mary and Elizabeth Mark II carry on the tradition and today still offer passengers both famous and not-so-famous luxurious and elegant cruising.
7 July 2026