The new company, which set out to provide the first regular steam service between the Old and the New World, had been viewed with great scepticism in the shipping circles of the time: few believed in steam as the propulsion power of the future, especially for long voyages across the ocean. 

Yet, on 4th July 1840, the Britannia, the first vessel of a shipping line which would, in later years, rise to world fame as the Cunard Line, left Liverpool with 64 passengers bound for Halifax and Boston, where they were welcomed triumphantly. This was the beginning of a great adventure whose story is still unfolding today.
The Britannia, the first of six sister ships ordered in Scotland, was the forefather of a long tradition which would make Cunard the most renowned transatlantic shipping company of all time. 

Already in June 1841 the side wheel steamer the Columbia had set the record for crossing the Atlantic and from then on only a few ships, first American, later German, would succeed in beating Cunard’s transatlantic liners and boast the Blue Riband.
The Cambria, America, Europa and Asia, the company’s flagships, turned the famous international challenge to be rated as the fastest liner into an in-company competition, constantly improving on the previous records and by the mid-1800s the average speed was already over 12 knots, reducing the sailing time between Europe and the United States to just over 8 days. 

The Scotia, 1863, was Cunard’s last wheel steamer to beat the record, at an average of almost 15.5 knots. Over the space of the next few years the liner was to take on its own characteristic form and while the Scotia was similar to a sailing ship, with her masts and bowsprit, the Etruria (1885), fitted with a propeller, had the distinctive look of the transatlantic liners of the years between the 1800s and the 1900s, a straight bow, tall, slender funnels and spacious white superstructures for first and second class passengers, but, most importantly, she was able to speed ahead at 20 knots, no mean feat, especially for her time.
At the beginning of the 20th century Cunard Line made the headlines once again for the construction of two large sister ships, the Carmania and the Caronia. What was special was that the former was the first transatlantic liner to have turbines, instead of the customary expansion motors on the sister ship and on all the ocean liners built until then. This “pilot version” confirmed that the steam turbine, invented just a few years earlier by Charles Parsons, gave superior performance levels and, as a result, the first two super-transatlantic liners in history were built: the Lusitania and the Mauretania.
These splendid greyhounds of the Atlantic, which entered service in 1907, were record ships in all senses: in size they were by far the largest ever built, with a tonnage of over 30,000gt and a length of over 240 metres. In addition the first class lounges and halls outclassed all previous vessels in their spaciousness and luxury. Yet the most incredible feature was their speed: thanks to their powerful 70,000 hp turbines they could sail at over 27 knots and for 22 years they were to be the fastest ships in the world. 

In the 1930s the Mauretania was transferred from line services to cruise services and proved that large passenger ships could be successfully engaged also in this new activity.
At the end of the 1920s Cunard had decided to build a new record ship, whose keel was laid in Scotland on 27th December 1930, with the intention that the ship would become the largest, fastest liner of all time. She was to be a huge vessel of over 80,000 tonnes capable of reaching 30 knots, and outclassing the large German, Italian and French flagships of the time to bring the Blue Riband back to Great Brittain.
As a result of the Depression which followed the Wall Street crash, building on what was known as vessel 534 had to cease and only started again in 1934: recommencement of work was greeted as a national event and vessel “534” became the symbol of economic recovery.
There is an anecdote about her name. The chairman of Cunard Line at the time, Lord Royden, had asked for an audience with King George V to thank him for his support and to ask him to christen the ship “after the greatest queen our nation has ever had”. He had in mind the king’s grandmother, Queen Victoria (the name also respected Cunard’s tradition, according to which each of their ships had a name finishing in “ia”); but George V replied: “My wife will be delighted!”. And so the new flagship became the famous Queen Mary, the sole surviving large transatlantic liner from the 1930s.
Cunard’s tradition of the great queens of the sea was to continue with other ships which have made their place in history: the Queen Elizabeth (1940), the Queen Elizabeth 2 (1969) and the Queen Mary 2 (2003). 

And last but not least, in 2007 there will be another chapter of a history of great successes dating back over 170 years; Cunard Line’s desire to celebrate the name of a great sovereign and, especially, an exceptional woman, who changed the face of Great Britain and Europe, will be finally fulfilled. She is to be the daughter of another great, long-standing and world-leading tradition, Italian shipbuilding, and another Cunard’s queen, the Queen Victoria.