About
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I am in Mexico, I like the space, what but me interests to me is the maritime history, precisely the history of White Star Line and Cunard Line.
Quick History
editWhite Star Line
editWhite Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, White Star Line operated an extraordinary ships like the RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic, SS Megantic, RMS Oceanic, RMS Majestic, HMHS Britannic, RMS Britannic (1929), RMS Georgic, and much more.
On 18 January 1868, Thomas Ismay, a director of the National Line, purchased the house flag, trade name, and goodwill of the bankrupt company for £1,000, with the intention of operating large ships on the North Atlantic service. Ismay established the company's headquarters at Albion House, Liverpool.
During the late nineteenth century, White Star operated many famous ships, such as Britannic (I), Germanic, Teutonic, and Majestic (I). Several of these ships took the Blue Riband, awarded to the fastest ship to make the Atlantic crossing. In 1899 Thomas Ismay commissioned one of the most beautiful steam ships constructed during the nineteenth century, the RMS Oceanic (II).
The Cunard Line was the chief competitor to White Star. In response to Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania, White Star ordered the Olympic class liners: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. While Cunard was famed for the speed of its ships, the Olympic class were to be the biggest and most luxurious ships in the world. Britannic was originally named Gigantic; her name was changed shortly after the sinking of Titanic.
In 1928 a new Oceanic (III) was proposed and her keel was laid down that year at Harland and Wolff, but the ship was never completed. She was to have the new diesel-electric propulsion system and maintain the thousand foot dimensions that had originally been planned for Gigantic and the unbuilt Ceric (1913). Oceanic's keel was dismantled and the steel was used in two new smaller ships built for the White Star: RMS Georgic and RMS Britannic (II). Both of these ships entered service in 1930; they were the last liners White Star built.
Cunard Line
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Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England. Canadian-born Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston route. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganized as Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd to raise capital.
White Star joined the American owned International Mercantile Marine Co. in 1902. The British Government provided Cunard with substantial loans and a subsidy to build two superliners needed to retain its competitive position: RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania. Mauretania held the Blue Riband from 1909 to 1929. The sinking of her sister ship Lusitania in 1915 was one of the causes of the United States' entering the First World War. In the late 1920s, Cunard faced new competition when the Germans, Italians and French built large prestige liners. Cunard was forced to suspend construction on its own new superliner because of the Great Depression. In 1934 the British Government offered Cunard loans to finish the RMS Queen Mary and to build a second ship, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, on the condition that Cunard merged with the then ailing White Star line to form Cunard White-Star Ltd. Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company. Cunard purchased White Star's share in 1947; the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950.
Some of the best ships of Cunard Line:
- RMS Britannia (1840)
- RMS Etruria (1884)
- RMS Campania (1893)
- RMS Carpathia (1903)
- RMS Carmania (1905)
- RMS Lusitania (1907)
- RMS Mauretania (1907)
- RMS Aquitania (1914)
- RMS Berengaria (1913)
- RMS Queen Mary (1936)
- RMS Mauretania (1939)
- RMS Queen Elizabeth (1940)
- RMS Carinthia (1956)
- RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (1969)
- RMS Queen Mary 2 (2004)
- MS Queen Victoria (2007)
- MS Queen Elizabeth (building)
Contributions
editMaritime Articles
editText Expansions
edit- RMS Aquitania [1]
- RMS Lusitania [2]
- Cunard Line [3]
- MS Queen Victoria [4]
- Costa Crociere [5]
- White Star Line [6]
- RMS Olympic [7]
- RMS Titanic [8]
Created by me
edit- MS Queen Elizabeth [9]
- RMS Queen Elizabeth [10]
- RMS Britannic (1929) [11]
- RMS Caronia (1949) [12]
- RMS Georgic (1932) [13]
- RMS Oceanic (1899) [14]
- SS Doric [15]
- SS Ionic [16]
- RMS Carmania (1905) [17]
- RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 [18]
- MV Ocean Star Pacific [19]
- Carnival Magic [20]
- Carnival Corporation & PLC [21]
- Carnival Cruise Lines [22]
- P&O Cruises [23]
- Ocean Star Cruises [24]
- Ocean Star Cruises
Science Articles
editSpace (Expansions)
edit- Russian Federal Space Agency
- Agencia Espacial Federal Rusa [25]
- Espacio Exterior [26]