90th anniversary of Cunard’s association with Southampton

11:36am Thursday 12th November 2009

By Keith Hamilton

MANY decades have passed, but the scene on the Southampton dockside was, essentially, just the same as it was 90 years ago.

In 1919, the liner, Mauretania, became the first Cunard vessel to leave Southampton on the traditional passage to New York and now, all those years later, the company still operates a scheduled service across the Atlantic.

The 90th anniversary of Cunard’s association with the port of Southampton was marked with a short ceremony in the docks yesterday.

The event took place against the backdrop of lorries, trucks, and cranes bringing piles of supplies on to the quayside in the shadow of the Cunard flagship, Queen Mary 2, as passengers embarked for the vessel’s next transatlantic voyage.

Although the size of ships has greatly increased and the time vessels stay alongside is much shorter than 90 years ago, dockside preparations are basically the same as 1919.

It would have been a similar scene when stores were loaded on Mauretania and 550 passengers arrived in Southampton for the crossing to the United States.

During the First World War, Mauretania, had been used as a troopship carrying thousands of soldiers to war.

However when peace returned, Mauretania underwent a wide-ranging refit, which restored her pre-war glamour.

On the day of her departure, the first following the refit, the Hampshire Independent, a forerunner of the Daily Echo, said: “During the past five years her sumptuous interior has been almost forgotten, hidden behind shrouds of canvas, lest the unthinking hands of soldiers damaged the ship.

“Now she has emerged from her wartime chrysalis into the full-blown glory of peacetime array. One of the most outstanding features of the decorative scheme is the wonderful panelling, using 30 different types of wood, which meets the eye everywhere.

“Transatlantic passengers will no doubt welcome the news of Mauretania’s re-fitting, because it means to them that the reign of the military is over.’’ Back in those early years of the last century Cunard’s switch from Liverpool to Southampton signalled the beginning of a golden era of ocean travel.

As QM2 towered over the dock, a celebration cake, decorated with anchors, lifebelts, and coils of mooring ropes, was ceremonially cut in the city’s brand new, £19m Ocean Terminal.

Chief executive of Associated British Ports (ABP), Peter Jones, and port director, Doug Morrison, together with Cunard’s chief executive, David Dingle, and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Theresa Villiers, attended the event.

David Dingle, said: “Ever since the arrival of Mauretania in 1919 Cunard liners have called Southampton home. Today’s Cunard, one of the oldest shipping companies but with the youngest fleet, is proud to continue that relationship.

“It is fitting that our state-of-the-art liners, QM2 and Queen Victoria, together with the future Queen Elizabeth, use Ocean Terminal, an equally modern facility which has been delighting our guests since its opening in May this year.’’