Royal Visitor Finally Comes Home ; All Eyes Will Be On the Mersey Today As Queen Mary 2 Makes Her First Visit to the City. Peter Elson Takes a Look at the Latest Ship to Come Out of the Cunard Stable and Talks to Her First Captain

Daily Post › October 20, 2009

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Summary

THEY say that the average life of a company is 90 years. In the choppy waters of shipping firms, their duration is often much shorter.

So when the megaliner Queen Mary 2 steams into the Mersey this morning, she will be a shining symbol of one of Liverpool's greatest, worldfamous companies. For QM2 is owned by the same company which operated the first ship to run scheduled transatlantic services from Liverpool, starting on July 4, 1840.

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Royal Visitor Finally Comes Home ; All Eyes Will Be On the Mersey Today As Queen Mary 2 Makes Her First Visit to the City. Peter Elson Takes a Look at the Latest Ship to Come Out of the Cunard Stable and Talks to Her First Captain

This was the tiny paddle steamer RMS Britannia, the manifestation of transport visionary Samuel Cunard's farreaching plans.

Some 169 years later, RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean liner ever built, is the latest development of the transatlantic "ferry", but still wears the same venerable black, white and red livery.

With a gross tonnage of 148,528, QM2 is con...

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