British cruise line Cunard is celebrating a century’s worth of ‘luxury, magic, history and memories’ by launching a new exhibition, Bing Crosby and Rita Hayworth, pictures that showcase the dramatic change in styles across fashion, food and interior design since the 1920s, and eye-opening shots from the Second World War.
Named ‘Sea Views’, the exhibition has been commissioned to celebrate two milestones in the cruise line’s history.
The first is that over 100 years ago, Cunard introduced onboard photography to capture special moments during its voyages.
The second is that 2023 is the centenary of the completion of Cunard’s first round-the-world sailing – the liner’s Laconia vessel departed New York on November 21, 1922, on a 130-day voyage and arrived back on March 30, 1923, after calling at 22 ports around the globe.
British cruise line Cunard is celebrating a century’s worth of ‘luxury aesthetic, magic, history and memories’ by launching an exhibition of archive pictures curated by Paul McCartney’s renowned photographer daughter Mary McCartney.
This undated picture shows vehicles on the dock beside Cunard’s Scythia II
Couples dancing and dining in the Verandah Grill on board Cunard’s Queen Mary in the 1950s
This undated archive picture shows Elizabeth Taylor travelling with Cunard. The actress regularly toured with the cruise line along with her late husband
Hundreds of Cunard passengers from all over the world, including America, Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK, submitted over a thousand of their personal snapshots from Cunard’s voyages to appear in the exhibition.
Telling ‘magical stories from the 1920s to present day’, the images depict a series of fascinating moments from families emigrating to new continents to milestone anniversaries and unexpected guest encounters.
Former passenger Barry Robins shared a picture of himself and his sister Lynne Robins aboard the Queen Mary in June of 1964.
They were emigrating to the USA along with their mother to be reunited with their father, and had a ‘wonderful time onboard’, Cunard reveals.
Peter Fittock, from Thurso, Scotland, shared a selection of images that had been captured by his grandfather, Jasper Harold Fittock, who was a ‘Pantryman/Steward’ onboard the Aquitania and later the Carmania. The photograph featured in the exhibition shows Western movie star Tom Mix riding his horse Tony down the gangway of a Cunard ship on a trip to England.
This shot, captured circa the 1950s/1960s, shows a couple playing a game on the deck of Cunard’s Mauretania
LEFT: Submitted by a member of the public, this picture shows a passenger strolling through the library on board Queen Mary 2 in 2020.
