Greenock residents might have noticed an unusual sight come down the River Clyde water this morning.
For the Queen Mary 2, the most famous ship in service and the biggest ocean liner in the world, arrived in the town to mark the long and historic link between Cunard and the Clyde as part of the company's 175th anniversary celebrations.
Cunard's first ship Britannia was built at Robert Duncan & Co. Shipyard at Greenock and launched into the Clyde on February 5, 1840. Her July 4, 1840 maiden voyage from Liverpool to Halifax and Boston inaugurated the first scheduled steamship service across the Atlantic and changed the face of ocean travel forever.
Britannia and her Greenock-built sisters, Acadia, Caledonia and Columbia, laid the foundations for a service which has continued without fail, in peace and war, every year since 1840.
Over 175 years, 248 ships have flown the Cunard flag and of those 125 were built in Scotland with 120 of those being built on the Clyde.
Cunard's first 75 ships were built in Scotland before the company dipped a toe in the waters of the Mersey and ordered Cephalonia in 1881 from Laird Brothers at Birkenhead; before returning to Scotland.
That the company put such faith in Scottish shipbuilding and engineering is entirely understandable as without the knowledge and experience of Robert Napier, a Scottish engineer to whom Samuel Cunard turned for advice when ordering his first ships, the company would not have survived let alone prospered.
The Clyde has produced some of the most famous ship ever to go to sea and many of those have been Cunarders: Britannia, Hibernia, Russia, Servia, Lucania, Campania, Lusitania, Aquitania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Caronia and Queen Elizabeth 2.
Queen Mary 2 arrived alongside the Ocean Terminal this morning and a special reception and dinner will be held on board prior to her departure tonught. Fireworks as Queen Mary 2 departs will salute both the Cunard flagship and pay tribute to the daughters of the Clyde that have sailed for Cunard.
Angus Struthers, Cunard Director, said: "Most of Cunard's great ships were built on the Clyde and we are very proud of our association with the river. We are delighted that our flagship Queen Mary 2 will pay tribute to her Scottish forbears and have Greenock and the Clyde be an important part in our 175th anniversary celebrations".
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