Enough, perhaps, has already been written to show how intimately the Cunard Company was bound up with every phase, not only of our mercantile, but our naval effort at sea; how its long experience of maritime organisation, placed unreservedly at the country’s disposal, became an asset in the hands of the Government of almost incalculable importance, and how, in the course of its everyday unadvertised duties, it lost more than half its tonnage. It was not only at sea, however, and not wholly in connection with the problems of transport that the Cunard Company rendered such yeoman service. The possessors of highly efficient repairing shops, engine works, furnishing departments, and laundries, these also were at once mobilised at the outbreak of war, and put to the most various and vital purposes. Some of these, of course, were congruous with its useful efforts as a marine concern. Thus, amongst much other work of a similar nature, we find, for instance, that H.S. Sloops _Buttercup_ and _Gladiolus_ were refitted, their engines over-hauled, and their hull and deck plating repaired, while they were also provided with hydraulic release triggers in order to enable depth charges to be released from the bridge. H.M. ships _Riviera_ and _Empress_ were fitted out as sea-plane carriers by the Company at Liverpool. The after-decks of both vessels were stripped and hangars, capable of accommodating about six sea-planes, were built on them. A mechanics’ repair shop was also installed and special cranes, for lifting sea-planes out of the water, were fitted. [Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE AEROPLANE FACTORY (iii)] [Illustration: RUSSIAN REFUGEES ON THE “PHRYGIA” IN THE BLACK SEA, SPRING, 1919] The _Campania_, converted as we have seen into a sea-plane carrier, was refitted in 1916, a thorough overhaul being carried out, including the fitting of a new crank shaft, and the examination of, and repairs to, her hull and engines. In 1917, H.M.S. _Scotia_, the well-known Holyhead mail boat of the London and North Western Railway, was reconditioned, after having been in Admiralty employment, and all necessary repairs carried out in respect of her hull and engines. H.M.S. _Berwick_ was also partially refitted in the same year. No less than 3,200 Plunger control valve keys and retarding rams for 12-pound and naval guns were made at the Company’s works; and a large amount of work was also undertaken in connection with the fitting of submarines and mines.