_Oh hear! Oh hear! Across the sullen tide, Across the echoing dome horizon-wide, What pulse of fear Beats with tremendous boom? What call of instant doom, With thunder-stroke of terror and of pride, With urgency that may not be denied, Reverberates upon the heart’s own drum Come! ... Come! ... for thou must come!_ HENRY NEWBOLT. In order to obtain the truest conception of what the Cunard Company stood for in 1914, it will be well not only to consider very briefly its first origin and steady growth, but to refresh our memories by recalling one or two of the tidemarks of ocean-going navigation. Thus it was in 1802, in the year, that is to say, following Nelson’s great victory at Copenhagen, in the year of the Peace of Amiens, and three years before the Battle of Trafalgar, that the first successful, practical steamer was launched. This was the _Charlotte Dundas_, built by William Symington on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and fitted with an engine constructed by Watt, which drove a stern wheel. This vessel proved to be an inspiration to Robert Fulton, who in 1807 built the _Clermont_ at New York, a wooden steamer 133 feet long, engined by Bolton and Watt. In the autumn of that year, this vessel made a trip from New York to Albany, a distance of 130 miles in 32 hours, returning in 30 hours, and thenceforward maintained the first continuous long distance service performed by any steam vessel. Five years later Bell’s famous steamer, the _Comet_, began the earliest, regular steamer passenger service in Europe. In 1814 the _Marjory_, the first steamer to run regularly on the River Thames, began her career; but it was not until 1819 that the _Savannah_, a wooden sailing ship of American construction, but fitted with engines and a set of paddles amidships, crossed the Atlantic, arriving at Liverpool after 29½ days. In the following year the _Condé de Palmella_ was the first engined ship to sail across the Atlantic from east to west, namely from Liverpool to the Brazils. [Illustration: “AQUITANIA” AT SOUTHAMPTON WITH CANADIAN TROOPS] These were but tentative experiments, however, and the Transatlantic Steamship Service, as we see it to-day, did not really begin till the year 1838, when the steamers _Sirius_ and _Great Western_ sailed within a few days of each other from London and Bristol respectively. Both ships crossed without mishap, the _Sirius_ in 17 days, and the _Great Western_ in 15. In the same year, the _Royal William_ and the _Liverpool_ crossed from Liverpool to New York in 19 days and 16½ days respectively.