Opinion Which shipping company colours do you like the best

[Nigel Bryant]

Out of all the transatlantic shipping lines that provided a transport route across the Altantic, which funnel colours do you guys like the best that represented there ships? Out of all the lines, White Star (ONSC), Cunard, Hamburg Amerika Lines (HAPAG), Norddeutscher Lloyd, the Holland Lines, the Collin's Line, P&O lines, the Blue funnel lines etc etc

I like Cunard and White Star's funnels, but if had to be one proably White Star. What would be your choice?

All the best,

Nigel

 

[Martin Owen Cahill]

Cunard and Union SteamShip Co. NZ

martin

 

[Alex McLean]

I like the colours of White Star, but the pre-WW1 livery (with the raised yellow stripe, such as on Titanic.)
I think Cunard had/has a very nice livery, but the black bands on the funnels sort of spoilt the appearence in my opinion.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Cunard can't be beat- I like the black bands and black tops- very snappy and set apart from French Line which had a similar base color scheme. Cunard also gets my vote for handsomest burgee-love that lion rampant. Here's a great site for line burgees.
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb~hf07.html

 

[Dennis Smith]

Shelly,
I agree with you on that, Cunard is by far the best. The red and black funnels and the black hulls seem to go together pefectly.
A small aside, does the post card copy ring any bells, or did the Isle of Man Steam Packet co. Ships get called "Little Cunarders" for nothing. (This is the "Tynwald", scrapped in the early 70's, shame, lovelly looking ships)


Best wishes and Rgds

Dennis

 

[Dennis Smith]

Whoops, that didn't work very well, best I try again to get this PC to show. Whoops again, the file was too big, I'll try the King Orry, also scrapped in the early 70's.

 

[Alex McLean]

Well, I am sure many will agree on this; real liners should have a black hull. I'm so glad the QM2 is going to continue the tradition.
BTW, that is a very nice picture, Dennis, what line and ship is that? It looks very Cunard-ish, especially with the bow like the QE and QM.

 

[Dennis Smith]

Alex,
Greetings.

The Line is "Isle of Man Steam Packet co." and the ship's name is the "King Orry", one of five passenger ferries the IOMSPC had built in the late 40's and early 50's, built to carry up to 2000 passengers from Liverpool and other North West U.K. Coast towns ,also Belfast and a couple of Southern Irish ports, to Douglas Isle of Man. Four of the ships were scrapped in the 70's (King Orry, Snaefell, Tynwald and Monas Isle) the last one "Manxman" was sold in the 80's, but the venture failed and the Manxman is now a rusting heap in North East port. There is a plan to restore her, but whether I'll come to anything remains to be seen. I hope it work, I hate to see such fine looking ships ending up as razor blades.

Best wishes and Rgds

Dennis

 

[Noel F. Jones]

Nigel Bryant asks:

Out of all the transatlantic shipping lines that provided a transport route across the Altantic, which funnel colours do you guys like the best that represented there ships? Out of all the lines, White Star (ONSC), Cunard, Hamburg Amerika Lines (HAPAG), Norddeutscher Lloyd, the Holland Lines, the Collin's Line, P&O lines, the Blue funnel lines etc etc

Blue Funnel were never on the north Atlantic; they were not members of the requisite conferences. They had two runs out of north American ports, (1) Java-New York via Gibralter and Suez and (2) transpacific via Panama, both joint services with other lines.

The Cunard livery, accidental in origin though it was, is definitive – nay, seminal! – for passenger ships operating exclusively in temperate waters and to which all other such operators must aspire as best they can.

It is however an unsuitable livery for vessels trading to, or transiting, the high tropics. For this reason Cunard modified its hull colors for vessels cruising away from the north Atlantic.

Noel

 

[Nigel Bryant]

Thanks for the clarification Noel Thanks for all your guy's anwsers so far.

All the best,

Nigel

 

[Shane Thomas Doherty]

I like the French Line (Mmm...Normandie), WSL (Post WWI) and Cunard.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Noel- well at last you have explained the use of the light grey or white tropic hull colors- black and heat absorption- of course! (feeling dumb and slow here not to have twigged to that myself, being a dirigible fan and knowing about heat deflection).Now someone explain that ghastly pale greeny hull color Cunard used on Caronia and Franconia and others- so hideous.

 

[Scott Reigel]

Several times I've run across the story about "Cunard Red" paint coming from a mixture of buttermilk and sienna and being the only paint that would stick to the hot funnels. Always makes me wonder why all funnels weren't red. Why were the other steam lines having better luck with their black, grey and buff paint than Cunard?

I assume the Cunard Red discovery pre-dates the RMS mail contract and the founding of the Cunard Line, since Britannia seems to have entered service with red funnels. Prior to this, Cunard operated schooners out of Halifax (Newfoundland/Boston/Bermuda service) but I cannot find any record of his owning steamers prior to Britannia. When was the red paint "accidentally" discovered, or is this just a story told around the Captain's table, with out much basis in fact?

--SDR

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Scott, I don't know whether what you heard about Cunard Red is an urban legend or not, though it would seem that by 1912, the problems had been solved at least well enough that the lines coloured to taste. If you want to read an informative article on the subject in general, click on Painting The Great Ocean Liners by Bruce Beveridge. It's one of many articles that can be found on the Titanic Research & Modeling Association website.

 

[Noel F. Jones]

THE WIZARD OF THE 'NORTH' ....

Since we seem to be on the topic of painting north atlantic liners, who can contribute 60 words or so on The Wizard of the 'North'?

Thanking whoever in anticipation ....

Noel

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

What a fabulous article on paints Michael- and photo of my favorite liner to boot!I have heard from those who know these things that Cunard red was actually much redder when fresh but dulled to a more orangey-red or vermillion when the heat and soot of the funnels became a factor. I paint in oils and I can vouch for red being a very dicey color- usually using cadmium red- same with red dyes- high fade factor and instability. My crusty old Captain got a blue ribbon on his Lusy model for making her funnels sooty and weathered!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I liked it myself Shelley. TRMA is pretty good about covering the tech side of things. For a list of articles that TRMA has, go HERE.

 

[Noel F. Jones]

What, no takers on the legend of The Wizard of the North?

Are there no Cunard veterans out there? David Haisman? The Sauders perhaps?

Don't tell me I have to weigh in with my own imperfect version ....

Noel

 

[David Haisman]

Hi Noel,
Perhaps Cunard White Star with their red boot topping,white thin line cut in above, followed by either black or green hull , white superstructure and black ringed and black topped red funnels, were real eye catchers. I suppose my favourite, purely by the unusual choice of steaming livery was that of the ''Lavender Ladies'' I have written a short essay on the Union Castle Line which I'm hoping may be considered in next years A.D.B. Having served on 5 of their ships, you may find it interesting from a practical point of view.
As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
All the best,
David Haisman

 

[Nathan Good]

Hi folks,

Been I long while since I posted anything. I agree that Cunard's colours were probably the most attractive and recognizable on the ocean at this time. The funnels in particular were a unifying force, from the smallest ship to the premier vessels, they were all Cunard. And that is certainly a proud fact for any vessel to demonstrate. In regards to the Titanic and Olympic, the White Star scheme with buff funnels were most suitable to their clean and balanced exteriors. These are two ships I just cannot picture being dressed in Cunard Red.