Furness Bermuda Line

The Furness Bermuda Line was a British shipping line that operated during the 20th century. Affiliated with the Furness Withy conglomerate, it ran cruises from New York City primarily to the British territory of Bermuda.

Furness Bermuda began operations in 1919 with a single ship, Fort Hamilton.[1] During the 1920s, two further ships, Fort Victoria and Fort St. George's entered service as Furness Withy invested in tourist-oriented development such as hotels on Bermuda.[1] In the late 1920s and early 1930s, spurred by growth in tourism to the island, Furness Bermuda invested in two larger replacement ships to serve the island, MV Bermuda and SS Monarch of Bermuda.[1] Two years after entering service in 1929, Bermuda was destroyed by fire and SS Queen of Bermuda replaced her in 1933.[1] After a hiatus during World War II when both vessels served the Allies as troop ships, Queen of Bermuda resumed cruise service, while Monarch of Bermuda, which caught fire during refitting, was replaced in 1951 by SS Ocean Monarch.[1] Both ships operated until late 1966, when Furness Bermuda shut down.[1]