Lynden Pindling International Airport, the major airport for the Bahamas, is located about 16 km (9.9 mi) west of the city centre of Nassau, and has daily flights to major cities in Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and the United States. The city is located on the island of New Providence.

Nassau is the site of the House of Assembly and various judicial departments and was considered historically to be a stronghold of pirates. The city was named in honour of William III of England, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

Nassau's modern growth began in the late eighteenth century, with the influx of thousands of Loyalists and their slaves to the Bahamas following the American War of Independence. Many of them settled in Nassau and eventually came to outnumber the original inhabitants.

As the population of Nassau grew, so did its populated areas. Today the city dominates the entire island and its satellite, Paradise Island. However, until the post-Second World War era, the outer suburbs scarcely existed. Most of New Providence was uncultivated bush until Loyalists were resettled there following the American Revolutionary War; they established several plantations, such as Clifton and Tusculum. Slaves were imported as labour.

After the British abolished the international slave trade in 1807, they resettled thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy on New Providence (at Adelaide Village and Gambier Village), along with other islands such as Grand Bahama, Exuma, Abaco and Inagua. In addition, slaves freed from American ships, such as the Creole case in 1841, were allowed to settle there. The largest concentration of Africans historically lived in the "Over-the-Hill" suburbs of Grants Town and Bain Town to the south of the city of Nassau, while most of the inhabitants of European descent lived on the island's northern coastal ridges.

RMS Carinthia was first laid down in Barrow-in-Furness in 1924 with the yard number Hull 586. Originally she had the name Servia but was renamed at the time of her launching on 24 February 1925. She made her maiden voyage on 22 August 1925 from Liverpool to New York City. At her launch she was the largest of the five post First World War intermediate size liners.

Service

The Carinthia plied the Atlantic on the Liverpool-Boston-New York route. She was also used for cruising. In 1931 her passenger accommodation was altered. Instead of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Classes, she now had Cabin Class, Tourist Class and 3rd Class. During 1933 she made a world cruise calling at 40 ports including Tristan da Cunha, (known as the remotest island on the planet) covering 40,000 miles (64,000 km). In 1933 RMS Carinthia received an SOS from the Latvian steamer Andromeda which had struck an unknown submerged object. The incident had happened eighty miles from Ushant in the English Channel but Carinthia had been too far away to make a rescue and the ship sank. The crew of the steamer were rescued by the steamship Hartside.

In 1934, she was transferred to the London–Le Havre–Southampton–New York route. From 1935 until 1939 she was reverted to New York and used for Winter cruising. Her hull was painted white with a green boot-topping for the cruising duties. On 20 September 1938, the Carinthia was on a cruise from New York to the Caribbean, 150 miles north of Florida when she was warned of bad weather ahead, the infamous 1938 hurricane. She turned to avoid the storm, but the storm also turned and she sailed right into it. Despite category 5 winds and huge seas, she survived the storm with only cosmetic damage and sick passengers.

In August 1939, she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, retaining the name Carinthia. She was accepted into service on 30 December 1939. At 13.13 hours on 6 June 1940, the Carinthia, on a northern patrol, was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland west of Galway Bay, in coordinates 53°13'N 10°40'W by the German submarine U-46. The badly damaged ship remained afloat for 36 hours before she sank during the evening of 7 June. Four people died during the sinking — two crew members and two ratings.

Cunard-White Star Line, Ltd, was a British shipping line which existed between 1934 and 1949.

History

The company was created to control the joint shipping assets of the Cunard Line and the White Star Line after both companies experienced financial difficulties during the Great Depression. Cunard White Star controlled a total of twenty-five ocean liners (with Cunard contributing fifteen ships and White Star ten). Both Cunard and White Star were in dire financial trouble, and were looking to complete enormous liners: White Star had Hull 844 –Oceanic – and Cunard had Hull 534, which would later become RMS Queen Mary. In 1933, the British government agreed to provide assistance to the two competitors on the condition that they merge their North Atlantic operations. The agreement was completed on 30 December 1933. The merger took place on 10 May 1934, creating Cunard-White Star Limited. White Star contributed ten ships to the new company while Cunard contributed fifteen. Due to this arrangement, and since Hull 534 was Cunard's ship, Cunard owned 62% of the new company, with White Star owning the remaining 38%. White Star vessels flew the White Star flag over the Cunard flag while Cunard vessels flew the Cunard flag over the White Star flag.

Being in a better financial and operating state than White Star, Cunard began absorbing White Star assets and as a result, most of the White Star vessels were quickly disposed of or sent to the shipbreakers. White Star's Australia and New Zealand service ships were transferred to the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line in 1934 and RMS Olympic was retired and sold for scrap the following year, along with Cunard's RMS Mauretania. White Star's flagship RMS Majestic, the largest ship in the world until 1935, was sold in 1936.

In 1947, Cunard acquired White Star’s 38% share in the company and on 31 December 1949 the company had dropped the White Star name and was renamed Cunard Line. Both the Cunard and White Star house flags were flown on the company's liners at the time of the merger and thereafter. However, the Cunard flag was flown over the White Star flag on the last two White Star liners, MV Georgic and MV Britannic. Georgic was scrapped in 1956, while Britannic made the final Liverpool–New York crossing of any White Star vessel from New York on 25 November 1960, and returned to Liverpool for the final time before sailing under her own power to the ship breakers. She was the last White Star liner in existence, leaving the passenger tender SS Nomadic, which was also owned by the company until 1934, as the last White Star Line ship afloat.

Despite this, all Cunard Line ships flew both the Cunard and White Star Line house flags on their masts until late 1968. This was most likely because Nomadic remained in service with Cunard until 4 November 1968, and was sent to the breakers' yard, only to be bought for use as a floating restaurant. After this, the White Star flag was no longer flown, the White Star name was removed from Cunard operations and all remnants of both White Star Line and Cunard-White Star Line were retired. Cunard operated as a separate entity until 1999, when it was fully acquired by Carnival Corporation.