The first mention of the Blue Riband appeared in the New York Herald in 1892. Reporting on the record transatlantic crossing by City of Paris, it said, “although the … greyhound now wears the blue ribbon for Atlantic speed, it by no means follows that her latest record cannot be broken ... by some of her present rivals”. The same newspaper had also reported that Cunard vessel Etruria “can float from her foretop the pennant of the ocean fleet” when she broke the record seven years earlier.

At first, the Riband would be an ‘agreement’ between the transatlantic shipping lines, with no official rules. It was the imagination of a British engineer, Harold Hales, which would transform its status.

Born in 1868 in Manchester, Hales worked in the pottery and china business in the West Midlands. After serving in Turkey during World War One (1914 – 18), he travelled the world promoting British industry. Returning to the UK, he became a member of the UK parliament in 1931.

Rex's record-beater, the French Line vessel Normandie

Fascinated by speed across the Atlantic, Hales hoped to “present a trophy which would serve as a stimulus to the craft of speed and mechanical perfection which I have loved so well”. That wish came true in 1935 when he awarded a silver trophy to the shipping line holding the Riband. Before it could be presented to the current holder, Rex, the French liner Normandie broke her record by ten hours. A new rule was added, allowing a defeated line to hold the trophy for three months before handing it on.

For a man so devoted to the sea, it is ironic that it should claim Hales' life. He died in a boating accident on the River Thames in London during 1942.

Steamship pioneers

Shrinking the Atlantic

The Hales trophy

How to win the Riband

The great liners do battle

Riband reborn

Hall of Fame