One condition of the loan was that Cunard merge with the White Star Line, another struggling British shipping company, which was Cunard's chief British rival at the time and which had already been forced by the depression to cancel construction of its "Oceanic". Both lines agreed and the merger was completed on 10 May 1934. Work on "Queen Mary" resumed immediately and she was launched on 26 September 1934. Completion ultimately took years and cost 3.5 million pounds sterling, then equal to 17.5 million US dollars, . Much of the ship's interior was designed and constructed by the Bromsgrove Guild. Prior to the ship's launch, the River Clyde had to be specifically deepened to cope with her size, this being undertaken by the engineer D. Alan Stevenson.