Abraham Cunard, a time served master carpenter had initially started work in the Halifax Naval Dockyard but later moved on to actual shipbuilding and the supply of fuel to both ships and for domestic consumption. Both Samuel and his brother Joseph attended the Halifax Grammar School and on completion of his studies he started his first job in the civilian office of the army engineers attached to the militia garrisoned in Halifax. He later travelled to Boston and served for three years in a ships broker’s office before returning to Halifax and along with his father founded the firm of Abraham Cunard & Son on a capital outlay of £200. Despite continuing Anglo-American hostilities Samuel Cunard was granted a permit to trade with the American colonies and the British Admiralty provided him with a contract to carry His Majesty’s mails between Halifax, Newfoundland, Boston and Bermuda in 1814. The Cunard’s by good fortune were able to purchase an American square-rigger from the Admiralty that had been captured by a privateer, named White Oak, she made the first transatlantic round voyage for the company turning in a fine profit in 1813. At the age of twenty-seven he married Miss Susan Dufus, daughter of a Haligonian Tailor and Habit Maker. In short order Samuel and his father were running a fleet of some forty ships from their own established berth of Cunard’s Wharf across from which lay the shipyards of Lyle & Chapell at Dartmouth, this company maintained the Cunard fleet. In 1819 Abraham Cunard retired and went to live with his wife’s extended family in Rawdon, the company became Samuels and was renamed Samuel Cunard & Co, a short while later he commenced operating a whale fishery and ironworks on Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. After only three voyages he lost heart because of low profits and decided to purchase a vast section of forestry in New Brunswick south of the Miramichi River. The lumber company although owned by Samuel was called J. Cunard & Company and operated by his brothers Joseph and Henry. They oversaw the enterprise from the logging of trees from the Kings Wood, its cutting in the saw mills to its transfer to the loading docks built out in the Miramichi River. Within a few years Henry gave up the business and decided to concentrate on farming instead, Joseph continued, and besides lumber which by now had the first steam operated sawmill but diversified into brick making, fisheries and shipbuilding at Richibucto, Bathhurst, Kouchibouguiac and Chatham. However, perhaps due to Joseph’s overspending and lack of business acumen the enterprise failed and very nearly bought the down burgeoning Cunard Line with it. In 1825 the East India Company appointed Samuel as its agent for the Maritimes and he organised the first shipment of tea, 6,000 cases, which were shipped from China to Nova Scotia. The ship, which made the groundbreaking voyage, was the Countess of Harcourt, consequently leading to S.Cunard & Company becoming the biggest tea house in British North America. 1827 saw the company acquire the agency for the General Mining Association of London and Samuel Cunard became his country’s first Commissioner for Lighthouses, he also became a director of Cogswells Bank and was elected to the powerful Council of Twelve who effectively ran Nova Scotia. Messrs. Ross and Primrose of Picton approached Samuel in 1829 in the hope that he would lend his support to their steamboat venture; his answer left them under no illusions as to his opinion. He wrote” We have received your letter of the twenty-second instant and we are currently unacquainted with the cost of a steamboat, and would not like to embark in a business of which we are quite ignorant. Must therefore, decline taking part in the one you propose getting up.” However something made Samuel change his mind for a few months later he was heard to say “steamers properly built and manned might start and arrive at their destination with the punctuality of railroad trains on land….The day will surely come when an ocean steamer will be signalled from Citadel Hill every day in the year”. Samuel maintained an interest in the local Militia, the Second Halifax Regiment known locally as the “Scarlet Runners” and held the rank of Colonel; he was also a member of the local fire brigade, the Sun Fire Company.  SAMUEL CUNARD In 1831 Samuel along with his two brothers became leading stockholders in the pioneer Quebec-Halifax service inaugurated by the steamer Royal William and in 1833 the same vessel made the Atlantic crossing entirely by steam propulsion but this time to be sold. By 1838 Samuel Cunard was operating some forty sailing vessels around the North American coast and with both business and pleasure in mind he made his first voyage to England accompanied by his son William and brother Joseph, their visits coincided with the first uninterrupted steam crossings of the Atlantic by Sirius, Great Western and Great Liverpool. On his return to America Samuel sought out business partners to help fund his latest venture which was to operate ships on the North Atlantic route, however in this he was unsuccessful and so in the January of 1839 Samuel returned once more to England. At this juncture we now have totally divergent opinions as to what happened next, one, that Cunard’s received a prospectus from the British Government inviting him to tender for the new mail run to the United States and the exact opposite whereby Samuel only found out about the possibility when he read it in the newspaper. The reason for mentioning this anomaly is that due to his business adversaries complaints as to how he finally won the contract in the face of stiff opposition from British companies of note, the Great Western Steamship Company and the British and American Steamship Company, that when the seven year contract came to an end Cunard found himself under investigation by a Government committee. His friendship with James C. Melvill of the East India Company and William Edward Parry who’d been a regular visitor to the Cunard household in Halifax and was at the time the Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service must have helped. But contemporaries at the time said that the greatest assistance of all came from his friend the celebrated society hostess, Mrs George Norton, nee Caroline Sheridan who entertained the likes of Lords Lansdowne and Normanby, both these men wielded great power at the Admiralty. Consequently it came as no surprise to those in the know that Cunard’s tender won the day for the first seven-year contract to carry the mails. However even this information is tainted by inconsistencies in dates but worthy of mention nevertheless. Allegedly the Admiralty had been quite unimpressed by the operation of both the Great Western and British and American Steam Navigation companies and so Edward Parry acting on behalf of the Admiralty had first approached George Burns a Glasgow shipbuilder, having been rebuffed its then that he turned to Samuel Cunard’s bid. Samuels original bid had been for twice monthly sailings to Halifax with 300 HP ships coupled with feeder services, one from Boston and the other from Pictou to Quebec. However this did not include when the St Lawrence River was ice bound and he asked for a subsidy of £55,000 annually, payments to be spread quarterly, in advance and for a period of ten years. After some deliberation the Admiralty accepted his bid but for seven years as opposed to the ten requested. James Melvill then introduced Samuel to Robert Napier the shipbuilder who quoted £40 a ton or £32,000 for an 800 ton ship, Cunard offered £30,000 each for three identical ships which was accepted. After giving great thought to Cunard’s original proposals Napier decided to improve the design at a cost of £2,000 per ship without Cunard’s consent, naturally these changes were at Napier’s expense, which quite astounded Cunard. In essence the changes were aesthetic but Napier was not in the business of designing run of the mill ships and so on the 18th of March 1839 both men met in Scotland and signed the formal agreement for the ships construction. Each ship the agreement stipulated had to be not less than 200ft long keel, and for-rakes not less than 32ft broad between the paddles, properly finished in every respect, having boats, masts, rigging sails, anchors, cables, with cabins finished in a neat and comfortable manner for sixty to seventy passengers. The first vessel was to be completed on the 12th of March, the second on the 12th of April and the third and final on the 18th of May, all for delivery on the Clyde. Should Napier fail to deliver on any of the dates a penalty clause stipulated that he would forfeit £5;000 per ship. Again Napier after comparing Cunard’s new ships with those of other shipping contemporaries decided that he wasn’t happy with the design and told an incredulous Cunard as much. He stated that the ships would have to be bigger and grander if they were not to be the poor cousins of the Atlantic. Cunard turned to Melvill for advice and it was Melvill who declared that due to Napier’s outstanding reputation he would be well advised to take head of his remarks, with this in mind Samuel returned once more to Scotland. After much discussion between the pair Napier discovered that Cunard’s main problem was lack of capital that Cunard was willing to release on the transatlantic venture and so he approached George Burns and David MacIver, these two managed the office of the Glasgow Steam Packet & Co. Initially MacIver derided the venture and tried to talk Burns out of investing but Burns was enthusiastic to such an extent that because of the shortfall of cash he offered to approach friends with a view to raising the necessary capital. Estimating it would take about a month no one was more surprised than Burns when he’d raised the money after only seven days. By far the largest investor was Cunard himself contributing £55,000, the rest, some thirty two men from both Glasgow and Liverpool, mainly Scottish had raised a further £215,000, these were determined at £100 shares. In the June of 1839 ‘The Proprietory in the British and North American Steam Packet Company’ was formed. The signatories on behalf of the Company were Samuel Cunard, George Burns and surprisingly David MacIver, my reasons for voicing surprise is that I can find no reference to MacIver having shown a change of heart, especially since he was so vociferous in his condemnation of the enterprise. Nevertheless the deal was struck, Napier was instructed to proceed and add a fourth ship to his building programme and Cunard returned to Canada to establish his terminal ports of Halifax and Boston. Isabella Napier the niece of Robert Napier launched Britannia on the 5th of February 1840 and Samuel Cunard was present having made his umpteenth crossing during the winter. It was this final crossing that Cunard finally decided that twice monthly crossings of the North Atlantic were not warranted increasing the chances of not only damaging his ships but incurring Government penalties to the tune of £15,000. After meeting with his partners it was decided the Cunard should approach the Admiralty and plead the companies position, although accepting his arguments the Government nevertheless imposed fines of £1,000 for each of four crossings cancelled between November to February. Despite the addition of overtime at Napier’s yard, both night and day, it became quite apparent that both Britannia and Caledonia were slipping further and further behind schedule, after yet another visit by Cunard the Admiralty agreed to a months extension for completion. In readiness for their branch service from Pictou to Quebec, The British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Co Ltd as it had become purchased the Glasgow coastal packet ‘Unicorn’ from Messrs G&J Burns, her Master was Captain Walter Douglas who had surveyed the St Lawrence on behalf of the Canadian Government. On the 15th of May, Unicorn sailed carrying 27 passengers who, included Samuels son, Samuel Cunard Jnr and she arrived in Halifax on the 1st of June. Britannia sailed from Liverpool to Halifax carrying 63 passengers thus inaugurating the service on the 4th of July; the sailing on America’s Independence Day celebrations remains open to conjecture. Acadia made her maiden crossing on the 4th of August, Caledonia on the 19th of September and finally Columbia on the 5th of January the following year. BRITANNIA  Built: 1840 by Robert Duncan & Co, Greenock. Tonnage: 1,156 grt, 619 nt. Engine: Paddle, diameter 28ft, 2 x Cylinder Compound, 440 NHP 16 RPM, 8.5 Kts by Robert Napier & Sons, Vulcan Foundry, Glasgow. Capacity: Cargo 225 tons. Passengers: 115 Cabin class, 89 Crew. Britannia sailed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage 4th of July 1840 carrying mails to Halifax-Boston with Captain Henry Woodruff in command, her sailing caused less than a ripple in the community of Liverpool after all the Great Western was both larger and had better accommodation. Both Samuel Cunard, his daughter Ann and her friend Laura Hamilton daughter of a judge numbered amongst the passengers that embarked at the Egremont Slip and after a crossing of eleven days and four hours she arrived to a gun salute from HMS Winchester off Halifax on the 17th of July. She arrived in Boston after a total passage time of 14 days and 8 hours on the 19th of July to a tumultuous welcome led by USN Cutter ‘Hamilton’ and shore batteries. On the 21st 2,100 people marched to the Cunard Wharf where they enjoyed an enormous banquet and presented Samuel Cunard with a silver loving cup, which measured over two feet high. CALEDONIA  Built: 1840 by Robert Duncan & Co, Greenock. Tonnage: 1,156 grt, 619 nt. Engine: Paddle, diameter 28ft, 2 x Cylinder Compound, 440 NHP 16 RPM, 8.5 Kts by Robert Napier & Sons, Vulcan Foundry, Glasgow. Capacity: Cargo 225 tons. Passengers: 115 Cabin class, 89 Crew. She made her maiden voyage Liverpool-Halifax-Boston on the 19th September 1840 with Captain Richard Cleland in command. Along with her sister Hibernia she was sold to the Spanish Navy for conversion to frigates for a combined sum of £35,000 in 1850. She was wrecked off Havana the following year when she ran onto rocks at the harbour mouth.  BOSTON SILVER LOVING CUP. During his first weeks stay in Boston Cunard was invited to no less than 1,800 dinners. In 1844 Boston Harbour froze over and in an attempt to retain its pre-eminence in Atlantic trade most of its citizens turned out to cut a seven-mile channel through the ice. After completing forty Atlantic crossings she was sold to the North German Confederate Navy in 1849, converted into a frigate and renamed Barbarossa. She transferred to the Prussian Navy in 1852, hulked at Kiel and used as a target ship before being finally scrapped in 1880.  BRITANNIA SAILING FROM AN ICE BOUND BOSTON IN 1844 After just one winter trading on the North Atlantic the company realised it could no longer stay within the current restraints imposed by its agreement with the Admiralty, therefore, with the full support of the Canadian Government it sought to renegotiate. The outcome was a new agreement on the 28th of August that called for an additional ship, the strengthening of existing tonnage to facilitate the carriage of large calibre guns but an increase in remuneration to £81,000. Boston had never known anything like it, no wonder Samuel Cunard became a firm favourite of the City, foreign trade increased by 100 per cent and of that the steamers carried one fifth of the cargo though outnumbered one hundred and fifty to one by sail ships. The Hibernia, the company’s reserve ship entered service on the 19th of April 1843 and three months later Columbia was wrecked on a rock shelf near Seal Island during thick fog, fortunately all onboard were rescued including the all important mails and cargo, eventually the wreck was abandoned to the elements. A replacement vessel was ordered immediately from the yard of Robert Steele & Sons of Greenock and entered service on the 4th of January 1845; also this year saw the death of one of the company’s founding partners, David MacIver. Chagrined at loosing out to Boston, New York, particularly its press never let anything pass in the fortunes of Cunard without referring to its preferred decision given to its choice of terminus. Even after Columbia foundered the newspapers contained nought but vitriolic attacks on the company’s ill advised choice and thereby continued a whispering campaign against the port of Boston. However it was not the press that was to signal a new beginning for New York but the Government of the United States and the inclement weather of Boston itself. In 1845 the U.S Postmaster General invited tenders for its mail services from New York to Liverpool, Bristol, Southampton, Antwerp, Bremen, Hamburg, Le Havre, Brest and Lisbon. Six tenders were eventually submitted though two missed the deadline by months, the first successful tender was awarded to Edward Mills, a man with no experience in shipping whatsoever, his service was to operate from New York to Bremen, on a fortnightly basis for a contracted period of five years for an agreed figure of $400,000. Mills subsequently floated the Ocean Steam Navigation Company in 1846, however his flotation was heavily under subscribed and instead of raising the required $1,000,000 for the construction of four ships he raised $600,000, which would only cover the cost of two ships, the subsidy was immediately cut to $200,000 and he lost the concession for the Le Havre service. The contract for the Le Havre service was awarded to the New York and Havre Steam Navigation Company and they operated the Washington and Herman for ten years before going out of business. Cunard’s response was to renegotiate his contract with the Admiralty, in doing so he undertook to operate a weekly service for eight months of the year and fortnightly for the remainder. The annual fee rose to £156,000 and because of the extra passages required an increase in the fleet became necessary. Strangely the U.S Government, perhaps realising its mistake with Mills reconsidered one of the ‘Late’ tenders that of E.K.Collins, and much to his surprise awarded him a contract in the March of 1847, at least Collins had a shipping background, his very own Dramatic Line of sailing packets. The following year saw the arrival of the four new Cunarders, America, Niagara, Europa and Canada, each of some 1,800 tons, their entry into service dramatically changed Collin’s building programme to build five 2,000 tonners, instead he agreed with his partner James Brown to approach the US Government to reduce the ships built to four 3,000 tonners. Not only did the Government concur they also agreed to advance Collins $25,000 a month on each ship after it was launched. EUROPA  BERTHED AT BOSTON Built: 1848 by John Wood & Co., Port Glasgow. Tonnage: 1,834 grt, 992 nt. Engine: Paddle, side leaver 2 Cylinder, 670 NHP, 10 kts, by Robert Napier & Sons, Glasgow. Passengers: 140 Cabin Class. Made her maiden voyage Liverpool-Halifax-Boston on the 15th of June 1848 and on the 27th collided with and sank the barque Charles Bartlett in fog, 135 were lost, not an auspicious start to her career. Served during the Crimean War as a transport in 1854. She collided with another Cunard ship, Arabia, off Cape Race when in thick fog in 1858. In 1865 she made her final voyage for the company on the 1st of April and after lay up was sold and converted to a sailing ship in 1867. Go to Part Two |
