Cunard

Cunard, Sir Samuel, Bart., shipowner, was born in 1787 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He originated, and, in conjunction with Mr. George Burns, of Glasgow, and Mr. David MacIver, of Liverpool, carried out the scheme of a steam mail service to run between England and America, called the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. In 1840 the Britannia, carrying the mails, steamed out of Liverpool, and arrived in Boston in less than fifteen days. In 1855 the Persia, the first iron boat, was launched. The Scotia, the last paddle-steamer of the Atlantic service, was put on in 1862 and withdrawn in 1869. It was long the boast of the Company that they had never lost a life or a letter. A baronetcy was conferred on the founder of the Cunard line in 1859. He died in London in 1865.