Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard

Gordon Turner is the author of Empress of Britain: Canadian Pacific’s
Greatest Ship and the editor of SeaFare, a quarterly newsletter on sea
travel.

Samuel Cunard, founder of the famed Cunard Line, was born in Halifax and
for many years was one of the leading businessmen in his native city and
throughout the Maritime region. This biography tells of the impressive
commercial acumen he had acquired at an early age: while still
comparatively young he had business interests in shipping, shipbuilding,
banks, coal mining, whaling, timber, and food importing. He was not
simply a passive investor, however, he was a man with excellent
managerial skills, which he exercised fully in all his undertakings. The
book also describes Cunard’s work on government committees and boards
of philanthropic organizations. His crowning achievement was the
formation of the Cunard Line, albeit a British company, which, starting
in 1840, provided a long-overdue regular steamship service from Britain
to the United States and Canada. The company remains in existence today,
although much changed from what it was in Cunard’s lifetime.

Langley has written a useful, thoroughly researched, balanced biography
of Samuel Cunard as businessman, husband and father, and benefactor to
Halifax. The book is not without flaws, though; misspellings and
inconsistencies mar the text.