Company story – The Cunard Line
The Cunard Line started its life in Glasgow in 1839 as the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company when Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract. He joined hands with ship-owner George Burns and Scottish steamship engine designer and builder Robert Napier, to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers between Liverpool in England and Boston in the USA via Halifax in Canada.