The summer of 1840, and Boston Harbor is thrumming with politicians, business people, civic leaders, members of the judiciary, and the public. The city is ready for a celebration, and its citizens are waiting impatiently for the arrival of a new age. The elegant Britannia finally enters the harbor loaded with mail from England ushering in the Age of Steam to the Atlantic. This event crystallizes Samuel Cunard’s vision and the world will never be the same.

This is the story of a man born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, whose father and mother fled colonial New York after the American Revolution, and became one the most powerful forces of international trade in the nineteenth century. His innovative steamship Britannia was the first reliable, timely link between the Old World and the New, and the transatlantic transportation of mail, goods, and passengers was revolutionized. The continued success of the Cunard Line is a testament to Samuel Cunard’s brilliance as both a mariner and a businessman.

The first full-length biography of one of the most fascinating figures in mercantile history, Steam Lion is an important and engaging record of a man, his business, and his times.