Historic Figure: Samuel Cunard, Halifax, NS, Canada

Samuel Cunard

Halifax, NS

Canada

N 44° 38.466 W 063° 33.995

Short Description: 

A monument honoring shipping magnate Samuel Cunard is located in the Halifax Seaport District near Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Long Description:

A monument to Samuel Cunard contains a 10' high bronze statue of the Halifax born shipping pioneer and founder of the Cunard Lines. The statue was created by Halifax native Peter Bustin and cast by Artcast Foundry in Georgetown, Ontario.

Cunard is wearing a three piece suit and a bow tie. He is standing on a bronze plinth attached to a polished black granite base while looking over his right shoulder. He has his right hand resting on an engine order telegraph device. Inscribed on the front of the base is:

Samuel Cunard 

1787 - 1865

Haligonian - World Benefactor

The left side of the base is simply inscribed:

CUNARD

A bronze plaque in front of the monument contains his biography and the history of the Cunard Line.

                      SAMUEL CUNARD 
Samuel Cunard was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on
November 21, 1787. He was the eldest son of Abraham
and Margaret Cunard, United Empire Loyalists who
emigrated from Philadelphia (Germantown) to Nova
Scotia in 1783. His marriage to Susan Duffus produced
nine children, all born in Halifax. For more than half
a century, the S. Cunard & Company wharves on the
Halifax waterfront were the centre of a vast shipping
empire engaged in the West Indies trade. Samuel Cunard
became the foremost entrepreneur in Halifax and one
of the largest owners of sailing vessels in the 
Maritime Provinces.

Samuel Cunard was a visionary who foresaw steam power
replacing sail on the North Atlantic. he became the pioneer
of ocean steam navigation when the paddle steamer Britannia,
first flagship of the British & North American Royal Mail
Steam Packet Company later known as the Cunard Line,
arrived in Halifax on its maiden voyage from Liverpool,
England on July 17, 1840. The advent of steam on the North
Atlantic forever altered commerce and communication
between the Old and New Worlds.

RMS Britannia, first flagship of the British
& North American Royal Mail Steam
Packet Company (Cunard Line) and her
three sister ships, Acadia, Caledonia
and Columbia commenced the 
first regularly scheduled 
transatlantic delivery of the 
mails by steam power in 1840.

Bronze plaques on the base indicate that:

THIS MONUMENT WAS RELOCATED ON AUGUST 24, 2010

AND WAS REDEDICATED IN A PUBLIC COMMEMORATIVE

CEREMONY DURING THE INAUGURAL VISIT OF

CUNARD LINE'S QUENN ELIZABETH ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

THE 

HALIFAX

FOUNDATION

and

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE HALIFAX FOUNDATION

WITH THE SUPPORT OF THESE PUBLIC SPIRITED CORPORATIONS

CN

Cunard Line

Halifax Foundation

Halifax Port Authority

Secunda marine Limited

The Bank of Nova Scotia

Waterfront Development Corporation

The Cunard Steamship Society