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Steam Titans: Cunard, Collins, and the Epic Battle for Commerce on the North Atlantic
The story of the epic contest between shipping magnates Samuel Cunard and Edward Collins for mid-19th century control of the Atlantic.
Between 1815 and the American Civil War, the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution delivered a sea change in oceanic transportation. Steam travel transformed the Atlantic into a pulsating highway, dominated by ports in Liverpool and New York, as steamships ferried people, supplies, money, and information with astounding speed and regularity. American raw materials flowed eastward, while goods, capital, people, and technology crossed westward. The Anglo-American “partnership” fueled development worldwide; it also gave rise to a particularly intense competition.
Steam Titans tells the story of a transatlantic fight to wrest control of the globe's most lucrative trade route. Two men—Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins—and two nations wielded the tools of technology, finance, and politics to compete for control of a commercial lifeline that spanned the North Atlantic. The world watched carefully to see which would win. Each competitor sent to sea the fastest, biggest, and most elegant ships in the world, hoping to earn the distinction of being known as “the only way to cross.”
Historian William M. Fowler brings to life the spectacle of this generation-long struggle for supremacy, during which New York rose to take her place among the greatest ports and cities of the world, and recounts the tale of a competition that was the opening act in the drama of economic globalization, still unfolding today.
Between 1815 and the American Civil War, the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution delivered a sea change in oceanic transportation. Steam travel transformed the Atlantic into a pulsating highway, dominated by ports in Liverpool and New York, as steamships ferried people, supplies, money, and information with astounding speed and regularity. American raw materials flowed eastward, while goods, capital, people, and technology crossed westward. The Anglo-American “partnership” fueled development worldwide; it also gave rise to a particularly intense competition.
Steam Titans tells the story of a transatlantic fight to wrest control of the globe's most lucrative trade route. Two men—Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins—and two nations wielded the tools of technology, finance, and politics to compete for control of a commercial lifeline that spanned the North Atlantic. The world watched carefully to see which would win. Each competitor sent to sea the fastest, biggest, and most elegant ships in the world, hoping to earn the distinction of being known as “the only way to cross.”
Historian William M. Fowler brings to life the spectacle of this generation-long struggle for supremacy, during which New York rose to take her place among the greatest ports and cities of the world, and recounts the tale of a competition that was the opening act in the drama of economic globalization, still unfolding today.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2017
36 people are currently reading
376 people want to read
About the author
William M. Fowler Jr.
22 books14 followersWilliam Morgan Fowler Jr. is a professor of history at Northeastern University, Boston and an author. He served as Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society from 1998 through 2005. He earned his BA from the University of Indiana in 1967 and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 12, 2018
Fowler does an excellent job of bringing the early steam age alive, without boring readers with unneeded details. This book could serve as an excellent resource for authors writing stories with antebellum settings. Fowler offers great historical detail and notes on popular figures of the day who crossed the Atlantic on the newfangled steamboats. Many details on the political machinations behind it all, too.
November 8, 2017
This review is of an ARC I received through a Goodreads giveaway.
A delightful book, and a model for how to write popular history. The book is structured around the lives of two men, but Fowler always keeps an eye on the bigger historical picture and doesn't allow biographical details to hijack the story. He demonstrates an intimate knowledge of economic history and of steam engine technology, and he provides detailed and striking profiles of New York, Boston, Halifax, and Liverpool in this period. There are cameos by the likes of Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, and Mark Twain, and they all contribute something significant to the narrative. I'm just extremely impressed by how entertaining this book is without sacrificing seriousness or rigor. It's a damn fine piece of historical writing geared toward a broad audience.
I was left wanting more, so it was with pleasure that I realized I had previously picked up another one of Fowler's books at a used bookstore. If his other work is this solid, I think he'll become a go-to author for me.
A delightful book, and a model for how to write popular history. The book is structured around the lives of two men, but Fowler always keeps an eye on the bigger historical picture and doesn't allow biographical details to hijack the story. He demonstrates an intimate knowledge of economic history and of steam engine technology, and he provides detailed and striking profiles of New York, Boston, Halifax, and Liverpool in this period. There are cameos by the likes of Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, and Mark Twain, and they all contribute something significant to the narrative. I'm just extremely impressed by how entertaining this book is without sacrificing seriousness or rigor. It's a damn fine piece of historical writing geared toward a broad audience.
I was left wanting more, so it was with pleasure that I realized I had previously picked up another one of Fowler's books at a used bookstore. If his other work is this solid, I think he'll become a go-to author for me.
August 11, 2017
My husband and I have cruised across the Atlantic several times and I have never given any thought to the background of transatlantic travel. Who knew it had such a fascinating history?
This is a well-researched, well-written story of the competition between two men and two countries for primacy over the North Atlantic and all its implications for the economic future that entailed.
It contains lots and lots of little historical factoids that makes it especially interesting and relevant.
I am not a historian of commercial sailing but I enjoyed this book. This is the kind of book that reminds me that there are all sorts of interesting historical tidbits that are fascinating stories of how we got to where we are.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.
This is a well-researched, well-written story of the competition between two men and two countries for primacy over the North Atlantic and all its implications for the economic future that entailed.
It contains lots and lots of little historical factoids that makes it especially interesting and relevant.
I am not a historian of commercial sailing but I enjoyed this book. This is the kind of book that reminds me that there are all sorts of interesting historical tidbits that are fascinating stories of how we got to where we are.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.
December 21, 2017
In the late 1400's, a voyage across the Atlantic was months long, uncomfortable, dangerous, and sometimes deadly. By the early 1800's, it had gotten a little faster, but otherwise it hadn't changed much. Then steam power became practical, and after revolutionizing industry and transportation on land, it began to come to sea. In the 1840's, two men - one Canadian, the other American - realized that steamships could make faster, more regular and more comfortable service across the Atlantic possible - but it could only happen if government subsidies help pay for the service. Steam Titans tells the story of those two men, the companies they founded, what led to and impacted their businesses, and why one of their companies still exists (sort of) and is now synonymous with Transatlantic travel, while the other failed in spite of providing faster and more comfortable service.
William Fowler takes a subject that sounds like something that'd appeal to a very narrow audience and makes the story engaging. It's interesting to see the various things in the U.S. and the U.K. that affected the advent of regular steamship service, and how some of them parallel issues we're seeing today. You get a feel for what it was like to travel at sea at that time, and you witness disasters at sea that foreshadow more famous tragedies of the 20th century. Quick read and a very enjoyable book, although it drags a little here and there. Give it a read before your next (or first) cruise!
William Fowler takes a subject that sounds like something that'd appeal to a very narrow audience and makes the story engaging. It's interesting to see the various things in the U.S. and the U.K. that affected the advent of regular steamship service, and how some of them parallel issues we're seeing today. You get a feel for what it was like to travel at sea at that time, and you witness disasters at sea that foreshadow more famous tragedies of the 20th century. Quick read and a very enjoyable book, although it drags a little here and there. Give it a read before your next (or first) cruise!
January 22, 2018
This is a very readable and fascinating story of the race to build the first regularly scheduled trans-atlantic business that happened to also be the dawn of commercial steam ships. The backdrop is also the history of the US and Britain in the mid-1800s.
Fowler does a great job of defining expressing the characters of the two protagonists (Cunard and Collins). Most everyone is familiar with the Cunard name, but Collins is certainly not a well known figure. The intersection of these men, technology and skyrocketing demand for communications and travel makes a fascinating. Like the introduction of canals and railroads, there was a major role for government (good and bad) and huge sums of money to get it started. The economic trajectory of steamship travel was very different though, and Fowler's closing section on what happened to the merchant maritime in both England and US is thought provoking.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I have to say that having recently read Stephen Ambrose's book on the building of the transcontinenal railway makes for great comparison in a similar time frame.
Fowler does a great job of defining expressing the characters of the two protagonists (Cunard and Collins). Most everyone is familiar with the Cunard name, but Collins is certainly not a well known figure. The intersection of these men, technology and skyrocketing demand for communications and travel makes a fascinating. Like the introduction of canals and railroads, there was a major role for government (good and bad) and huge sums of money to get it started. The economic trajectory of steamship travel was very different though, and Fowler's closing section on what happened to the merchant maritime in both England and US is thought provoking.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I have to say that having recently read Stephen Ambrose's book on the building of the transcontinenal railway makes for great comparison in a similar time frame.
December 27, 2018
Detailed book by William M. Fowler investigating the beginning of trans-Atlantic passenger steam ship travel. The was quite a revolution for the time interconnected with the industrial revolution sweeping many parts of the world. The new steam ships plying between the UK and America were the equivalent of travelling at light speed compared to the already much adapted and improved sailing ships and clippers. The author concentrates on the people who achieved this and the machinations they went through to do it, Samuel Cunard, whose name lives on, Edward Knight Collins, who went bankrupt and was fairly much forgotten, with Cornelius Vanderbilt getting a foot in the door occasionally.
October 29, 2022
As the title promises, the author gives you a blow by blow accounting of how the American Collins Line and the British Cunard Line came to be, how they became competitors for the high-end market of North Atlantic commerce, and how Cunard endured, whereas Collins was reduced to an antiquarian footnote. What was news to me is that so intense were the costs of this traffic, that the two business organizations wound up being under-the-table collaborators to bolster their interests, a relationship that was not uncovered until 1975; had this come out in the 1850s heads would have rolled.
May 12, 2017
An interesting history of the rise of steam power and its gradual replacement of sail, culminating in the rivalry between British-backed Cunard and American-and-secretly-British-backed Collins. There's plenty of history thrown in and cameo appearances by famous characters, along with a good wreck or two.
If you enjoy history of technology or general seafaring lore, I would recommend this book.
(Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity to review it.)
If you enjoy history of technology or general seafaring lore, I would recommend this book.
(Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity to review it.)
July 7, 2017
A thoroughly researched account of the birth of luxury passenger transportation and the battle between Cunard and Collins. I found the story richly detailed and came away with a knowledge of the steamship industry that I didnt have before. When we look at the history of passenger ship travel most books focus on ships like the Titanic and the Lusitania but Steam Titans shows us the battle for passengers and speed started 50 years before those mega ships.
September 9, 2017
A well written history that will appeal to a very narrow audience (history buffs with a particular interest in navel affairs). The book centers on the competition between the Cunard steamships based in England and the Collins boats in the United States. They are competing in the lucrative market transporting people, mail and goods between Europe and America. A tremendous amount of research went into the book. I liked it but I teach history at a junior college.
May 17, 2020
I expected to love this book. Unfortunately I didn't. It takes about 100 pages to get started and get on topic. Then it ends abruptly. I am not sure exactly what the book is about and I doubt William M. Fowler Jr. is either. It gets as many as three stars because I did enjoy the half of the book that was about what the title suggests.
July 27, 2017
After the Anglo american war , we won the next one too !!
Enjoyed it imensly, thanks for a chance to read this exelent political economics history lesson! !
Thanks for Ms.Whitaker and for a professor Fowler !!
Laszlo
Enjoyed it imensly, thanks for a chance to read this exelent political economics history lesson! !
Thanks for Ms.Whitaker and for a professor Fowler !!
Laszlo
November 13, 2017
The story of the Cunard & Collins battle for control of the 'Atlantic Trade' in the nineteenth century. Focusing on New York and Boston for the rich trade between America and the British Empire.
Interesting history. Well worth the read.
Interesting history. Well worth the read.
November 26, 2017
Mostly good read about the development of steam ships. Lots of good background information; probably could have used another chapter on the development of stream ships after the initial routes however.
May 20, 2018
I enjoyed this book. It sheds light on a period of history I had not given much thought too i.e. how did shipborne passenger and mail traffic develop between the U.S. and the UK. An interesting glimpse into antebellum U.S. maritime history.
March 22, 2019
An absolute joy.
Beautifully written and does a wonderful job blending the history of two steam pioneers - Collins and Cunard - with the economic and political climate on both sides of the Atlantic.
Beautifully written and does a wonderful job blending the history of two steam pioneers - Collins and Cunard - with the economic and political climate on both sides of the Atlantic.
November 2, 2019
Interesting history of sailing and steaming across the Atlantic in the 1800’s. Good level of detail and narrative thread. Continuity waned a bit toward the end and the role of Cornelius Vanderbilt was left hanging, thus 3 rather than 4 stars.
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September 13, 2017Disclaimer: I got an advance reading copy through a Goodreads giveaway.
Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins were the type of businessmen that drove countries to create rules. Anti-monopoly rules. Safety rules. Fascinating characters that lobbied their governments to get contracts that were favorable to their businesses. Cunard with England and Collins with the U.S. pushed for steam ship mail contracts across the Atlantic. Speedy mail and freight meant greater security for a country, better economic conditions, and increased national pride.
Sailing ships brought mail across the ocean, but it was slow and was at the whims of wind and weather. A steam ship could keep moving even when the wind blew the wrong way or not at all.
William M. Fowler Jr lays the foundation for the times and progress. Early chapters cover the revolution and early history of the United States. At least several generations of each man’s family is introduced to create a context of their drive, decisions, and skills. The partners and competitors all play their part in the story of these entrepreneurs.
Steam provided a technological advance, but also challenges. There was a steep, and sometimes deadly learning curve of what steam could safely do. But safety was not just a challenge for the technology. Hard-driving captains of industry created business cultures that pushed for speed even if fog and ice posed deadly hazards.
Those interested in history in general, and especially history of technology or business would find this book to be a good story.
Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins were the type of businessmen that drove countries to create rules. Anti-monopoly rules. Safety rules. Fascinating characters that lobbied their governments to get contracts that were favorable to their businesses. Cunard with England and Collins with the U.S. pushed for steam ship mail contracts across the Atlantic. Speedy mail and freight meant greater security for a country, better economic conditions, and increased national pride.
Sailing ships brought mail across the ocean, but it was slow and was at the whims of wind and weather. A steam ship could keep moving even when the wind blew the wrong way or not at all.
William M. Fowler Jr lays the foundation for the times and progress. Early chapters cover the revolution and early history of the United States. At least several generations of each man’s family is introduced to create a context of their drive, decisions, and skills. The partners and competitors all play their part in the story of these entrepreneurs.
Steam provided a technological advance, but also challenges. There was a steep, and sometimes deadly learning curve of what steam could safely do. But safety was not just a challenge for the technology. Hard-driving captains of industry created business cultures that pushed for speed even if fog and ice posed deadly hazards.
Those interested in history in general, and especially history of technology or business would find this book to be a good story.
April 1, 2018
Fascinating story about Edward Collins, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and PT Barnum. All contributors to steam ship travel. The politics and tech involved in establishing dominance while each company battled for traffic. Passenger paddle boats would never succeed, unable to carry enough people to make it pay. And those ships were slow. Unable to carry enough coal, they were limited in terms of the distance they could cross. Government subsidies were needed to make it work and so political connections were needed. Cunard vs Collins. The fall of US shipping began with this story, and reinforced by the post-civil war laws that required American ships to ship US good to US ports, putting a stop to competition and the supply of US built ships. A good read, well documented.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews