The success which attended the voyages of the _Great Western_, and the manifest superiority of that steam-ship over the brigs which were then thought good enough to carry the mails across the Atlantic, induced the Government in October 1838 to invite tenders for the conveyance of the mails to America by steam vessels. Circulars were distributed broadcast, and one of them reached Samuel Cunard, a merchant of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who, as already stated, had entertained for many years the idea that the mails might be conveyed across the Atlantic more speedily than the “coffin brigs,” as the Government’s vessels were contemptuously termed, could carry them. From the year 1830, Cunard had been actively endeavouring to forward his scheme, but so little was thought of the powers of the steam-ship that the local merchants condemned his ideas as visionary and refused their co-operation. Accordingly he came to London but met with as little sympathy and financial support there as at Halifax. Fortunately for him and for the world, he was able to take a letter of introduction from the Secretary of the East India Company to Mr. Robert Napier, at that time the foremost steam-ship builder on the Clyde, and probably in the world. Mr. Napier had just achieved a remarkable success in the construction of one of the earlier Isle of Man boats, the _Mona’s Isle_, and the experiences through which she passed in triumph in one or two of her earliest voyages had greatly increased the fame of her builder. Mr. Napier himself used to say that he was largely indebted for his prosperity and reputation to the name made for him by the _Mona’s Isle_. He introduced Cunard to John Burns of Glasgow, who was already extensively engaged in the steamer coasting trade between Scotland, England, and Ireland, and he in turn introduced Cunard to his Liverpool partner, David MacIver. After hearing Cunard’s explanation of his project, the partners decided to support it, and such was their reputation for enterprise and for achieving success in everything they undertook that, through their instrumentality, the whole of the capital required, amounting to £270,000, was obtained. Backed up by Burns and MacIver, and with the promised support of Napier, Cunard was among those who tendered to the Admiralty for the conveyance of the mails once a fortnight between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston. A tender was also offered by the Great Western Steamship Company, on whose behalf it was urged that their _Great Western_ was already in existence and was prepared to undertake the work at once, and that the Cunard Company would either have to charter steamers or wait till they could be built. But the Government accepted the Cunard tender and a contract was signed for seven years, it being stipulated that four suitable steamers should be employed instead of three as originally required, and further, that the dates of arrival and departure should be adhered to.