In 1840 a Mail Steamship Service between Liverpool, Canada and the United States was established, the respective agents being Mr. Samuel Cunard, Halifax; Messrs. J. & G. Burns, Glasgow; and Messrs. David and Charles MacIver, Liverpool, the latter being the practical managers of the company. This service, which afterwards acquired a worldwide reputation as the “Cunard Line,” was modestly inaugurated by the despatch of the Liverpool and Glasgow steamer UNICORN (Captain Douglas), which sailed from Liverpool for Halifax and Boston on Saturday morning, 16th May, 1840. After she completed her outward voyage, she continued to ply between Pictou and Quebec, in connection with the British and North American Royal Mail Steamers. In 1850 was instituted the steamship service between Liverpool and Havre, the pioneer steamer being the COMMODORE, the well-known and favourite Liverpool and Glasgow steampacket. The coasting services were then carried on in the name of Charles MacIver & Co. About the same date, steamship services to the Mediterranean were begun. The Havre and the Mediterranean business was conducted in the name of Burns and MacIver. The elder of the two brothers (the founders of the “MacIver” steamship business), Mr. David MacIver, died unmarried in 1845. His brother, the late Mr. Charles MacIver, of Calderstones, then became the head of the firm, which position he held until his decease in 1885. In 1863 Mr. Charles MacIver admitted his eldest son, Mr. David MacIver, the present M.P. for the Kirkdale Division of Liverpool, into partnership. Mr. David MacIver remained a partner in the firms of D. & C. MacIver, Charles MacIver & Co. and Burns & MacIver for eleven years, when he retired from all three firms, and established an entirely separate steamship business, resuscitating the old title of David MacIver & Co. The first steamer built under the new regime was the TUSCANY. She was built in 1876 by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, Glasgow, and engined by the same eminent firm. After running in Messrs. David MacIver & Co.’s service for a number of years, she was purchased by Portuguese owners, and she is believed to have again changed owners and to be now sailing under the Spanish flag as the MARGARITA. The SICILY, the second steamer of the fleet, was built and engined by Messrs. Laird, Birkenhead, in 1876, and was sold to the Cullum Steam Shipping Co., of London. The following year (1877) the THESSALY and BARBARY were built for the firm by the builders of the SICILY. The latter steamer was sold, first to Messrs. Booth & Co., who changed her name to the CLEMENT, and subsequently to the Cia de Cabotagem do Grão Para, by whom she was named the MARAJO, and placed under the Brazilian flag.