THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL 187 



George Burns, of Glasgow, the ripe practical know- 

 ledge of David Maclver, of Liverpool, and the resources 

 of both, his enterprise might have failed. Still, he 

 was its central figure — a figure, by the way, which 

 was as familiar a sight in Water Street, Halifax, 

 as the Province Building which houses the Legis- 

 lature of Nova Scotia or the old wooden church of 

 1750. 



For those who have visited Halifax, I may mention 

 that Sir Samuel Cunard resided in a house in Bruns- 

 wick Street, north of the Garrison Chapel, on the 

 opposite side. The baronet's garden reached down 

 to Water Street, where Cunard's Wharf is situated, 

 and where the first Cunarders — Unicorn and Britannia 

 — were docked in 1840-41. But there are noCunards 

 in Halifax now, although the firm of S. Cunard 

 and Co. is still doing business at the old stand. 



Until Cunard took up the Transatlantic question, 

 the mail- service was of a very uncertain kind ; in 

 fact, passages by the largest and best vessels were 

 often greatl}^ prolonged, and those of vessels of the 

 smaller class were more protracted still. The Hon. 

 Charles Augustus Murray* relates how he sailed from 

 Liverpool, on April 18, 1834, on board the good ship 

 Waverley, 530 tons, bound for New York. After 

 putting into Fa^^al for repairs, they anchored off 

 Sandy Hook on July 25, three months and a week 

 after leaving the Mersey. This, it must be owned, 

 was a passage of phenomenal length. 



■^ ' Travels in North America.' Eichard Bentley, 1841. 



