In connection with the building of the "Campania," I have a pleasing recollection of a visit to Castle Wemyss, on the Clyde, the residence of the then chairman of the Cunard Company, Mr. John Burns. Mr. Burns took me to call upon his father, Sir George Burns, who resided at Wemyss House. He was then a very old man, over 90 years of age, and as he lay upon his bed he looked very picturesque, with his handsome aquiline features and his snow-white locks resting upon the pillow. He told me with evident pride of the early days of the Cunard Company, of which he was one of the founders, the others being Mr. Cunard of Halifax, Mr. Charles MacIver of Liverpool, and his brother Mr. David MacIver; and he narrated his recollections of the old sailing brigs which used to convey the mails to Halifax, before the days of steamships. Sir George died soon after my visit, and was succeeded in his baronetcy by his son, Mr. John Burns, who at the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen, in 1897, was created a Peer (Lord Inverclyde). He died in 1901, and was succeeded by his son George, who died in 1905, after holding the title only a few years, and was succeeded by his brother James, the present Peer. The second Lord Inverclyde, who was also chairman of the Cunard Company, was a man of conspicuous ability, with a big grasp of affairs. It was he who carried through the agreement with the Government, which resulted in the building of the "Mauretania" and "Lusitania." During these negotiations he displayed so much energy, tact, and knowledge of shipping, that had he lived he was marked out for high position in the Government. It has been my privilege during the twenty-two years I have been a director of the Cunard Company, to serve under five chairmen--the first Lord Inverclyde, Mr. Jardine, the second Lord Inverclyde, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Booth.
Sir George Burns' reference to the making of the Cunard Company brings to my mind the story told by my father-in-law, William Miles Moss, of the beginnings of the Mediterranean steamship trade, which has made for Liverpool people so many great fortunes. He said that his firm, James Moss and Co., Vianna Chapple and Co., and John Bibby and Sons, were engaged in the Mediterranean trade, which they conducted with sailing schooners and brigs. In 1848 he thought the time had arrived to replace these by steamers, and his firm chartered a paddle steamer, which traded to the Isle of Man, for an experimental voyage to the Mediterranean. She made a most successful voyage to Genoa, Leghorn, etc., and he was so encouraged that he made a contract to build a screw steamer for the Egyptian trade to cost £21,000. Mr. Moss invited the heads of the firms I have named to dinner at his house, in Lower Breck Road, and told them what he had done, and asked them to take shares in his new venture, and then passed a paper round the table that they might write down the interest they were willing to take. It was returned to him with only £12,000 subscribed. He said, "I told them they were a shabby lot, and that I would take the balance." This was the first steamer built to trade between Liverpool and Alexandria.