“Steam Titans: Cunard, Collins, and the Epic Battle for Commerce on the North Atlantic” by William M. Fowler Jr. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2017. 368 pages, $30 (hardcover).

Sensationalized news stories of tragic deaths and acts of cowardice, partisan politics, secret deals, bribery and the battling interests of million-dollar companies. Nope, it’s not this morning’s tweet or last night’s news headline, but it is proof that there’s nothing new under the sun. It’s also the story of Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins and their battle for control of the seas. “Steam Titans” is the new book by William M. Fowler Jr. about those two men, their changing world and the countries they represented.

Fowler is among other things a distinguished professor of history at Northeastern University in Boston, a writer and lecturer. In his latest book, Fowler brings to life the struggle between Collins and Cunard, American and British firms, which would leave one man remembered and revered and the other nearly forgotten.

Beginning “Steam Titans” with the birth of this nation and its struggle for maritime prosperity, Fowler clearly re-creates the energy of the day. The infant government faced so many challenges, the loss of trade after the Revolutionary War being just one of them. Congress met that challenge with support of the nation’s ship builders who could build a vessel 50 percent cheaper than their English counterparts. This new commerce helped spark the growth of coastal regions, including Boston, New Orleans and New York. The increased growth helped drive the need for more commerce. Edward Collins’ father, Israel, would see a possibility for a better life than the one he had in Cape Cod as a farmer-fisherman, so he moved the family to New York and started a new chapter in his life as a merchant and shipping agent. The business would ultimately fail because of bad investments and Israel would die in an insane asylum, but Edward Collins would continue to see the sea as an opportunity.

The Cunard family had also been on the rise, as Samuel’s father, Abraham, had settled in Halifax where he worked as a carpenter. In 1793, with England’s war with France driving the economy of Nova Scotia, Abraham would be appointed master carpenter to the royal engineers. This position allowed a secure and steady income for the family, but unlike many of the day, including the Collins family, Abraham would not invest in shipping. True, the returns on a shipping investment could be very good, if the weather did not delay or sink the vessel and if it avoided pirates, but these were all too great of a risk for Cunard, who instead turned to real estate and timber.

Then suddenly things changed, as wooden vessels piloted by men and wind were being replaced by steam-powered vessels. The industrial revolution had begun, and neither land nor seas would ever be the same. In England, new factories began to turn out vast amounts of consumer goods. Mass production begat mass consumption which, in turn, begat mass expansion and the quest for new and ever-increasing markets. Traditional shipping was unable to meet the demands and thus steamships turned the Atlantic into an aquatic highway, carrying goods, raw materials and people across the oceans. It was not uncommon for a single ship to make the crossing between Liverpool and New York a dozen times in a single year vs. the three trips a wooden ship was lucky to make in the same time. The steamships carried more than just goods; information and communication were all carried with an astonishing new speed and regularity. This new world offered many opportunities for the men and governments who could master the technology and the sea.

New technologies are often scary at first, making it hard for investors to trust. Steamship technology was no different; it seemed at first too complex and costly. The first difficulty was in the size of the engine; they were simply too cumbersome for the narrow wooden ships of the day. Fuel was also a problem and the amount of wood or coal needed took up a lot of space, leaving less room for cargo. Less cargo equaled less profit.

“Steam Titans” follows the American and British inventors who would overcome the disadvantages of steam. The early success of steam came on rivers, as American shipbuilders built steamboats designed for speed on shallow, protected waters. Although revolutionary, the structure of these early vessels made them unsuitable for rough, deep-water sailing. Once that problem was solved, however, a battle for the most lucrative trade route in the world was underway – Collins and his American vessels vs. Cunard with his British ships. Each line sent out faster, bigger and more elegant ships than the one before. Collins’ would be the fastest, most elegant ships, but Cunard would be the last man standing.

But you don’t have to be an expert on ships to know that all tides turn. The ships that made them famous would also prove to be the undoing of one of them. Edward Collins would lose his son, two daughters, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren to the wreck of the Arctic. This tragedy shook the very foundation of the Collins line, which had been built on both public image and public subsidies. Cunard, on the other hand, reminded his customers that his ships had carried nearly 100,000 passengers across the Atlantic without a single injury. By 1870, there would not be any passenger liners under the American flag crossing the Atlantic. The sinking of the Arctic and cries of corruption would put an end to the subsidies needed to provide regular reliable service. Taxes levied during the Civil War to help pay for the war had sunk the American merchant fleet. The Homestead Act had also helped to divert attention from the Atlantic to the West. The government put its support with the railroads and Collins had lost and his role in the early stages of economic globalization would be forgotten. Cunard, on the other hand, would be remembered, revered and celebrated in England.

Fowler brings the vibrant cultures and personalities of those two men to life, showing how they were shaped by their personal histories and how in turn they helped to shape history. It’s what Fowler is so good at in “Steam Titans,” bringing history into the light of the present.

– Reviewed by Lyrae Borders, Glasgow.