The “Dramatic” History of the Collins Line (1849 – 1858)

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The Collins Line was America’s attempt to maintain its supremacy over the merchant trade in the Atlantic, a status it maintained during the sailing packet era but began to lose with the advent of steamships. The British wanted to capture that dominance, especially since its navy was so formidable, and chose the newly formed Cunard Line to be their forerunning, being funded by generous subsidies from the Royal Mail. Edward Collins was the entrepreneur behind the Collins Line who saw the need for an American shipping company subsidized by the US Post Office in order to compete with Cunard, but the division in the United States as the Civil War drew closer led to objections, particularly from Southern Senators who didn’t want their tax dollars funding a Northern company.

What would have likely been a successful shipping line was marked with disaster due to stipulations attached to the government subsidy, ultimately leading to the destruction of the man behind the enterprise.

This is the first video in my Collins series and I’ll be publishing one a week. I reference several videos, but some of these videos may not be published yet if you’re tuning in during May, 2022.

Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction
0:41 – Edward Collins and the I.G. Collins Company
3:37 – Steamship Rivalries
5:53 – The Collins Line is Founded
11:31 – Disaster Strikes
14:41 – The Collins Line Folds

HEADS UP TO NEW PATRONS: I’m traveling on a business trip for 4 weeks during the publication of this series. The videos in the series are already finished, uploaded, and scheduled for publication and give shoutouts to my Patrons as of May 6th, 2022. If you join up after this date, I’ll be giving you your shoutouts in videos after I return from the trip in June.