Hugh Allan - The Allan Royal Mail Line

The Allan Royal Mail Line

In 1851, Hugh Allan had been elected President of the Montreal Board of Trade. As an entrepreneur and the chosen head of Montreal's business community, he used this position to advocate the establishment of a regular government-subsidised steamship line between Britain, Montreal and Portland. The service, Allan declared, would deliver Royal Mail to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean while transporting immigrants to North America. Though it was Allan's idea, competition for the contract was fierce. Despite significant support on both sides of the Atlantic and careful preparation, Allan lost the bid in 1853. However, the consortium that won the contract, headed by Samuel Cunard, ran into trouble almost immediately and Allan reacted by building more ships on the Clyde using superior technology (notably the Canadian and the Indian). These ships formed the nucleus of Allan's Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, incorporated by him and his brother, Andrew, in 1856. It was carefully created to be Canadian, but it was inextricably linked (and financed) by the Allan family in Scotland. In 1856, with the help of conservative politicians such as Sir John Rose, Sir George-Étienne Cartier and Lewis Drummond, the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company (popularly referred to as the Allan Line) wrested back the contract from Samuel Cunard. By 1859, service was on a weekly basis and Allan reported his capital investment in the company at £3.5 million.

Beyond mail and emigrating passengers, the Allan Line carried Royalty (converting one of its ships with no expense nor detail to attention spared), troops (in the Crimean and Zulu wars), general cargo, manufactured goods and much needed Canadian wheat to Britain. After the Victoria Bridge opened in 1859, Allan became dependent on the Grand Trunk Railway and signed a ten-year deal with them. But, he soon became frustrated with the Railway when he wanted them to triple their deliveries from the American Midwest, and he felt threatened by the Railway's plans to form a steamship line of its own with rival firms in New York and Boston. By 1873, Allan expressed "a desire to protect ourselves".