 The record times of these steam ships (the Atlantic crossing to New York in thirteen and a half days) proved that steamers could make the trip in shorter time than the fastest sailing packet.The British government was farsighted enough to realize that the motive power of the immediate future was steam, and in 1839 heavily subsidized the Cunard Line, which began its career in 1840 with four side-wheeled wooden ships.The British Government, therefore, readily aided Samuel Cunard, as it did other owners, granting him a subsidy of $425,000 a year to carry the mails back and forth between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston, with an occasional visit to Quebec.