Halifax Shipping News

Cunard Steamships
America    and    Europa

The British Colonist
10th March 1849

America westbound, arriving from England with the news carried on the second run of the Nova Scotia Pony Express, and Europa eastbound from New York, having, on the previous westbound trip, conveyed the news carried on the first run of the Nova Scotia Pony Express.



Cunard steamship America, North Atlantic service, 1849

Cunard steamship Europa, North Atlantic service, 1849

Shipping News
The British Colonist
(newspaper)
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Saturday, March 10th, 1849

These items read:
Latest from Europe
    The Royal Mail Steamer America, Captain
Shannon, arrived on Thursday morning at half
past two o'clock, bringing London and Liver-
pool dates to the 24th ult. The news is not of
an exciting character; but, as regards the com-
mercial prosperity of England, highly satisfac-
tory. From our latest files we make such ex-
tracts as time and space permit.


    The Steamship Europa arrived at 2 o'-
clock this morning, on her way to Liverpool,
with 82 passengers. Papers were furnished us
by the Exchange News Room, but there is no
news of interest; no change in the Flour mar-
ket since accounts by Telegraph.


Explanatory Notes

Latest from Europe
    The Royal Mail Steamer America, Captain
Shannon, arrived on Thursday morning at half
past two o'clock, bringing London and Liver-
pool dates to the 24th ult...

America arrived in Halifax at 2:30am on Thursday, March 8th, 1849. She had brought newspapers from London and Liverpool, the latest of which which had been published as recently as February 24th. When it arrived at Halifax, this news was twelve days old at best, and some was considerably older. On Thursday, March 8th, this was the latest news available in Halifax of what had happened recently in Europe. Available in Halifax, but not yet available in Boston or New York. Immediately on arrival, a specially-prepared and sealed packet of Associated Press news had been taken from the ship and given to the Associated Press express rider, to be galloped from Halifax to Victoria Beach, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, where a chartered steamship was waiting with steam up to carry it to Saint John, New Brunswick, where it was immediately transmitted over the new electric telegraph line connecting Saint John with Boston and New York. It was then set in type by special relays of typesetters at each subscribing newspaper, run through the presses, and was distributed on the streets of New York early Friday morning, March 9th, which was about 36 hours faster than waiting for America to bring it. The news carried by the pony express and the electric telegraph was a fairly short summary only, and the complete report of the latest news from Europe reached the United States only when America got to her destination (which, under Cunard's contract, may have been either Boston or New York).


...From our latest files we make such ex-
tracts as time and space permit.

From the European newspapers, the editor of the British Colonist would reprint recent European news items for his Halifax readers, depending on how much space was available in each issue. Other newspapers, such as The Yarmouth Herald, would do the same when this news reached them. An important or interesting news item might be reprinted several times, as news from England was reprinted in Halifax newspapers, again reprinted after the Halifax newspapers arrived at more remote places, and perhaps reprinted again.


...Papers were furnished us
by the Exchange News Room...

Newspapers arriving at Halifax by ship were taken to the Exchange News Room, Halifax, and were then distributed by messenger to the local subscribing newspapers. This was done for news coming from either direction, in ships westbound from England or eastbound from the United States and New Brunswick.



Microfilm copies of the British Colonist and many other nineteenth-century Nova Scotia newspapers are available at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, University Avenue, Halifax.



More About the
Nova Scotia Pony Express

The 1849 Nova Scotia Pony Express
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyexdx.html


Photographs of the Nova Scotia Pony Express monument
    http://ns1763.ca/annapco/ponyexmon.html


Pony Express Monument Unveiled, Halifax Chronicle-Herald 27 Aug 1953
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex12.html


The Pony Express Plaque Installed in 1949 100th Anniversary
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex04.html


Halifax Express The Novascotian, 26 February 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex66.html


Halifax Express The British Colonist, 10 March 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex67.html


Halifax Express The Acadian Recorder, 10 March 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex68.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express 1849, by John Regan 5 January 1912
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex01.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express 1849, by George Mullane 1 Jan 1914
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex02.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express 1849, by Murrille Schofield 1973
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex03.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express, by D. A. MacNeill April 1940
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex16.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express, by CBC Radio 11 June 1999
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex20.html


The Cunard Steamship fleet, 1849
These ships brought the news carried by the Pony Express
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex13.html


Burket's Exchange News Room Halifax 1848-1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex17.html


Pony Express Editorial, Halifax Chronicle-Herald 15 Feb 1999
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex06.html


Radio Station X1J1F Victoria Beach, Nova Scotia, 1999
set up in recognition of the 150th anniversary
of the 1849 Nova Scotia Pony Express
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex11.html


The Oregon Boundary dispute, 1849
Britain and USA close to war – the Nova Scotia Pony Express
was the fastest link carrying breaking news to U.S.A.
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex19.html





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