Ice War in Havana
It began in the 1830s. The parties were the "Ice King", Frederic Tudor, and his agent in Havana, Cuba, John W. Damon.
This was a classic business brawl for the most profitable ice market in that time. Damon even wrote a lengthy pamphlet about the disagreements called, The Havana Ice-House Controversy, or Facts Versus Falsehood: In Regard to Transactions Between Frederic Tudor and John W. Damon.
John W. Damon ended building his own icehouse. Tudor sued and a price war began.
All this happened before faraway Calcuta became Tudor’s most lucrative single destination a decade later. But Havana was the most profitable per-ton ice market because it was one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities in the Western Hemisphere thanks to the sugar and coffee booms.
Damon built the original icehouse by the city walls right on Havana Bay. The business was at Baratillo Street, neighboring the house of the Marquis of Villalta - the house number 5. The icehouse was demolished later by order of the island authorities because its location interfered with repairs needed for the city walls.
A side note: The Havana walls were impressive. 3.1-mile long, 10-meter-high, and 1.5-meter-thick. They had nine bastions and 180 guns with 11 guarded gates that were closed nightly. The Spaniards began to remove them in 1863, but short segments still survive.
The bay was closed by a chain at the entrance between the Morro Castle (Castle of the Three Kings of Morro) and La Punta (The Point or Castillo San Salvador de la Punta). No doubt that Havana was a Spanish stronghold.
Back to the ice war between Tudor and Damon.
Damon ended bankrupted by the legal costs and the price war. He sold his icehouse and left the business.
It's said that is hard to sell ice to an Eskimo, but in the tropics, you stand a chance - if there are not powerful competitors like the "Ice King" around.