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History | |
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Name | Pacific |
Namesake | Pacific Ocean |
Operator | Collins Line |
Route | New York-Liverpool |
Builder | Brown & Bell, New York |
Cost | $700,000 |
Launched | 1 Feb 1849 |
Maiden voyage | 25 May 1850 |
Honors and awards | Blue Riband holder, 21 Sep 1850–16 Aug 1851 |
Fate | Lost with all aboard under unknown circumstances, possibly sunk by iceberg, January 1856 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger ship |
Tonnage | 2,707 gross register tons |
Length | 281 ft (85.6 m) |
Beam | 45 ft (13.7 m) |
Propulsion | 2 × 95-inch cylinder (2.4 m), 9-foot stroke (2.7 m) side-lever engines, auxiliary sails |
Speed | 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph) |
Capacity | Passengers: 200 1st class, 80 2nd class |
Crew | 141 |
SS Pacific was a wooden-hulled, sidewheel steamer built in 1849 for transatlantic service with the American Collins Line. Designed to outclass their chief rivals from the British-owned Cunard Line, Pacific and her three sister ships (Atlantic, Arctic and Baltic) were the largest, fastest and most well-appointed transatlantic steamers of their day.
Pacific's career began on a high note when she set a new transatlantic speed record in her first year of service. However, after only five years in operation, the ship, with her entire complement of almost 200 passengers and crew, vanished without a trace during a voyage from Liverpool to New York City, which began on 23 January 1856. As of 2023 [update] Pacific's fate is not known. A message in a bottle found on the remote island of Uist within the Hebrides in 1861 declared her sunk by icebergs. [1]
For several decades prior to the 1840s, American sailing ships had dominated the transatlantic routes between Europe and the United States. With the advent of oceangoing steamships, however, the U.S. lost its dominance as British steamship companies, particularly the government-subsidized Cunard Line, established regular and reliable steam packet services between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. [2]
In 1847, Congress granted a large subsidy to the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company (S.S.C.) for the establishment of an American steam-packet service to compete with the Cunard Line. [3] With this generous subsidy in hand, the New York and Liverpool S.S.C. ordered four new ships from New York shipyards and established a new shipping line, the Collins Line, to manage them. The Collins Line ships were specifically designed to be larger and faster, and offer a greater degree of passenger comfort, than their Cunard Line counterparts. [2] Design of the ships was entrusted to a noted New York marine architect, George Steers. [4]
Pacific's 281-foot (85.6 m) wooden hull was built from yellow pine, with keel and frames of white oak and chestnut. Like her three sister ships, she had straight stems, a single smokestack, three square-rigged masts for auxiliary power, and a flat main deck with two single-story cabins, one fore and one aft. [3] The ships were painted in Collins Line colors: black hull with a dark-red stripe running the length of the ship, [5] and a black stack with a dark-red top.
Pacific was powered by two side-lever engines built by the Allaire Iron Works of New York, each of which had a 95-inch cylinder (2.4 m) and 9-foot stroke (2.7 m), delivering a speed of 12 to 13 knots (22 to 24 km/h; 14 to 15 mph). The running gear was designed in such a way that if one engine failed, the remaining engine could continue to supply power to both paddlewheels. Steam was supplied by four vertical tubular boilers, with a double row of furnaces designed by the Line's chief engineer, John Faron. [6] Fuel consumption was from about 75 to 85 short tons (68 to 77 t) of coal per day, and auxiliary sail power was provided by three full-rigged masts.
The passenger accommodations were generous and spacious, and the cabins and saloons were elaborately decorated. [6] The ship could initially accommodate 200 first-class passengers; in 1851, accommodations for an additional 80 second-class passengers were added. [7] Customer service innovations on the Collins Line ships included steam heating in the passenger berths, a barber's shop, and a French maître de cuisine . [5] The ships' high freeboard and straight stems also contributed to passenger comfort by providing added protection from spray and a steadier motion through the waves than typical passenger ships of the period. [8]
Pacific was launched on 1 February 1849 and made her maiden voyage from New York to Liverpool on 25 May 1850. She would retain service on the New York-Liverpool route for her entire career. [7]
Between 11 and 21 September, Pacific made a record passage from Liverpool to New York with an average speed of 12.46 knots (23.08 km/h; 14.34 mph), breaking the previous record of 12.25 knots (22.69 km/h; 14.10 mph) held by the Cunard Line's Asia, and thus winning the coveted Blue Riband for fastest transatlantic crossing. Pacific would hold the record for less than a year however, as her sister ship Baltic would set a new record the following August with a new record speed of 12.91 knots (23.91 km/h; 14.86 mph). Between 10 and 20 May 1851, Pacific also set a new eastbound record with an average speed of 13.03 knots (24.13 km/h; 14.99 mph), beating the previous record of 12.38 knots (22.93 km/h; 14.25 mph) set by the Cunard Line's Canada. Again however, the record would stand for only nine months before being broken again by Pacific's slightly more-powerful sister ship, Arctic. [7]
In 1851, Pacific's passenger accommodations were increased to include an additional 80 second-class passengers. [7] In March 1853, she rescued the crew of the barque Jesse Stevens, which had foundered in the Atlantic Ocean. [9] [10] In May 1853, while the Pacific was passing under an open swing bridge near Norwalk, Connecticut, a train crashed disastrously into the water nearby after its engineer missed the bridge signal; the ship's crew helped rescue many of the survivors. [11] Also in 1853, Pacific's mizzen mast was removed, [7] presumably in order to reduce drag.
On 23 January 1856, Pacific departed Liverpool for her usual destination of New York, carrying 45 passengers (a typically small number for a winter voyage) and 141 crew. Her commander was Captain Asa Eldridge, a Yarmouth skipper and navigator of worldwide reputation; in 1854 he had set a transatlantic speed record on the clipper Red Jacket from New York to Liverpool.
After Pacific failed to arrive at New York, other ships were sent to conduct a search, but no trace of the vessel was found. Contemporaries concluded that she had probably hit an iceberg off Newfoundland, as the ice had been particularly bad that year. [12] Captain Eldridge and his chief engineer, Samuel Matthews, were both still new to Pacific, making only their second roundtrip voyage on her, and some comments blamed the disaster on their inexperience. But as a more recent account explains, both had considerable relevant experience: Pacific was actually the fourth steamer Eldridge had commanded, while Matthews had a long career on other steamships, including another Collins liner whose engines and boilers were identical to Pacific's. [13]
Wyn Craig Wade mentions the missing ship in his 1979 book, The Titanic: End of a Dream. Wade wrote, "The only clue in this instance had been a note in a bottle, washed ashore on the west coast of the Hebrides" reading:
Author Jim Coogan mentions the missing vessel in his article "A Message from the Sea" published in The Barnstable Patriot , writing that after the bottle was found, "on the remote Hebrides island of Uist... in the summer of 1861", the passenger list was thoroughly checked by the London Shipping & Mercantile Gazette, "and when the passenger list of the ill-fated steamer was examined, it contained the name of William Graham, a British sea captain headed for New York as a passenger to take command there of another vessel. [14]
Coogan's article goes on to relate that Stephen Fox wrote:
Supporting the sceptical view, a later book argued that in the absence of further information about that wreck, the note in the bottle that washed ashore in the Hebrides still represented the best explanation of the steamer's disappearance. [16] [17] Later dives found items dated years after 1856. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales concluded that the wreck is unlikely to be that of Pacific. [18]
Among those lost was Bernard O'Reilly, Bishop of Hartford (Connecticut), who was returning to his diocese after an 1855 trip to Europe.
Our readers may have observed recently, amongst our maritime extracts, the copy of the contents of a slip of paper, found in a bottle some weeks ago, on the western coast of Uls, in the Hebrides, and forwarded to us by our agent at Sternoway. The paper in question, apparently the leaf of a pocketbook, used in the hurry of the moment, was covered on both sides with pencil marks, from which the following was with difficulty deciphered: On board the Pacific, from L'pool to N. York. Ship going down. (Great) confusion on board. Icebergs around us on every side. I know I cannot escape. I write the cause of our loss, that friends may not live in suspense. The finder of this will please get it published, WM. GRAHAM. If we are right in our conjecture, the ship here named is the Pacific, one of the Collins line of steamers, which vessel left Liverpool on Jan. 23, 1856, three days before the Persia, and has not since been heard of; and this slip of paper, three inches by two, is probably the only record of the fate of that missing ship.
Cunard Line is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships came into practical usage during the early 1800s; however, there were exceptions that came before. Steamships usually use the prefix designations of "PS" for paddle steamer or "SS" for screw steamer. As paddle steamers became less common, "SS" is incorrectly assumed by many to stand for "steamship". Ships powered by internal combustion engines use a prefix such as "MV" for motor vessel, so it is not correct to use "SS" for most modern vessels.
The Blue Riband is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. The record is based on average speed rather than passage time because ships follow different routes. Also, eastbound and westbound speed records are reckoned separately, as the more difficult westbound record voyage, against the Gulf Stream and the prevailing weather systems, typically results in lower average speeds.
SS City of Glasgow of 1850 was a single-screw passenger steamship of the Inman Line, which disappeared en route from Liverpool to Philadelphia in March 1854 with 480 passengers and crew. Based on ideas pioneered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain of 1845, City of Glasgow established that Atlantic steamships could be operated profitably without government subsidy. After a refit in 1852, she was also the first Atlantic steamship to carry steerage passengers, representing a significant improvement in the conditions experienced by immigrants. In March 1854 City of Glasgow vanished at sea with no known survivors.
SS Abyssinia was a British mail liner built in 1870, and originally operated by the Cunard Line on the Liverpool–New York route. She later served the Guion Line on the same route and the Canadian Pacific Line in the Pacific. In December 1891, Abyssinia was destroyed mid-Atlantic without loss of life by a fire that started in her cargo of cotton, further highlighting the danger in carrying both cotton and passengers on the same ship.
The Collins Line was the common name for the American shipping company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins, formally called the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company. Under Edward Collins' guidance, the company grew to be a serious competitor on the transatlantic routes to the British Cunard shipping company.
Arizona was a record breaking British passenger liner that was the first of the Guion Line's Atlantic Greyhounds on the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route. One nautical historian called Arizona "a souped up transatlantic hot rod." Entering service in 1879, she was the prototype for Atlantic express liners until the Inman Line introduced its twin screw City of New York in 1889. The Arizona type liner is generally considered as unsuccessful because too much was sacrificed for speed. Laid up in 1894 when Guion stopped sailings, Arizona was sold four years later and briefly employed in the Pacific until she was acquired by the US Government for service in the Spanish–American War. As the US Navy's Hancock she continued trooping through World War I, and was scrapped in 1926.
SS Arctic was a 2,856-ton paddle steamer, one of the Collins Line, which operated a transatlantic passenger and mail steamship service during the 1850s. She was the largest of a fleet of four, built with the aid of U.S. government subsidies to challenge the transatlantic supremacy of the British-backed Cunard Line. During her four-year period of service, the ship was renowned both for her speed and for the luxury of her accommodation.
SS Sirius was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship built in 1837 by Robert Menzies & Sons of Leith, Scotland for the London-Cork route operated by the Saint George Steam Packet Company. The next year, she opened transatlantic steam passenger service when she was chartered for two voyages by the British and American Steam Navigation Company. By arriving in New York a day ahead of the Great Western, she is usually listed as the first holder of the Blue Riband, although the term was not used until decades later.
The Great Western Steam Ship Company operated the first regular transatlantic steamer service from 1838 until 1846. Related to the Great Western Railway, it was expected to achieve the position that was ultimately secured by the Cunard Line. The firm's first ship, Great Western was capable of record Blue Riband crossings as late as 1843 and was the model for Cunard's Britannia and her three sisters. The company's second steamer, the Great Britain was an outstanding technical achievement of the age. The company collapsed because it failed to secure a mail contract and Great Britain appeared to be a total loss after running aground. The company might have had a more successful outcome had it built sister ships for Great Western instead of investing in the too advanced Great Britain.
The British and American Steam Navigation Company was a steamship line that operated a regular transatlantic service from 1839 to 1841. Before its first purpose-built Atlantic liner, British Queen was completed, British and American chartered Sirius for two voyages in 1838 to beat the Great Western Steamship Company into service. B & A's regular liners were larger than their rivals, but were underpowered. The company collapsed when its second vessel, President was lost in 1841.
The Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Company, known commonly as the Guion Line, was a British passenger service that operated the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route from 1866 to 1894. While incorporated in Great Britain, 52% of the company's capital was from the American firm, Williams and Guion of New York. Known primarily for transporting immigrants, in 1879 the line started commissioning Blue Riband record breakers to compete against Cunard, White Star and Inman for first class passengers. The financial troubles of one of the company's major partners in 1884 forced the firm to return its latest record breaker, the Oregon, to her builders and focus again on the immigrant trade. The company suspended sailings in 1894 because of new American restrictions on immigrant traffic.
SS Baltic was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamer built in 1850 for transatlantic service with the American Collins Line. Designed to outclass their chief rivals from the British-owned Cunard Line, Baltic and her three sister ships—Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic—were the largest, fastest and most luxurious transatlantic steamships of their day.
Scotia was a British passenger liner operated by the Cunard Line that won the Blue Riband in 1863 for the fastest westbound transatlantic voyage. She was the last oceangoing paddle steamer, and as late as 1874 she made Cunard's second fastest voyage. Laid up in 1876, Scotia was converted to a twin-screw cable layer in 1879. She served in her new role for twenty-five years until she was wrecked off of Guam in March 1904.
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Asa Eldridge (1809–1856) was a sea captain from Yarmouth, Massachusetts. In 1854, Captain Eldridge guided the clipper ship Red Jacket from New York and to Liverpool in only in 13 days, 1 hour, and 25 minutes, dock to dock, setting a speed record for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing by a commercial sailing vessel that has remained unbroken ever since. In 1856, Captain Eldridge skippered the ill-fated steamship SS Pacific, which disappeared at sea on a voyage from Liverpool to New York.