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, and ) were the largest, fastest and most well-appointed transatlantic steamers of their day.
Pacifics 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. Pacifics 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.
Development
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.
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. 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. Design of the ships was entrusted to a noted New York marine architect, George Steers.
Description
Pacifics 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. The ships were painted in Collins Line colors: black hull with a dark-red stripe running the length of the ship, 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 and , delivering a speed of . 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. Fuel consumption was from about 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. The ship could initially accommodate 200 first-class passengers; in 1851, accommodations for an additional 80 second-class passengers were added. 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. 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.
Service history
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.
Between 11 and 21 September, Pacific made a record passage from Liverpool to New York with an average speed of , breaking the previous record of 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 would set a new record the following August with a new record speed of . Between 10 and 20 May 1851, Pacific also set a new eastbound record with an average speed of , beating the previous record of set by the Cunard Line's Canada. Again however, the record would stand for only nine months before being broken again by Pacifics slightly more-powerful sister ship, .