SS Pacific was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamer built in 1849 for transatlantic service with the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Collins Line

Collins Line

The Collins Line is the common name for the American shipping company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins...

. Designed to outclass their chief rivals from the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-owned Cunard Line

Cunard Line

Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...

, Pacific and her three sister ships—Atlantic, and — 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, but after only five years in operation, the ship along with her entire complement of almost 200 passengers and crew went missing without trace on a voyage from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Pacific's fate remained a mystery for over 130 years, but in 1991 wreckage located in the Irish Sea

Irish Sea

The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

 off the coast of Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 was identified without corroboration as the SS Pacific.

Development

For several decades prior to the 1840s, American sailing ships had dominated the transatlantic routes between Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and the United States. With the coming 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 Britain.

In 1847, the U.S. Congress granted a large subsidy to the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company for the establishment of an American steam packet service to compete with Britain's 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

Pacific's 281-foot wooden hull was built from yellow pine

Yellow pine

Yellow pine may refer to the following:*Certain pines in the subgenus Pinus subgenus Pinus:**In American forestry, a term for several closely related species of pine with yellow tinted wood, including the Southern Yellow Pines , and the non-Southern yellow pines and several others...

, with keel

Keel

In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

 and frames of white oak

White oak

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...

 and chestnut

Chestnut

Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...

. Like her three sister ships, Pacific had straight stems

Stem (ship)

The stem is the very most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself and curves up to the wale of the boat. The stem is more often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively...

, 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

Allaire Iron Works

The Allaire Iron Works was a leading 19th-century American marine engineering company based in New York City. Founded in 1816 by engineer and philanthropist James P...

 of New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, each of which had a 95-inch cylinder

Cylinder (engine)

A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...

 and 9-foot stroke, delivering a speed of 12 to 13 knots. 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 boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

s, with a double row of furnace

Furnace

A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...

s, designed by the Line's chief engineer, John Faron. Fuel consumption was from about 75 to 85 tons of coal per day, and auxiliary sail

Sail

A sail is any type of surface intended to move a vessel, vehicle or rotor by being placed in a wind—in essence a propulsion wing. Sails are used in sailing.-History of sails:...

 power was provided by three full-rigged

Rigging

Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...

 mast

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

s.

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

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 maitre de cuisine

Chef

A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

. The ships' high freeboard

Freeboard (nautical)

In sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...

s and straight stems also contributed to passenger comfort by providing added protection from seaspray 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 12.46 knots, breaking the previous record of 12.25 knots held by the Cunard Line's Asia, and thus winning the coveted Blue Riband

Blue Riband

The Blue Riband is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. Under the unwritten rules, the record is based on average speed...

 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. Between 10 and 20 May 1851, Pacific also set a new eastbound record with an average speed of 13.03 knots, beating the previous record of 12.38 knots 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.

In 1851, Pacific's passenger accommodations were increased to include an additional 80 second-class passengers. On 4 December 1851, Pacific rescued the crew of the barque Jesse Stevens, which had foundered in the Atlantic several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. In 1853, Pacific's mizzen mast was removed, presumably in order to reduce drag.

Loss

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. For this voyage, she had both a new captain and first mate, neither of whom had much transatlantic experience, and also a new chief engineer, who was unfamiliar with Pacific's engines. After the ship 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 Pacific had probably hit an iceberg off Newfoundland, as the ice had been particularly bad that year.

Pacific's disappearance remained a mystery for 135 years, but in 1991, divers in the Irish Sea discovered the bow section of the ship a few miles northwest of Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

. The ship had only travelled about sixty miles from her Liverpool departure point before sinking. The cause of Pacific's demise is still unknown, but the most likely explanation is some sort of catastrophic accident.

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: On board the Pacific from Liverpool to N.Y. - Ship going down. 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 will please get it published. W.M. GRAHAM.

Author Jim Coogan also mentions the missing vessel in his article "A Message from the Sea" published by barnstablepatriot.com. Coogan writes that the passenger list was thoroughly checked by the London Shipping & Mercantile Gazette in 1861 "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."

Coogan's article goes on to say "...in 1991, divers found the bow section of the SS Pacific in the Irish Sea only 60 miles from Liverpool. Other than the claim, there is no other confirmation of the find, nor is it found in any other book...that no wreckage from the lost ship came ashore along the coast of Wales in the aftermath of her disappearance would...make it unlikely the ship foundered so close to Liverpool."

Among those lost was Bernard O'Reilly (1803—1856), Bishop of Hartford, who was returning to his diocese after an 1855 trip to Europe.