Pacific (ship, 1849)
 The Pacific , around 1850
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The Pacific was from wood -built US -American passenger - paddle steamer , which was built in 1849 and 1856 on a voyage from Liverpool to New York fell below not exactly clarified circumstances.
She was one of a number of sister ships to the Collins Line that were built with the aim of outperforming the rival Cunard Line . This only succeeded for a short time, when many ships of the Cunard Line were committed to transport duties during the Crimean War . In addition to the Pacific , the Collins Line also had the Arctic , the Baltic and the Atlantic ; later the Adriatic was added.
Construction and remodeling
The Pacific was in 1849 on the ship's throw Jacob Bell in New York built. The hull itself was 13.7 m wide, with the wheel arches the width was 22.3 m. The two machines came from the Allaire Iron Works in New York. They were designed so that if one of the two machines failed, the two side paddle wheels could also be driven by the second machine alone. A daily consumption of 75 to 85 tons of coal was planned (it later averaged 87 tons). The coal was already brought from the bunkers to the boilers by a mechanically operated bucket chain.
In addition to its steam drive, the wooden ship also had three sail masts and could reach a speed of 12 to 13 knots. Like her sister ships, the Pacific was characterized by great comfort for the passengers . This not only included steam heating in the cabins and a French chef on board, but also the particularly high freeboard, which protected against splashing water, and the design of the ship, which ensured more pleasant sailing characteristics than was common at the time. There was also a smoking salon, bathing cabins and a hairdresser on board. The Pacific was initially only intended for 200 passengers in first class, but in 1851 80 more second class seats were created. Presumably in 1853 one of their masts was removed.
Rides
The ship started on May 25 or 26, 1850 in New York under the command of Captain Ezra Nye on its maiden voyage to Liverpool, where it arrived on June 7. It continued to be used on this route and set a route record from Liverpool to New York between September 11 and 21, 1850. It replaced the Asia from the Cunard Line and received the Blue Ribbon for an average cruising speed of 12.46 knots. The Pacific drove another record from May 10 to May 20, 1851 in the opposite direction; this time she reached a speed of 13.03 knots and beat the Canada of the Cunard Line. Both records were soon exceeded by sister ships of the Pacific .
loss
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Shortly after the loss of her sister ship after a collision with the steamer Vesta , the Pacific was brought into dock to make her safer. After this dock stay, she was regularly used on her line again. On January 23, 1856, she disappeared en route from Liverpool to New York. At least 45 passengers - including six women and two children - and a crew of 141 were probably on board (other figures assume up to 240 people on board). It was hoped for a relatively long time that the ship had only been held up by the winter weather, but there was no trace of the Pacific . In 1991 the bow section of a sunken ship was discovered in the Irish Sea about twelve miles northwest of Anglesey at a depth of 44 m, which was assigned to the Pacific due to its design and size . A sinking so close to the starting point of the voyage could only be explained by a fire , a boiler explosion or some other extraordinary event on board. From other sources it is doubted that the wreckage discovered near Liverpool was the Pacific : In 1861, a message in a bottle was found on the Uist Islands near Scotland with the following content:
- On board the Pacific, from L'pool to N. York. Ship going down. Great confusion on board - icebergs all 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. William Graham [Ex .: On board the Pacific, en route from L [iver] pool to New York. The ship is sinking. Big confusion on board - around us there are icebergs on each side. I know I can't escape I write down the cause of our disappearance so that our friends are not left in uncertainty. The person who found this message should please make its content public. William Graham]
A passenger with this name could actually be found on the passenger list of the Pacific , as Jim Cooper could prove in an article for the US magazine "Barnstable Patriot". Although it cannot be definitively ruled out that the message in a bottle is a forgery, as it was often circulated on such occasions, the consistency of the name leaves doubts about the identification of the wreckage in the Irish Sea. Cooper also cites as proof of the correctness of his iceberg theory that no debris was found on the British coasts in the area of the Anglesey find in January 1856, which is unusual given the size of the ship and its wooden construction as well as the proximity to the mainland . In general, in 1856, numerous ships fell victim to the icebergs that were drifting particularly far south that year.
literature
- Dudszus, Alfred / Köpcke, Alfred: The great book of ship types. Steam ships, motor ships, marine technology . Volume 2. Pietsch Verlag, Berlin 1990, pp. 216-217.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Dudszus / Köpcke: ship types. Steam ships, motor ships, marine technology , p. 217.
- ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9801E0D7103DE034BC4951DFB566838D649FDE
- ↑ http://www.maritimequest.com/daily_event_archive/2007/pages/jan/23_ss_pacific.htm
- ↑ Jim Cooper: A Message From The Sea ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (engl.)
- ↑ Maddocks, Melvin: The Great Passenger Ships. Eltville am Rhein, 1992, p. 30.
