SS Pacific

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, SS Arctic and SS Baltic) 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. A message in a bottle found on the remote island of Uist within the Hebrides in 1861 indicated that she was sunk by icebergs.