108 THE SEA. 



below the water-line, that the engine fires would soon be extinguished. The Arctic's head 

 was therefore immediately laid for Cape Race, the nearest point of land; but within four 

 hours of the collision the water reached the furnaces, and soon afterwards she foundered. 

 As it was blowing a strong gale at the time, some of the boats into which the passengers 

 and crew rushed were destroyed in launching ; others which got clear of the sinking ship 

 were never again heard of, and only two, with thirty-one of the crew and fourteen passengers, 

 reached Newfoundland. Among those who perished were the wife of Mr. Collins, and 

 their son and daughter ; but the captain, who remained on board to the last, and the first 

 as well as the second and fourth officers, were saved. Seventy-two men and four females 

 sought refuge on a raft, which the seamen, when they found the ship sinking, had hastily 

 constructed ; but one by one they were swept away every wave as it washed over the 

 raft claiming one or more victims as its prey ; and at eight o'clock on the following 

 morning one human being alone was left out of the seventy-six persons, who only twelve 

 or fifteen hours before had hoped to save their lives on this temporary structure. The 

 solitary occupant of this fragile raft must have had a brave heart and a strong nerve to 

 have retained his place on it for a day and a half after all his companions had perished, 

 for it was not until that time had elapsed that he was saved by a passing vessel. His 

 tale of how he and they parted was of the most heart-rending description.* 



As a large portion of the first-class passengers of the Arctic consisted of persons of 

 wealth and extensive commercial relations in the United States, as well as in England 



* O 



and the colonies, and besides more than one member of her aristocracy, the loss of the 

 Arctic, and the terrible incidents in connection with her fate, caused an unusual amount 

 of grief and consternation on both sides of the Atlantic. 



Within little more than twelve months from this time another great calamity befell 

 the Collins Company, and the sad loss of their steamer Pacific from the mystery in which 

 it was shrouded, if not as lamentable as that of the Arctic (for the soul of man has 

 never been harrowed with its details) was equally deplorable. Although the ocean in this 

 instance has left no record of its ravages, the stern fact announced in the brief words, " she 

 was never heard of," tells itself the sad, sad tale that a great ship, with all her living 

 inmates, in infancy, in manhood and old age, and it may be full of hope and joy, had 

 been engulfed in the blue waters of the Atlantic summoned, perhaps in a moment, to 

 an eternity more mysterious than that which surrounded their melancholy fate. 



The splendid but unfortunate ship left Liverpool on the 23rd of January, 1850, having 

 on board twenty-five first-class passengers, twenty second-class passengers, and a crew of 

 141 persons, almost all of whom were Americans. She carried the mails and a valuable 

 cargo, the insurances effected on her being 2,000,000 dollnrs. But no living soul ever 

 returned to tell where or how she was lost, nor were any articles belonging to her ever found 

 to afford a clue to her melancholy fate ; it can only be supposed that she sprang an 

 overflowing leak, or more probably struck suddenly when at full speed on an iceberg, and 

 instantly foundered. 



The Collins Line ceased to exist a few years after these serious disasters, but the 



* See Annual Rcyi&tcr, 1854, p. 162. 



