The breaking up of the Baltic, the last of the famous Collins line of
steamships, calls out a number of interesting facts with regard to the
history of the several vessels of that fleet. There were five in all,
the Adriatic, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic. They were built and
equipped in New York. Their dimensions were: Length, 290 feet; beam, 45
feet; depth of hold, 31½ feet; capacity, 2,860 tons; machinery, 1,000
horse power. In size, speed, and appointments they surpassed any
steamers then afloat, and they obtained a fair share of the passenger
traffic. A fortune was expended in decorating the saloons. The entire
cost of each steamer was not less than $600,000, and notwithstanding
their quick passages, the subsidy received, and the high rates of
freight paid, the steamers ran for six years at great loss, and finally
the company became bankrupt.
The Atlantic was the pioneer steamship of the line. She sailed from New
York April 27, 1849, and arrived in the Mersey May 10, thus making the
passage in about thirteen days, two of which were lost in repairing the
machinery; the speed was reduced in order to prevent the floats from
being torn from the paddle-wheels. The average time of the forty-two
westward trips in the early days of the line was 11 days 10 hours and 26
minutes, against the average of the then so called fastest line of
steamers, 12 days 19 hours and 26 minutes. In February, 1852, the Arctic
made the passage from New York to Liverpool in 9 days and 17 hours.
The Arctic was afterward run into by a French vessel at sea and only a
few of her passengers were saved. The Pacific was never heard from after
sailing from Liverpool, and all the persons on board were lost. The
Atlantic, after rotting and rusting at her wharf, was deprived of her
machinery and converted into a sailing vessel, and was broken up in New
York last year. The Adriatic, the "queen of the fleet," made less than a
half dozen voyages, was sold to the Galway Company, and is now used in
the Western Islands as a coal hulk by an English company.
The Baltic was in the government service during the war as a supply
vessel, and was afterward sold at auction; her machinery was removed and
sold as old iron. She was then converted into a sailing ship, and of
late years has been used as a grain carrying vessel between San
Francisco and Great Britain. On a recent voyage to Boston she was
strained to such an extent as to be made unseaworthy, and for that
reason is to be broken up.
One cannot but remark in this connection how small has been the advance
in steamship building during the quarter century since the Collins line
was in its glory.
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