1854 — Sep  27, US Mail Steamer Arctic hit by Vesta, Fog, Cape Race, NFLD          –315-350

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard January 6, 2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 Blanchard death-toll range: We do not include Preble’s number of 562 deaths in that it is such an outlier from other estimates. It is possible that the number was meant to be 362 rather than 562. We do not know. We do not use 312 as the low estimate in that there is no source citation in the Wikipedia article cited. Thus we are left with sources which note a death toll of 315-350, which we choose to show as our best guestimate of the death toll.

 —  562  Preble. A Chronological History… Steam Navigation 1543-1882. 1883, p. 440.

—  350  Childs. A History of the United States in Chronological Order… 1886, p. 142.

—  350  Insurance Engineering.  Vol. 8, July-Dec, 1904.  “Marine Disasters.” P. 81.

—  350  McNamara. “The Sinking of the Steamship Arctic.” ThoughtCo., 4-4-2017 update.

—  323  Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 99.

—  322  History from Headstones. “The Sinking of the Arctic in 1854.”

—  322  Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 683.

—  318  Pedraja. A Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Merchant Marine…, 1994, p. 670.

–~315  Tristan. “Before the Titanic-the wreck of the S.S. Arctic.” 4-15-2022.  

            ~400 onboard (250 passengers and 150 crew)

                85 survivors (61 crew and 24 male passengers – no women or children

–>312  Wikipedia. “SS Arctic disaster.” 1-5-2024 edit.

             “…probably more that 400 on board…only 88 survived.” [No source citation.]

Narrative Information

Childs: “The steamer Arctic, during her return voyage from Liverpool, was struck by the Vesta, an iron propeller, on the 27th of September, about sixty-five miles from Cape Race, a few feet forward of her paddle-boxes, and was so seriously injured that in about three hours she filled with water and went down stern fore-most, engulfing in her ruin all her passengers but about twenty-five and some of her crew. She was running through a dense fog at the time, and when the collision first occurred the shock was so slight that any serious injury to her hull was not apprehended. Of the more than four hundred persons who left Liverpool, many of whom were returning from a European tour of pleasure, less than fifty were saved.”  (Childs 1886, 142)

History from Headstones: “The loss of the Arctic, September 27, 1854, an ocean-going wooden paddlewheeler of the United States Mail Steamship Company (The Collins Line), occurred when Captain Luce misjudged the damage done to her after she collided with the small French steamer, Vesta, on September 27, 1854, about fifty miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The collision was assured by dense, rolling fog, and Luce, believing that the smaller Vesta was sinking, humanely sent one of his lifeboats to pick up survivors.

“His second mistake that day was thinking his ship was slightly damaged, when the Vesta, in fact, had actually ripped open a good chunk of the Arctic‘s bow. Told that his ship was taking on heavy water, Luce ordered full speed toward land. Giant swells flooded the boiler rooms by the time the Arctic’s lookout spotted land twenty miles distant. But it was too late; the ship was sinking rapidly.

“Luce ordered his 367 passengers and crew members on deck, began to organise the lowering of boats, and instructed everyone that women and children would go first. The “black gang” (stokers) rebelled and with shouts and curses they made for the lifeboats, knocking passengers to the deck. One ship’s officer drew his gun but before he could fire a stoker killed him with a vicious smash on his head with a shovel. As a result of the panic only one boat and a raft, hastily constructed of spars and wooden rails, took off forty-five passengers. Among the 322 people lost …”  (History from Headstones, The Sinking of the Arctic in 1854)

Insurance Engineering (Vol. 8, No. 1., July 1904). “Marine Disasters,” p. 81:

“1854 – September 27. Artic, from Liverpool, struck by the Vesta 40 miles off Cape Race and sunk. 350 lives lost.”

McNamara, Robert. “The Sinking of the Steamship Arctic.” 4-4-2017 update:

“The sinking of the steamship Arctic in 1854 stunned the public on both sides of the Atlantic, as the loss of 350 lives was staggering for the time. And what made the disaster a shocking outrage was that not a single woman or child aboard the ship survived. Lurid tales of panic aboard the sinking ship were widely publicized in newspapers. Members of the crew had seized the lifeboats and saved themselves, leaving helpless passengers, including 80 women and children, to perish in the icy North Atlantic….

“The ships of the Collins Line were designed for both speed and comfort. The Arctic was 284 feet long, a very large ship for its time, and its steam engines powered large paddle wheels on either side of its hull. Containing spacious dining rooms, saloons, and staterooms, the Arctic offered luxurious accommodations never before seen on a steamship….

“On its return trip to New York [from Liverpool] the Arctic would be carrying some important passengers, including relatives of its owners, members of both the Brown and Collins families. Also along on the voyage was Willie Luce, the sickly 11-year-old son of the ship’s captain, James Luce.

“The Arctic sailed from Liverpool on September 20, and for a week it steamed across the Atlantic in its usual reliable manner. On the morning of September 27, the ship was off the Grand Banks, the area of the Atlantic off Canada where warm air from the Gulf Stream hits cold air from the north, creating thick walls of fog. Captain Luce ordered lookouts to keep a close watch for other ships. Shortly after noon, lookouts sounded alarms. Another ship had suddenly emerged from the fog, and the two vessels were on a collision course.

“The other ship was a French steamer, the Vesta, which was transporting French fishermen from Canada to France at the end of the summer’s fishing season. The propeller-driven Vesta had been built with a steel hull. The Vesta rammed the bow of the Arctic, and in the collision the steel bow of the Vesta acted like a battering ram, spearing the Arctic’s wooden hull before snapping off.

“The crew and passengers of the Arctic, which was the larger of the two ships, believed the Vesta, with its bow torn away, was doomed. Yet the Vesta, because its steel hull was built with several interior compartments, was actually able to stay afloat.

“The Arctic, with its engines still steaming away, sailed onward. But the damage to its hull allowed seawater to pour into the ship. The damage to its wooden hull was fatal.

“As the Artic began to sink into the icy Atlantic, it became clear the great ship was doomed. The Arctic only carried six lifeboats. Yet had they been carefully deployed and filled, they could have held approximately 180 people, or almost all the passengers, including all the women and children aboard. Launched haphazardly, the lifeboats were barely filled and were generally taken over entirely by crew members. Passengers, left to fend for themselves, tried to fashion rafts or cling to pieces of wreckage. The frigid waters made survival nearly impossible.

“The captain of the Arctic, James Luce, who had heroically tried to save the ship and get the panicking and rebellious crew under control, went down with the ship, standing atop one of the large wooden boxes housing a paddle wheel. In a quirk of fate, the structure broke loose underwater, and quickly bobbed to the top, saving the captain’s life. He clung to the wood and was rescued by a passing ship two days later. His young son Willie perished.

“Mary Ann Collins, wife of the Collins Line’s founder, Edward Knight Collins, drowned, as did two of their children. And the daughter of his partner James Brown was also lost, along with other members of the Brown family.

“The most reliable estimate is that about 350 people died in the sinking of the SS Arctic, including every woman and child aboard. It is believed 24 male passengers and about 60 crew members survived….”

Preble. A Chronological History… Steam Navigation 1543-1882. 1883, p. 440:

“Am [Flag]…Arctic…New York, 1850 [where and when built]…3000 [tonnage]…Draft [19]…Rate [A1]…Collins [Line]…Liverpool [from] New York [to]…Sept. 27, 1854 [date of loss]…40 miles off Cape Race [location of loss]…Sunk [nature of loss]…562 lost [loss of life]…Sunk by collision with Vesta (S.S.) [Remarks].”

US Treasury Department: “The steamship Arctic was wrecked at sea, September 27, 1854, by collision with the French steamer Vesta.  The number of lives lost by this accident was never correctly ascertained:  the circumstances attending it and the difficulty of obtaining evidence were such, that no investigation was ever attempted.”  (Treasury. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Year Ending June 30, 1855.  1856, p. 435.)

Sources

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

History from Headstones. “The Sinking of the Arctic in 1854.” Accessed 11-16-2008 at:  http://www.historyfromheadstones.com/index.php?id=780

Insurance Engineering (Vol. 8, No. 1., July 1904). “Marine Disasters,” pp. 81-82. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=6bAPAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

McNamara, Robert. “The Sinking of the Steamship Arctic.” ThoughtCo. 4-4-2017 update. Accessed 1-7-2024 at: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-sinking-of-the-steamship-arctic-1774002

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages

Pedraja, Rene de La. A Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Shipping Industry:  Since the Introduction of Steam.  Greenwood Publishing Group,1994, 754 pages.  Partially digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=rQJcXRK0gkQC

Preble, Geo. Henry (Rear-Admiral (USN). A Chronological History of the Origin and Development of Steam Navigation 1543-1882.  Philadelphia:  L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1883.  At:  http://www.archive.org/stream/chronologicalhis00prebrich/chronologicalhis00prebrich_djvu.txt

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

Tristan, David. “Before the Titanic-the wreck of the S.S. Arctic.” abc20.com, WHTM, Harrisburg, PA. 4-15-2022. Accessed 1-7-2023 at: https://www.abc27.com/digital-originals/before-the-titanic-the-wreck-of-the-s-s-arctic/

United States Department of the Treasury. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Year Ending June 30, 1855.  Washington: Beverly Tucker, 1856.  Google digitized at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=OCYSAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Wikipedia. “SS Arctic disaster.” 1-5-2024 edit. Accessed 1-6-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Arctic_disaster