SS Pacific

1875

Cape Flattery, rotten frames, two survived Location: off Cape Flattery, Washington Territory, USA · Coordinates: 48.17°N 125.00°W · Casualties: ~300 · Survivors: 2 · Depth: unknown · Cause: collision — Collided with the sailing barque Orpheus off Cape Flattery at 21:30 on 4 November 1875 while returning from Victoria to San Francisco. Her frames had been reported rotten before departure; she was also overloaded with passengers returning from the Cassiar gold rush. Sank in under fifteen minutes. · Fate: not located · Type: sidewheel coastal steamer · Tonnage: 875 tons · Crew: 51 · Flag: United States · Launched: 1851 American sidewheel steamer, Victoria to San Francisco. Collided with the sailing barque SS Orpheus off Cape Flattery at 21:30 on 4 November 1875; she had been reported rotten in her frames before departure and was overloaded with passengers returning from the Cassiar gold rush. Two survived of roughly 300 aboard. The worst maritime disaster on the American West Coast to that date. The Vessel The SS Pacific was an American Pacific Coast Steamship Company sidewheel paddle steamer, commissioned at the John Englis yard in New York in 1850 as the SS Tennessee. She was 69 metres long, 875 gross tons, with wooden hull construction. Her initial career had been in the San Francisco-to-Panama trade during the California Gold Rush years; she had been acquired by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1858 and renamed Pacific for her subsequent service on the Pacific Coast passenger and mail trade. By 1875 she was 25 years old and had been continuously operated in the Pacific Coast trade for 17 years. Her hull and machinery had deteriorated substantially; she had been subject to repeated minor groundings and repairs; her rated horsepower had fallen from her original 800 to approximately 500 by 1875. The Pacific Coast Steamship Company had been operating her on the San Francisco-Portland-Victoria-Tacoma route, the principal commercial transportation axis between California and the Pacific Northwest before the completion of the Pacific Northwest railroad network. Her master in November 1875 was Captain J. Howell, 53, a career Pacific Mail officer. The Disaster The damage to Pacific from the Orpheus collision was, by contemporary standards, relatively minor: her starboard hull plating was dented, her starboard sponson was damaged, and one of her side-wheel paddle boxes was compromised. The Orpheus herself had sustained minor bowsprit damage. Under normal circumstances, neither ship should have been at immediate risk from the collision. The critical factor in the subsequent Pacific loss was the ship's deteriorated structural condition. Her hull and internal framing had been weakened substantially by 25 years of continuous Pacific Coast operations; the minor collision impact of 22:00 on 4 November 1875 exceeded her structural reserve and produced progressive structural failure across the following 30 minutes. Pacific's hull began to flex and open at the deck seams approximately 10 minutes after the collision. Captain Howell ordered abandon-ship at approximately 22:30 on 4 November 1875. The evacuation was catastrophically inadequate: the ship carried only one lifeboat (capacity approximately 25 people) and two yawls (combined capacity approximately 15 people) for her 330 complement. Most of the passengers entered the water without any flotation support; the water temperature was approximately 9°C. SS Pacific broke in half and sank at approximately 23:00 on 4 November 1875 at approximately 48°05′N 124°40′W, about 45 kilometres west of Cape Flattery, in approximately 500 metres of water. Of the approximately 330 aboard, only 2 survived: