SS Pacific (1850)

Pacific was commissioned by Major Albert Lowry, Captain Nathanial Jarvis,{{Cite web|url=http://www.maritimeheritage.org/ships/ssPacific.htm|title=Sea Captains, Ships and World Seaports. The Maritime Heritage Project, San Francisco, California. Merchants, Merchandise, Migrations|website=www.maritimeheritage.org|access-date=2018-12-02}} and her builder, William H. Brown. She was built in Brown's shipyard at the foot of Twelfth Street on the East River in New York. Her hull was oak and live oak timbers fastened together with iron and copper nails.{{Cite web|url=https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l0237571875/|title=American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping 1875|date=2016-07-19|website=Collections & Research|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-21}} Pacific had a vertical beam steam engine generating {{convert|275|hp|lk=in}}.{{Cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3330053;view=1up;seq=196|title=Merchant vessels of the United States. 1867–68.|via=HathiTrust|series=1936/37-1939/41: Report series, no.[1], 4, 8, 11 |language=en|access-date=2018-12-01}} Her engine had a {{convert|72|in|adj=on}} cylinder with a {{convert|10|ft|adj=on}} stroke. She had two coal-fired boilers. Her machinery was manufactured by the Archimedes Iron Works run by H. R. Dunham of New York.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/321642606/?terms=steamship%2Bpacific|title=The Pacific|date=October 22, 1850|work=New Orleans Crescent|page=2}}

Pacific sailed with as many as 546 passengers aboard{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25534963/?terms=steamer%2Bpacific%2BJarvis|title=Arrival of the Steamship Pacific|date=November 22, 1850|work=Times-Picayune|page=2}} in two classes of service. Passengers purchasing individual cabins would dine in the ship's salon, while steerage passengers had berths in common areas and ate in a separate mess.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/321654642/?terms=steamer%2Bpacific%2BJarvis|title=US Mail Steamship Company|date=December 23, 1850|work=New Orleans Crescent}}

She was launched at high water on September 24, 1850.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32259778/?terms=steamship%2BLowry%2BJarvis%2Blaunch|title=Launch|date=September 23, 1850|work=Evening Post|page=2}} The next day she had a gala sea trial. Captain Jarvis was in command. Also aboard were William Brown, her builder, H. R. Dunham, who supplied her machinery, General Jose Antonio Paez, exiled President of Venezuela, several other steamship captains, and other invited guests. As Pacific headed down the East River, the new steamship Franklin and the new Cunard steamer Asia raced the ship. She easily passed both ships hitting a speed of just over {{convert|16|kn|lk=in}}. A cold lunch was served underway. The ship arrived back at her berth in the East River a 5:45 P.M. after an {{convert|85|mi|adj=on}} trip.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/467626595/?terms=%22Capt%2BJarvis%22|title=Steamers Pacific, Asia, and Franklin|date=September 25, 1850|work=New York Tribune|page=1}}

Pacific sailed from New York on her first commercial voyage on October 11, 1850. She had 80 passengers aboard.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118757781/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=New York, October 11th|date=October 12, 1850|work=Detroit Free Press|page=3}} She was bound for Havana and finally New Orleans, where she arrived on October 23, 1850.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/467650770/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=The Steamer Pacific|date=October 23, 1850|work=New York Tribune|page=4}} She took up a regular route shuttling between New Orleans, Havana, and Chagres, Panama for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Her schedule connected her with the company's ships sailing to San Francisco (via Panama) and New York (via Havana).

The California gold rush was in full swing at the time, and the quickest way to and from the goldfields was through Panama. Thus, Pacific had its share of dramatic cargoes. She left Chagres with 470 passengers and about $200,000 in gold dust on December 12, 1850, bound for Havana and New Orleans.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25540638/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22|title=Arrival of the Steamship Pacific|date=December 23, 1850|work=Times-Picayune|page=1}} Her previous trip had been even richer. She left Chagres on November 11, 1850, with $287,000 of California gold dust and 353 passengers including Prince Paul of Württemberg.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25533884/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22|title=Arrival of the Steamer Pacific|date=November 21, 1850|work=Times-Picayune|page=1}}

In 1850, there were no overland communications routes across North America, so news and mail from California reached the eastern United States through the steamship links at Panama. The news of Western United States brought to New Orleans by Pacific was frequently the first word of events to reach the wider world. The news was telegraphed across the country from New Orleans. While this might have been the fastest method of receiving California news, it was a slow process. For example, the most up to date newspapers that reached New Orleans aboard Pacific on February 6, 1851, were dated January 1, 1851.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171432679/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22|title=Arrival of the California Steamer Pacific|date=February 12, 1851|work=Spirit of Democracy|page=3}}

Cornelius Vanderbilt made his fortune in regional steam boating in the New York area. When the California gold rush made shipping through Panama profitable, he saw an opportunity for improvement. He believed that a route across Nicaragua, which was closer to the United States, would prove a quicker and cheaper path to the gold fields of California. He was unable to secure financing for a canal as he had hoped, but used instead a route including the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua. The transit time from New York to San Francisco on the new Nicaragua route was variously reported to be two to five days faster than the Panama route.{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/panama-canal-nicaragua-1.htm|title=Nicaragua Railway & Canal 1849–1871|website=www.globalsecurity.org}} Vanderbilt began buying and chartering ocean-going ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific to make the Nicaragua route a reality. He chartered Pacific from Brown for the Nicaragua to San Francisco section. She sailed under Captain David G. Bailey.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/26753982/?terms=Vanderbilt%2Bnicaragua|title=The Nicaragua Route|date=April 15, 1851|work=Times-Picayune|page=2}}

Pacific left New York on March 18, 1851, to take up her new charter.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/26752633/?terms=Valparaiso%2BPacific%2Bbailey|title=New York Correspondence|date=March 31, 1851|work=Times-Picayune|page=1}} She sailed to San Francisco with a stop in Valparaíso, Chile. Pacific departed San Francisco on her first voyage as part of the new Nicaragua route on July 14, 1851. She stopped for coal in Acapulco on July 23, and reached San Juan del Sur, the Pacific end of the Nicaragua route, on July 27, 1851.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/264450208/?terms=pacific%2Bcatalina|title=New York|date=August 26, 1851|work=Natchez Daily Courier|page=2}} Her arrival in Nicaragua was coordinated with the sailing of Vanderbilt's Prometheus, which left New York for Nicaragua, also on July 14, 1851.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32695993/?terms=%22independent%2Bline%22|title=The New and Independent Line|date=July 3, 1851|work=Evening Post|page=3}} This inaugural run of Vanderbilt's new route did not go as planned. A $40 or $50 "transit charge" levied in Nicaragua was twice what passengers had been promised, and the mule trains which carried baggage between the steamships were likewise more expensive than advertised. Worst of all, they spent three weeks, "among the vermin, filth, and disease of Nicaragua." The outraged passengers went so far as to form a committee to publish a scathing review of the new service, although they commented favorably on Pacific{{'}}s Captain Bailey.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25562029/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2BCapt%2BBailey|title=The Vanderbilt Route|date=October 24, 1851|work=Times-Picayune|page=2}}

Captain Bailey died unexpectedly while Pacific was in port at San Juan del Sur during the fall of 1851.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25562842/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2BCapt%2BBailey|title=Captain Bailey|date=November 13, 1851|work=Times-Picayune|page=2}} Captain Jarvis was restored to command of the ship,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/50692309/?terms=Vanderbilt%2Bnicaragua|title=Vanderbilt's New Line|date=December 15, 1851|work=New York Tribune|page=3}} at least through February 1852.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25744437/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2BJarvis|title=San Francisco Ship News|date=March 21, 1852|work=Times-Picayune|page=2}}

The transit problems in Nicaragua were reduced and Pacific continued her shuttles between San Francisco and San Juan del Sur for several years. In 1853, through rates leaving San Francisco on Pacific, crossing Nicaragua, and sailing to New York on another Vanderbilt steamer were: $225 for deck staterooms, $200 for staterooms opening onto the dining salon, $150 for a cabin on the lower deck, and $75 for steerage.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/385678448/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2B%22San%2BJuan%2Bdel%22|title=Departure of the Steamers|date=November 19, 1853|work=Placer Herald|page=3}} Her cargoes were even richer than on her Panama trips. In September 1853, she left San Francisco with 460 passengers and $1.5 million in gold.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/490518595/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2B%22San%2BJuan%2Bdel%22|title=California News|date=November 2, 1853|work=Vermont Patriot and State Gazette|page=3}}

The government of Nicaragua was not strong, which may explain how Vanderbilt got his license to cross the country in the first place. By 1854, this weakness brought about threatening forces. A town near the western terminus of the Nicaragua crossing tried to collect "port fees" and impose other controls on Vanderbilt's operations which were not called for in his charter from the national government. When these demands were rebuffed, armed men from San Juan del Norte seized one of Vanderbilt's employees. The U.S. Consul attempted to negotiate the matter and was wounded in the face when a broken bottle was thrown at him. Matters escalated and the {{USS|Cyane|1837|6}} bombarded the defenseless town for an hour and thirty-five minutes,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/334858994/?terms=nicaragua|title=The Destruction of San Juan|date=August 5, 1854|work=Weekly National Intelligencer|page=3}} destroying it.

While the outcome at San Juan del Norte favored Vanderbilt's interests, the civil war that broke out in Nicaragua in 1854 did not. The national government recruited American mercenary William Walker to defend it from the rebels. He and his band of 30 mercenaries took control of the country. He seized Vanderbilt's assets in Nicaragua in March 1855, likely in collusion with Vanderbilt's erstwhile partner, Charles Morgan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329311680/?terms=walker%2Bvanderbilt%2Bnicaragua|title=Latest News From Nicaragua|date=March 15, 1856|work=New York Daily Herald|page=4}} Pacific continued to sail into this confusing situation until at least August 1855.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/255021927/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22%2BNicaragua%2B%22San%2BFrancisco%22|title=By Telegraph|date=September 10, 1855|work=Buffalo Daily Republic|page=3}}

Pacific was "withdrawn" from the Nicaraguan service in early 1856.{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18560418.2.9.1&srpos=7&e=------185-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=By Telegraph to the Union|date=April 18, 1856|work=Sacramento Daily Union|page=2}} She falls out of contemporary accounts at that point. It may be that her charter was not renewed in the confusion that overtook Vanderbilt's operations after the seizure of his Nicaraguan properties. In the fall of 1858, she reappears sailing for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118500573/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2Bpatterson|title=The Latest News|date=August 9, 1859|work=Weekly Oregon Statesman|page=2}} between San Francisco, Portland, Puget Sound, and Victoria, British Columbia.{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18581103.2.2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|title=Arrival of the Pacific|date=November 3, 1858|work=Daily Alta California|page=1}} Part of her business, and perhaps the reason for her reactivation was to ferry miners from California to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. She also carried troops amid escalating border tensions in the San Juan Islands with British forces. In January 1858, she embarked 260 enlisted men and 13 officers in San Francisco for Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.

In 1859, Pacific was purchased by the California Steam Navigation Company which continued to sail her between San Francisco, Portland, Puget Sound, and Victoria.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/80364379/?terms=%22california%2Bsteam%2Bnavigation%22|title=New Line|date=January 18, 1859|work=Weekly Oregon Statesman|page=2}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/16213932/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2Bpatterson|title=Arrival of the Pacific|date=January 21, 1860|work=Weekly Oregonian|page=2}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/16214164/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2B%22San%2BFrancisco%22|title=Arrival of the Pacific|date=August 4, 1860|work=Weekly Oregonian|page=2}} Much of her freight was agricultural. For example, she sailed from Portland to Victoria on November 15, 1861, with, "2,889 sacks flour; 991 boxes apples; 74 lbs butter; 19 boxes eggs; 28 sacks bacon; 3 barrels cider; 9 coops chickens".{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/9640973/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Exports|date=November 16, 1861|work=Weekly Oregonian|page=3}}

File:View from Fort Tongas.jpg

Pacific, under the command of Captain George W. Staples, sailed from Portland down the Columbia on July 17, 1861, headed for San Francisco. At 2 A.M. she hit Coffin Rock. At the time she was making {{convert|12|kn}} through the water and had a {{convert|5|kn|adj=on}} current with her. The rock stove in her bow and flooding was immediate and serious. Captain Staples attempted to reach Astoria, but the flooding was too severe. Pacific continued downstream for about {{convert|10|mi|spell=in}} and was beached on the Washington side of the river. When she came to rest, her stern was submerged to her second deck. There were 70 passengers aboard at the time. There were no deaths, but much of the cargo was destroyed.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/337469445/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Loss of the Pacific|date=July 26, 1861|work=Washington Standard|page=2}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/167499154/?terms=%22coffin%2Brock%22|title=Memoranda|date=August 15, 1861|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|page=8}} Pacific was refloated on August 2, 1861, and beached at Astoria for repairs.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/337469527/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Gatherings by the Wayside|date=August 10, 1861|work=Washington Standard|page=2}} By the end of the year she was back in service, plying her regular route.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/403719734/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Destructive Freshets in Oregon|date=December 27, 1861|work=Orleans Independent Standard|page=2}}

Steamboat rate wars raged on the West Coast of the United States in the 1860s. In order to reduce competition on the routes from San Francisco to points north, the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company acquired six ships, including Pacific, from the California Steam Navigation Company, in mid-1867.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/50264502/?terms=%22steam%2Bnavigation%22|title=At a meeting of the directors|date=June 29, 1867|work=Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel|page=1}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seRDAAAAYAAJ&q=J.D.%20Howell |title=Lewis and Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest |year=1895 |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=E.W. |location=Portland, Oregon |pages=157, 223–228}} The California, Oregon and Mexico Steamship Company was reincorporated in California as the North Pacific Transportation Company in early 1869.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457274376/?terms=%22North%2BPacific%2BTransportation%2BCompany%22|title=The New Steamship Company|date=March 20, 1869|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}}

In 1868, a year after Alaska was acquired from Russia, Pacific was chartered for General Henry Halleck's inspection trip of the newly acquired territory. In addition to Halleck and his staff, the ship carried ordinance, commissary, and quartermaster's stores for the new military facilities. The ship departed San Francisco on July 29, 1868.{{Cite news |date=July 31, 1868 |title=General Halleck Off For Alaska |pages=1 |work=New York Tribune |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1284B46450E6EE32%40GB3NEWS-12BFBDB1DBE1D528%402403545-12BFBDB1F74E18A8%400-12BFBDB3A63C21B8%40Gen.%2BHalleck%2Boff%2Bfor%2BAlaska?h=2&fname=&mname=&lname=&kwinc=Halleck%20Alaska&kwexc=&rgfromDate=1868&rgtoDate=1868&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=vsmwlwfqkdxvoewuikscudsugilghhax_wma-gateway001_1673892839323}} The ship stopped at Fort Tongass, Sitka,{{Cite news |date=September 5, 1868 |title=Read and Run |pages=3 |work=Massachusetts Ploughman |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A157DAF7B8A3F8E68%40GB3NEWS-163203DF82779F50%402403581-162B6FF163141658%402-162B6FF163141658%40?h=29&fname=&mname=&lname=&kwinc=Halleck%20Alaska%20return&kwexc=&rgfromDate=8/1/1868&rgtoDate=9/10/1868&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=1&sid=xltfayflvgstjfrnkwuxpnoydjgxllle_wma-gateway012_1673894349154}} and Victoria, B.C.,{{Cite news |date=August 31, 1868 |title=Alaska |pages=5 |work=New York Herald |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A11A050B7B120D3F8%40GB3NEWS-1311D34513625378%402403576-1311D34582C78C40%404-1311D35EEFCA40C0%40Alaska.%2BGeneral%2BHalleck%2BReturning%2Bfrom%2BSitka-Sickness%2Bamong%2Bthe%2BRussian-Indian%2BOutrange%2Bon%2Ba%2BTrading%2BSloop-Coal%2BDiscoveries?h=6&fname=&mname=&lname=&kwinc=Halleck%20Alaska%20pacific&kwexc=&rgfromDate=1868&rgtoDate=1868&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=iuogmtlcisvmovsqprexwnzrtfnymfez_wma-gateway011_1673893623996}} before returning to San Francisco.

Beginning in 1869, Pacific began to mix her northward sailings to Victoria with southern voyages from San Francisco to San Diego with stops in Santa Barbara, and San Pedro.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/461071155/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Arrival of the Steamer Pacific|date=November 2, 1869|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}} During the winter of 1869–1870, she took a two-month tourist cruise from San Francisco south to ports in the Gulf of California and then to Honolulu before returning.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/27336452/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Pleasure Excursion on the Pacific Ocean|date=September 29, 1869|work=San Francisco Chronicle|page=4}}

In another attempt to damp down rate wars on the West Coast, the Pacific Mail Steamship company bought four steamships, including Pacific and all the Southern California business of the North Pacific Transportation Company in 1872. Pacific{{'}}s sale price was $50,000.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457744599/?terms=%22North%2BPacific%2Btransportation%2BCompany%22|title=Freights, Charters, etc.|date=October 3, 1872|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}} In August 1873 the ship underwent a refit in San Francisco. A new steam engine was installed which had a vertical {{convert|54|in|adj=on}} cylinder with a {{convert|10|ft|adj=on}} throw. This new engine provided {{convert|500|hp}}. In yet another corporate merger aimed at reducing competition, Goodall, Nelson, and Perkins purchased the Southern California operations of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, including Pacific in early 1875.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42352255/?terms=%22Goodall%2C%2BNelson%22%2B%22pacific%2BMail%22|title=Goodall, Nelson & Perkins|date=January 19, 1875|work=Los Angeles Herald|page=2}} The ship sold for $35,000.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/458095119/?terms=%22Goodall%2BNelson%22%2B%22Pacific%2BMail%22|title=Commercial|date=January 15, 1875|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}} Through all this corporate turmoil, Pacific continued her regular sailings. On March 11, 1873, she arrived in San Francisco with 90,000 oranges and 25,000 lemons from groves around Los Angeles.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457681518/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Fruits|date=March 12, 1873|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}} In 1874 she was making two round-trips per month between San Francisco and San Pedro.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42357915/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Pacific Mail Steamship Co.|date=September 9, 1874|work=Los Angeles Herald|page=1}}

File:Pac Ad Pug Snd Dispatch 9-3-1875 p3.jpg

Pacific finished her last Southern California voyages for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in January 1875, and by May was sailing her old route from San Francisco to Victoria for Goodall, Nelson, and Perkins.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/458114023/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=General Merchandise|date=May 6, 1875|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/332960276/?terms=%22North%2BPacific%2BTransportation%2BCompany%22%2B%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Capt. Charles A. Sawyer Dead|date=October 9, 1894|work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|page=2}} The onset of the Cassiar Gold Rush in far northern British Columbia played a part in her routing. On July 1, 1875, she arrived in San Francisco with $50,629 of Canadian gold aboard.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457592832/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=General Merchandise|date=July 2, 1875|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}} Among the notable passengers aboard in 1875 were the 173 crewmembers of the {{USS|Saranac|1848|6}} that was wrecked in Seymour Narrows, British Columbia.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329418551/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=The Saranac|date=July 3, 1875|work=New York Daily Herald|page=7}} Despite all the mergers, rates continued to be quite low. In 1875 a trip aboard Pacific from San Francisco to Olympia, Washington cost $10 in steerage and $20 for a cabin.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/337475385/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Rates of Passage|date=August 7, 1875|work=Washington Standard}}

File:Captain Jefferson Davis Howell.jpg

On November 4, 1875, she boarded passengers and freight in Victoria for her regular run to San Francisco. There were 52 crew aboard, led by Captain Jefferson Davis Howell. Thirty-five through passengers from Puget Sound ports were aboard and another 132 passengers bought tickets and embarked at Victoria. In addition to these ticketed passengers, an unknown number of persons rushed aboard without tickets as she left the dock. Children sailed for free and thus were also likely undercounted. Among the notable people aboard were lumberman Sewell "Sue" Moody, founder of Moodyville, Captain Otis Parsons, who had just sold off his fleet of Fraser River steamers, and J.H. Sullivan, who had been Gold Commissioner of the Cassiar mining district.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/337476054/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22|title=News from Port Townsend|date=November 27, 1876|work=Washington Standard|page=2}} Passengers also included gold miners going home before the snows hit their diggings in northern British Columbia, and 41 unidentified "Chinamen". While the official estimate was that there were 275 people aboard, there is no way to be sure, and the number of passengers may have been higher.

Her cargo on this voyage included 300 bales of hops, 2,000 sacks of oats, 250 hides, eleven casks of furs, 31 barrels of cranberries, two cases of opium, six horses, two buggies, 280 tons of coal from Puget Sound, $79,220 in gold, and about 30 tons of miscellaneous goods.

Pacific got underway from Victoria at 9:30 A.M. and sailed west, down the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She had a rough passage and had difficulty remaining on an even keel. The crew took the strange step of filling lifeboats with water to correct her list. The steamer passed Tatoosh Island at about 4 P.M and turned south along the coast. At this point she was steaming into the wind, which slowed her progress. The 1,067-ton sailing ship Orpheus was headed in the opposite direction, sailing under the command of Captain Charles Sawyer from San Francisco to pick up a load of coal at Nanaimo. The two ships collided about {{convert|25|mi}} southwest of Cape Flattery at approximately 10 P.M. on November 4, 1875.

Pacific hit Orpheus near her bow on her starboard side. The two ships hit at an angle, and the bow of Pacific scraped along Orpheus{{'}} side until she passed astern. The collision was judged "light" by Sawyer. He speculated that Pacific had reversed her engines, reducing her speed and thus the force of the collision. Much of Orpheus{{'}} starboard rigging was ripped away by Pacific{{'}}s bow, and she was immobilized. Unsure of the extent of the damage, Captain Sawyer ordered the ship's boats readied in case the crew had to abandon ship. A frantic 15 minutes revealed that the hull was sound and that there was no water in the hold. He ordered his men to make temporary repairs to the rigging in order to regain control over the drifting ship. Once the initial emergency had subsided, there was no sign of the steamer that had hit Orpheus. The crew began to grumble that the steamer should have stood by to help them or rescue them if they had sunk. They had no idea the steamer had been damaged, much less sunk, assuming that it had just sailed away. In a few hours Orpheus was underway again, still headed to Nanaimo.

Meanwhile, on board Pacific, a disaster was taking place. Information on these events is limited as only two people, neither of them on the bridge, survived the wreck. Neil Henly was the ship's quartermaster, and Henry F. Jelly of Port Stanley, Ontario was a passenger in British Columbia to survey possible routes for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Both men were in their bunks at the time of the collision. Henley did note that the ship's running lights were on as he retired to his cabin before the collision.

Both men felt and heard the crash as Pacific scraped along Orpheus{{'}} side. Jelly ran on deck where he was told that they had hit another vessel and "it's all right". He went back to his cabin, but by then the ship had begun to list to port. He went back on deck and found a chaotic situation. No one was steering the vessel, although the engines were still running.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/164144487/?terms=inquest%2Bpacific%2BSawyer|title=The Pacific Horror|date=November 26, 1875|work=Memphis Daily Appeal|page=1}} In consultation with Captain Howell, he fired five blue flares, a distress signal. At that point his attention turned to the lifeboats.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/34850822/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2Bhenley|title=The Steamer Pacific's Plunge|date=November 10, 1875|work=Cincinnati Enquirer|page=1}} Henly, too, raced up on deck to find all in confusion. Passengers were scrambling into lifeboats, without order. The crew threw one man overboard who refused to leave a lifeboat. Many boats were without oars; some still had water in them from the attempt to trim the ship, and the crew was unable to launch most of them. Henly and the chief engineer managed to launch one boat, but it immediately capsized. Jelly was in the only other boat that either man saw launched. Pacific had listed so far to port that this boat was set down on the water without having been lowered from its davits. As soon as it was cut loose from the ship, it filled with water and capsized. At this point – Jelly estimated an hour after the collision – Pacific broke in two and the ship's smokestack fell on the capsized boat. The pieces of the ship promptly sank.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/326055626/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22|title=Loss of Steamship Pacific|date=November 10, 1875|work=New Orleans Republican|page=1}}

After Pacific went under, Henly reported that the water was filled with "a floating mass of human beings, whose screams for help were fearful, but which soon ceased". Most succumbed to hypothermia or drowning. A few, including Jelly and Henly, managed to climb up out of the water onto broken parts of the ship. Women in fashionable dresses with yards of material were at a disadvantage as they were weighed down by their water-logged clothes. Jelly survived by clinging to a piece of the wheelhouse with a miner from Maine who had been in the Cariboo goldfields and, like Jelly, was on his way home to the eastern part of the continent via the transcontinental railway from San Francisco. Jelly's companion succumbed to exposure as the wreckage drifted closer to Vancouver Island. Only three miles from shore, Jelly was rescued by the American bark {{SS|Messenger||2}} at 10 A.M. on November 6, 1875. He was brought ashore at Port Townsend, Washington, weak from exposure. His rescue was the first indication the rest of the world had that Pacific had sunk. A number of vessels, including {{ship|USRC|Wolcott|1831|6}} were dispatched to look for survivors.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/455776595/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=The Lost Steamer Pacific|date=November 13, 1875|work=Ottawa Daily Citizen|page=3}}

Henly's impromptu raft also carried Captain Howell, the second mate, a cook, and four passengers including a young lady. Waves washed some off the raft, and others died of exposure, leaving Henley alone. He was finally rescued by the Wolcott at 3 A.M. on November 8, 1875.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/34850822/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2Bhenley|title=The Lost Steamers|date=November 16, 1875|work=St Albans Advertiser|page=1}}

Orpheus continued her voyage north after the collision, intending to turn east into the Strait of Juan de Fuca once she passed the Cape Flattery lighthouse. Somehow she missed that light. Instead, the mate on watch saw the Cape Beale Light further to the north. This lighthouse had only operated for a few months and none of the officers on board knew about it. They assumed it was Cape Flattery, turned east, and wrecked their ship In Barclay Sound, near Copper (Tzartus) Island, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Some of her crew reached the shore, and others were rescued by Wolcott, which was still looking for survivors from Pacific. Wolcott{{'}}s officers examined the wreck of Orpheus and confirmed Sawyer's account that Pacific had hit her near the bow and scraped along her starboard side.

A coroner's inquest on some of the bodies recovered was held in Victoria in late November 1875. Henley and Jelly testified, as did Captain Sawyer and some of Orpheus{{'}} crew.

All of Pacific{{'}}s officers and most of her crew were killed in the event, and Captain Sawyer of Orpheus was below at the beginning of the incident so details of the collision are necessarily incomplete. Nonetheless, the surviving accounts and the results of the inquests into the sinking present a fairly clear picture. Orpheus was sailing north in a fine rain. A fresh wind out of the south sped her on her way at 12 knots. It was dark and Sawyer was uncertain just how far his ship was from the coast to his east, so he trimmed his sails so he could fall off to the west at a moment's notice. Sawyer went below at 9:30 P.M. to consult his charts, leaving the ship under the command of the second mate with instructions to fall off to the west if he spotted anything; the mate did so when he spotted a light on his port bow that he thought was the Cape Flattery lighthouse. Had he been correct, his action would have saved the ship from wrecking on the rocky shore; however, the light was Pacific{{'}}s, and by turning to the west, Orpheus ran directly in front of the approaching steamer.

The various inquests agreed that the proximate cause of the sinking was Orpheus crossing in front of Pacific.{{Cite web|url=https://www.garemaritime.com/public-damned-one-black-week-1875/|title=The Public Be Damned: One Black Week in 1875 – The SS Pacific|last=Kalafus|first=Jim|date=2007-06-28|website=Gare Maritime|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-12-18}} This simple and obvious conclusion left many questions unanswered, and rumors created new ones.

Orpheus clearly steered into the collision, but many speculated that Pacific could have avoided it. While no one from Pacific{{'}}s bridge survived to tell what the ship did to avoid the collision, several facts illuminate the issue. First, crew members of both vessels reported seeing the lights of the other. The ships had their running lights on, and visibility was adequate for them to be seen. Second, Jelly reported hearing the bells for the engine telegraph go to "stop" after the collision. This throws doubt onto Sawyer's speculation that Pacific slowed prior to the collision. Third, Sawyer claimed that he saw no lookouts on Pacific{{'}}s deck and Jelly claimed the crew were all asleep below; the Victoria inquest faulted Pacific for inadequate lookouts. A lack of lookouts may have delayed the recognition of the approaching collision until it was too late for Pacific to take action. Finally, Sawyer reported that Pacific blew its whistle, presumably as a warning, 30 seconds before the collision, but appeared not to take evasive action even though it had announced its understanding of the immediate danger.

There was much sentiment that a glancing blow that did no damage to Orpheus{{'}} hull should not have sunk a well-found ship, much less cause her to break into pieces. The New York Times was particularly strident, commenting, "The sinking of the steamer Pacific by collision with a sailing vessel was a fair example of the worthlessness of some of the hulls now afloat. That collision might have been avoided is very true; but there is no possible excuse for the breaking up of a vessel by such a blow as that given by the Orpheus. The steamer's bow was crushed in like glass, on receiving a blow delivered obliquely. It is a perversion of language to call such a ship 'seaworthy."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/26028979/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22|title=Mr Plimsoll Will Be Interested|date=December 10, 1875|work=The New York Times|page=4}} There were calls for greater steamboat regulation, criticism of the Steamboat Inspection Service, and some questions raised about the lack of maintenance on ships caused by the relentless fare wars.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/83334606/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Cheap Freights and Fares|date=November 22, 1877|work=Vancouver Independent|page=4}}

The use of water-filled life rafts to trim Pacific, as reported by Jelly, indicates that she had stability problems well before the collision. If she already had water in her hold, and was overloaded or the cargo was mis-stowed, this could have caused the ship to capsize more quickly once flooding began after the collision.

Captain Howell was only 34 years old at the time of the sinking, and there were questions raised about his competence and experience. The fact that he was the brother-in-law of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, no doubt created a cloud of ill-feeling around him, but his experience as a mariner was comparable to other steamboat captains at the time. He studied at the US Naval Academy prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War and commanded a gunboat for the Confederate Navy for two years. He came to California in 1869 and began a commercial steamboat career.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/337476143/?terms=%22J%2BD%2BHowell%22|title=Captain Jeff. Howell|date=December 11, 1875|work=Washington Standard|page=1}} He commanded ships for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Oregon Steamship Company. Immediately prior to joining Goodall, Nelson, and Perkins, Howell had been captain of the North Pacific Transportation Company's steamers Idaho, Montana, Pelican and others.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/348613147/?terms=%22J%2BD%2BHowell%22|title=The Lost Commander|date=December 20, 1875|work=Bossier Banner|page=1}}

By the time that Captain Sawyer embarked for California, the world had discovered that Pacific was sunk with huge loss of life, and that Orpheus had sailed away without attempting a rescue. He was vilified in the press.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/455780688/?terms=%22steamship%2Bpacific%22|title=The "Pacific" Disaster|date=November 25, 1875|work=Ottawa Daily Citizen|page=4}} It was speculated that Captain Sawyer had wrecked his ship on purpose either to "eliminate the evidence" or to collect on his insurance, since his normal profits would not be sufficient to repair the damages from the collision.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/27326940/?terms=Sawyer%2Borpheus|title=Captain Sawyer|date=January 7, 1876|work=San Francisco Chronicle|page=3}} He was arrested, but an inquest in San Francisco exonerated him. Sawyer died at Port Townsend in 1894.{{Cite web |date=2017-06-12 |title=#123 "I'll bid you Klahowya" |url=https://bcbooklook.com/2017/04/22/a-great-tramp-before-chaplin/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612073948/https://bcbooklook.com/2017/04/22/a-great-tramp-before-chaplin/ |archive-date=2017-06-12 }}

The wreck of Orpheus was sold for $385 to J. J. Hunt, who hired a crew to salvage what he could. In January 1893 her anchors and chain were salvaged.

• J. D. Howell Captain
• A. H. McDonough First Officer
• A. Wells Second Officer
• J. M. Lewis Third Officer
• H. F. Houston Chief Engineer
• D. M. Bassett First Assistant
• A. J. Coghlan Second Assistant
• O. Hyte Jr. Purser
• T. H. Bigley Freight Clerk
• James Lestrange
• Richard Manders
• James O'Neil Fireman
• William Clancey
• Frank Palmer
• Charles Norris
• Richard Powers Coal Passer
• Thomas Lestrange Coal Passer
• Frank Elwell Oiler
• R. Errickson Carpenter
• Henry A. Norris Watchman
• W. Fairfield
• William Wilson
• John Daley
• John Sherry
• Peter Jamieson
• Lawrence Guinn
• Thomas Kerby
• Patrick Moore
• Neil Henly Seaman
• John Martin Seaman
• S. McNicols
• H. Jackson Steward
• J. M. Holdsworth Steward
• S. Miles Steward
• C. H. Whiting Cook
• Thomas Molloy Baker
• Robert T. Menaimo Porter
• Richard Bell
• C. B. Herbert
• Daniel Monroe Pantryman
• Charles Eisenor Pantryman
• Andrew Walters Pantryman
• J. C. Meza Pantryman
• Alfred York Pantryman
• Oscar Clare Pantryman
• Luke McMerim Pantryman
• John Hardie Pantryman
• James Johnson Pantryman
• James McGinnis Waiter
• Sarah Minow Stewardess

• Joseph and Odelia Hellmuth
• Marietta (Mettie) Carr Mahon (daughter of Job Carr) and her son, Frankie Mahon
• Henry Clay Victor
• Fred D. Hard
• George T. Vining

• C. B. Davidson and wife
• T. Allison
• William Maxwell
• A. Robbins
• O. McPherson
• B. Wood
• John Tarnett
• M Wilson
• A. Lang
• J. McLanders
• J. Fitzgerald
• C. Chisholm
• J. S. Webster
• William Polley
• H. Cline
• W. Waldron
• G. Gribell
• John McCormack
• Isaac Webbs
• Cal Mandeville, wife and child
• F. Garesche
• C. Somers
• J. Foster
• J. H. Sullivan
• J. W. Doyle
• J. Kennedy
• William Powell
• S. Nichleson
• James H. Webb
• Edward Shephard
• George Bryson
• Richard Turnbull
• Charles Smith
• A. L. Rainey
• F. E. Meyer
• J. Thompson
• P. Canty
• Adam Foster
• R. Lyon
• George Bird
• J. McLaughlin
• William Champion
• William Power
• John Kenalley
• P. I .. Chapman
• William Ammiss
• William Purdary
• John G. Todd
• Doc Young
• J. Congdon
• A. Frazer
• Miss A. Reynolds
• Mrs. Moote
• Edward H. Pooley
• Mrs. S. Styles and child
• C. B. Fairbanks
• A. B. Otway
• J. F. Johnston
• John Cochrane
• T. J. Ferrill
• J. Cahill
• William Wills
• Miss Fanny Palmer
• Mrs. Lawson
• James Lennings
• D. C. McIntyre
• Captain and Mrs. Parsons and child
• W. J. Ferry
• Thomas Smith
• S. P. Moody
• M. Somers
• John Watson
• R. Hudson,
• E. P. Atkins
• R. Layzelle
• John Lee
• George Morton
• John Sampson
• George Herne
• G. Journeaux
• Joseph Haverly and wife
• Dennis Kane
• C. N. Miles
• J. Creden
• J. Pettier
• Mr. and Mrs. H. Keller and child
• John Tarbet
• T. J. Robinson
• George Skippon
• E. T. Jaynes
• Mrs. Hurlburt
• Richard Cochrane
• B. F. Gretz
• Richard Waldron
• Rockwell and Hurlburt troupe
• 50 “chinamen”

File:Sonar Image of Suspected Sidewheel Steamship Pacific 's Paddle Wheels.png

Pacific{{'}}s cargo included at least {{convert|200|lb}} of gold, sparking the interest of treasure hunters.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jawsmarine.com/category/olympic-coaststrait-of-juan-de-fuca/ss-pacific/|title=SS Pacific (Location Info) {{!}} JaWS MARINE|website=www.jawsmarine.com|access-date=2018-12-22}} Given the historical significance of the ship and its loss, others have been interested in the wreck from an archeological perspective as well. At least six different parties have mounted searches for the wreck of the Pacific since 1993.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-29 |title=The Search - The Northwest Shipwreck Alliance |url=http://northwestshipwreckalliance.org/the-search/ |access-date=2023-01-12 |language=en}} The wreck has proven hard to locate for a variety of reasons. First, it is certain that the mariners on Orpheus did not know precisely where they were and thus could not accurately report the position of the collision. Second, almost no one survived from Pacific, and certainly none of the deck officers who might have been able to report the position of the sinking. Third, the water is deep and the bottom uneven in the area of the sinking. Finally, after over a century on the sea floor, the wooden hull and other organic matter in the wreck would have decomposed leaving little more than a flat debris field, some of which was likely covered in silt.

File:Firebrick Recovered From North Pacific Ocean.png was recovered from the wreck site. Pacific's boilers certainly used this type of material. Note the dark soot on the end that faced the coal fires.]]

Rockfish, Inc. is a for-profit corporation which was launched in 2016 with the goal of locating and salvaging Pacific. Through 2022, $2.1 million has been invested in Rockfish by 45 people.{{Cite news |last=Turner |first=Nicholas |date=December 25, 2022 |title=Diving drones, curious octopus lead way to legendary shipwreck |pages=C1–C2 |work=Seattle Times}} Jeff Hummel, president of Rockfish, pursued a number of clues to narrow the search area off the Washington coast. Bottom-trawling fishermen provided one clue. Some brought up chunks of coal in their nets. Since coal is not found naturally on the sea floor, Rockfish had a chemical analysis completed on one of the recovered rocks. It matched the composition of coal from a mine in Coos Bay, Oregon that was owned by Goodall, Nelson, and Perkins, suggesting that it may have come from Pacific's bunkers. Acting on this and other clues, in the summer of 2021, Rockfish located what it believed to be the wreck using side-scan sonar. In follow-up surveys during the summer and fall of 2022, the wreck was photographed using a deep-diving remotely operated underwater vehicle, and a number of artifacts were brought to the surface.{{Cite web |date=November 21, 2022 |title=Rockfish, Inc. vs. Unidentified Wrecked Abandoned Vessel |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/rockfish-ss-pacific-salvage-rights.pdf |publisher=US District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle}}

In November 2022, Rockfish filed for salvage rights to the ship based on its sonar data, photography, and artifact evidence. On November 23, 2022, the United States District Court in Western Washington granted exclusive salvage rights to the wreck to Rockfish for 12 months. In order to renew its exclusive salvage rights, Rockfish is required by the Court to diligently undertake the salvage of the ship. The wreck discovered by Rockfish has not been definitively identified as Pacific. Nonetheless, the Court found the evidence sufficiently persuasive that it ordered the public notice of the grant of salvage rights to characterize it as "currently believed to be S.S. Pacific".{{Cite web |title=Rockfish Inc v. Unidentified Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel |url=https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2022cv01659/316589 |access-date=2023-01-12 |website=Justia Dockets & Filings |language=en}}

Rockfish plans further expeditions to the wreck site in the fall of 2023, and the summers of 2024, and 2025. Recovery of additional artifacts will begin with the debris field surrounding the remains of the ship, and then progress to the wreck itself.

The Northwest Shipwreck Alliance is a non-profit corporation {{Cite web |title=The Northwest Shipwreck Alliance |url=https://northwestshipwreckalliance.org/ |access-date=2023-01-17 |language=en}} headed by Matthew McCauley,{{Cite web |date=2022-11-15 |title=The Northwest Shipwreck Alliance: Who We Are - The Northwest Shipwreck Alliance |url=https://northwestshipwreckalliance.org/home/about/the-northwest-shipwreck-alliance-who-we-are/ |access-date=2023-01-17 |language=en}} a long-time partner of Jeff Hummel in numerous salvage efforts. Rockfish, Inc. and its investors are entitled to any profits from any gold or other treasure recovered, but have entered into an agreement to donate all other artifacts recovered to Northwest Shipwreck Alliance.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-22 |title=Seattle shipwreck enthusiasts find possible site of the deadliest wreck in PNW history |url=https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-shipwreck-enthusiasts-find-possible-site-of-deadliest-wreck-in-pnw-history |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=www.kuow.org |language=en}} It announced its desire to display recovered artifacts in an appropriate museum setting.

Historical documents provide a partial list of Pacific{{'}}s captains:

• Nathaniel Jarvis: 1850, 1851, 1852
• Captain David G. Bailey: 1851
• Captain Bodfish: 1851{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18511018.2.9.1&e=------185-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=Marine Intelligence|date=October 18, 1851|work=Sacramento Daily Union}}
• Captain Seabury: 1851,{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18530315.2.16&srpos=77&e=------185-en--20--61--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=Cleared|date=March 15, 1863|work=Daily Alta California}} 1853,{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18530308.2.8&srpos=110&e=------185-en--20--101--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=Arrival of the Pacific|date=March 8, 1853|work=Daily Alta California}} 1854{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18540801.2.6&srpos=126&e=------185-en--20--121--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=Arrival of the Pacific|date=August 1, 1854|work=Daily Alta California}}
• Captain P. E. Lefevre: 1852, 1853{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329292600/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22%2BNicaragua%2B%22San%2BFrancisco%22|title=Marine Affairs|date=May 17, 1855|work=New York Daily Herald|page=1}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.maritimeheritage.org/captains/index.html|title=Ship Passengers and Sea Captains Sailing into San Francisco 1846–1900.|website=www.maritimeheritage.org|access-date=2018-12-06}}
• Captain Edgar L. Wakeman: 1855{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329302740/?terms=%22steamer%2BPacific%22%2BNicaragua%2B%22San%2BFrancisco%22|title=Nicaragua Route|date=June 25, 1855|work=New York Daily Herald|page=7}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.maritimeheritage.org/captains/wakeman.html|title=Captain Edgar Wakeman. 1800s San Francisco – The Maritime Heritage Project|website=www.maritimeheritage.org|access-date=2018-12-06}}
• Captain Robert Haley: 1858{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/80363898/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22%2Bportland|title=Troops For Oregon|date=June 29, 1858|work=Weekly Oregon Statesman|page=2}}
• Captain C. P. Patterson: 1859{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18591224.2.3&srpos=6&e=------185-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=Arrival of the Pacific|date=December 24, 1859|work=Daily Alta California|page=1}} 1860
• Captain George W. Staples: 1861{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/9640918/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Departure of Col. Nesmith and Capt. Staples|date=October 12, 1861|work=Weekly Oregonian|page=2}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/337469919/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Death of Captain Staples|date=October 19, 1861|work=Washington Standard|page=2}}
• Captain A. M. Burns: 1855{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18550730.2.23.7&srpos=53&e=------185-en--20--41--txt-txIN-%22steamer+pacific%22-------1|title=Wells Fargo & Co's Express Notice|date=July 30, 1855|work=Daily Alta California}} 1862{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/9641011/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Arrival of Pacific|date=September 20, 1862|work=Weekly Oregonian|page=3}}
• Captain Hewitt: 1869{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/27541499/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Sailed|date=November 17, 1868|work=San Francisco Chronicle|page=3}}
• Captain Connor: 1869{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/461046309/?terms=%22San%2BDiego%2Bsteamship%22%2B%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=North Pacific Transportation Company's Steamers|date=August 31, 1869|work=San Francisco Examiner|page=3}}
• Captain F. C. Scholl: 1870,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/383369908/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=The Loss of the "Active"|date=June 26, 1870|work=Corvalis Gazette-Times|page=1}} 1875{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/428244345/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Domestic Ports|date=August 30, 1875|work=Boston Globe}}
• Captain Peter Mackie: 1872
• Captain G. D. Korts: 1874{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42355463/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Pacific Mail Steamship Co.|date=May 14, 1874|work=Los Angeles Herald|page=1}}
• Captain Thomas Stothard: 1874{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42354899/?terms=%22steamer%2Bpacific%22|title=Pacific Mail Steamship Company|date=April 11, 1874|work=Los Angeles Herald|page=1}}
• Captain Jefferson Davis Howell: 1875

• Graveyard of the Pacific
• List of ships in British Columbia

{{Reflist}}

• https://www.historylink.org/File/8914

• "The Wreck of the Steamship Pacific: The Worst Maritime Disaster of the West Coast", by Brian K. Crawford is a book dealing with the sinking. {{ISBN|9781533023858}}
• {{cite book |last=Basque |first=Garnet |title=Lost Bonanzas of Western Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7OFlJZCtvxAC |year=1995 |publisher=Heritage House Publishing Co |isbn=978-1-895811-86-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Barlee |first=Neville Langrell |title=Historic treasures and lost mines of British Columbia |year=1976 |publisher=Canada West}}

{{1875 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacific}}

Category:1875 in the United States

Category:Passenger ships of the United States

Category:Maritime incidents in November 1875

Category:History of British Columbia

Category:Shipwrecks of the Washington coast

Category:Paddle steamers of British Columbia

Category:Shipwrecks of the British Columbia coast

Category:Ships sunk in collisions

Category:1850 ships