The Collins Line was the common name for the American

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ex ...

company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins, formally called the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company. Under Edward Collins' guidance, the company grew to be a serious competitor on the transatlantic routes to the British

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...

shipping company.

Early days

The Collins Line, as it was commonly known at the time, were the ships and lines run by the shipping company, I. G. Collins (later I. G. Collins and Son). Israel Collins had left the sea in 1818 to establish the shipping company in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. The firm traded in a fairly small way. In 1824, Israel was joined by his son Edward. In January 1825, Edward took advantage of a cotton shortage in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to charter a schooner in order to get to Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of his competitors and corner the market in cotton. This was the turning point in the company. In 1827, the company started a line of packets sailing between New York and

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

on the Mexican coast. The line prospered. Israel Collins died in 1831, and Edward took over management of a New York-

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Transatlantic freight trade

Up until 1835 the company had not seriously competed in the transatlantic trade, but in that year it received a new ship, the ''Shakspeare''. The ship was dispatched to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and returned with the largest cargo yet brought to New York. From then on, the company was a serious competitor for the transatlantic trade. At that time, all of the competing shipping firms were American. Collins' ships predominantly carried cotton for the English cotton industry. The firm continued to commission the largest ships that it could, and three vessels, ''Garrick'', ''Sheridan'', and ''Siddons'', were added to the fleet. In 1838 the 1,030-ton ''Roscius'' was added, larger than any competitor. At that time, Collins' main rival was the Black Ball Line, also of New York.

Transatlantic mail and passenger service

In 1838, the , owned by the British Great Western Steamship Company, crossed the Atlantic in 15 days and heralded a new age in the transatlantic trade. Two years later, the

British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival Corporation & plc#Carnival United Kingdom, Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its ...

, commonly known as

Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...

, began transatlantic steam packet service between

and Halifax, after winning the tender for subsidies from the British admiralty. In 1840–41, four ships were delivered to Cunard for this service, with two additional ships following in 1844.Bernard Dumpleton, “The Story of the Paddle Steamer”, 1973, The Uffington Press, Dissatisfied with the dominance of British companies in the transatlantic mail packet trade, the US Congress decided to begin a state-subsidized service of their own in 1845. The

United States Postmaster General The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency. The PMG is selected and appointed by ...

Office invited tenders from US-based shipping companies for a service from

to ports in Northern Europe. Four companies, including a group led by Collins, submitted their proposals. A five-year tender of carrying mail from New York to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

was eventually awarded to the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, led by

Edward Mills This is a list of all cricketers who have played first-class, list A or Twenty20 cricket for Auckland cricket team. Seasons given are first and last seasons; the player did not necessarily play in all the intervening seasons. A * John Ackla ...

, which began service in 1846. In 1849, the US Postmaster General Office invited companies to submit bids for a ten-year federal government-subsidized mail service contract between New York and Liverpool, in direct competition with Cunard, which had opened a similar service in 1848. Collins submitted his ambitious plan to operate a weekly service on the route with five ships superior to those of Cunard in every way. Collins' proposal convinced the authorities and the tender was awarded to his New York and Liverpool United States Steamship Company, commonly known as the Collins Line. Due to the financial constraints of building five ships, the service was eventually scaled down to a bi-weekly operation using four ships. Collins hired the young George Steers, who later designed the famous yacht ''America'', to design his new ships. Named ''

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

'', , and , the new ships were superior to those of Cunard Line in many ways: at nearly 3,000 tons, they were twice as large as Cunard's largest ships; at their maximum speed of 12 knots, faster; and they included many new innovations such as steam-heating, running water and a ventilation system in all accommodations. Other features included bathing cabins, a hairdressing salon and separate lounges for men and women. The ''Atlantic'' was the first ship in service, beginning her maiden voyage on 27 April 1850. With the crossing from New York to Liverpool taking 10 days and 16 hours, the ship clipped 12 hours off the existing Cunard record. ''Atlantic'' and her sister ships consistently bettered the crossing times of the Cunard ships, and the ''Baltic'' became the first mail ship to cross in less than ten days. However, due to their high speeds, the Collins steamers were also extremely uneconomic, with fuel consumption at 87 tons of coal per day (compared to 37 tons for Cunard ships). Additionally, the ships required constant expensive repairs due to structural damage to their wooden hulls caused by their excessively powerful engines. Within two years of its initial oceanic voyage, the Collins Line was in financial trouble. The annual federal subsidy of $385,000, which its organizers and major investors first believed was sufficient to assure profitability, appeared seriously inadequate. Collins and his backers, in viewing the profitable and expanding operations of their transatlantic competitor, Cunard Lines, believed there was both need and justification for a substantial increase in the subsidy, especially in light of additional support Cunard was receiving. Cunard's annual subsidy had been considerably more than doubled—from £55,000 ($275,000) to £145,000 ($725,000) between 1839 and 1846—and by 1852 it had been increased to £173,340 ($866,700). To make matters worse, by 1852 Cunard was offering at least twice as many sailings to North America as Collins. This was especially the case during the unprofitable winter season when the Collins Line ran only one steamer per month across the Atlantic, while Cunard—now operating from New York as well as Boston—maintained a weekly schedule by providing alternate bi-weekly services between both New York and Boston and its British terminus at Liverpool. As a consequence, in early January 1852, the Collins Line, with the support of both the Postmaster-General Nathan K. Hall and the Secretary of the Navy William Alexander Graham, petitioned Congress for a major increase in subsidy. Notwithstanding the popularity of its huge, fast and luxurious vessels, Collins had been losing money steadily. Shareholders had not received a cent in dividends and the stock was selling far below its initial offering price. And now the US government was asking the line to increase the frequency of its winter sailings simply to match the current Cunard schedule between New York and Liverpool. In those circumstances, Edward Collins maintained, the subsidy would have to be more than doubled just to break even. He therefore sought an increase to $858,000 per year. Discussion of the subsidy persisted until a compromise was hammered out, under which Congress after December 1854 would be free to terminate the increase upon giving Collins six months' notice.

Disasters

On 21 September 1854, the ''

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

'' left Liverpool with 233 passengers, including Collins' wife, their only daughter 19-year-old Mary Ann and youngest son 15-year-old Henry Coit. The ship had a good crossing until she encountered thick fog less than sixty miles from the North American coast. In the fog off

Cape Race Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", mea ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, she collided with the 250-ton French iron propeller ship SS ''Vesta'', and was holed in three places. The ''Arctic'' had no watertight compartments and began to fill with water. The captain tried to reach land before the ship sank, but only fifteen miles from shore, the ship rolled over and sank. 322 passengers are said to have perished. The next day Collins went to meet his family, but received a letter from the captain telling him that his wife and two children were dead. Grief-stricken though Collins was, he did not give up his determination to dominate the transatlantic trade. He began to plan a new ship that would be bigger, faster and more luxurious than the rest, the '' Adriatic''. In 1856, before the new ship had been completed, the ''

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

'' disappeared without trace while on a voyage from Liverpool. Forty-five passengers and 141 crew members were lost, including her captain, Asa Eldridge, who had previously worked for Collins as commander of the packet ship ''Roscius'' of the Dramatic Line. The consensus at the time was that the missing steamer had probably collided with an iceberg and sunk: Eldridge would have been desperate to stay ahead of the ''Persia'', the Cunard Line’s first iron-hulled steamer, which was due to leave Liverpool a few days after the ''Pacific'' on her maiden voyage, and was herself damaged by ice floes on that voyage. This explanation of the ''Pacific''’s disappearance was challenged in 1993 when a wreck found off the coast of Wales was identified as the ship's remains. The accuracy of that conclusion has been questioned, however, and alternative evidence presented in support of the contemporary verdict about her loss.

End of the company

The ''Adriatic'' was launched on April 7, 1856. She was long and was 3,670 tons, with a maximum speed of . She was intended to begin service in November, but due to technical problems, she did not run her sea trials until 1857. In August 1857, shortly before the onset of a brief but severe depression, Congress finally gave the required six-month notice of a subsidy reduction to the pre-1852 amount of $385,000 yearly and for only twenty trips. By the next February, the Collins Line had suspended operations, and on 1 April 1858, in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings, its remaining vessels were sold at auction. The ''Adriatic'' only made one voyage for Collins’ company under these circumstances. The ''Atlantic'' made a sailing in December 1857 and ''Baltic'' made one in January 1858, but in February the planned sailing of the ''Atlantic'' was cancelled and the company was wound up. The ''Adriatic'', in the service of her new owners, made a crossing from

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...

to Newfoundland in only 5 days 19¾ hours. The Collins Line's remaining ships were auctioned off to pay creditors: * The ''Adriatic'' was sold for British mail service. The ''S. S. Adriatic'' featured on the 12 cent postage stamp in the US Postal Service's

1869 Pictorial Issue The 1869 Pictorial Issue is a series of definitive United States postage stamps released during the first weeks of the Grant administration. Ten types of stamp in denominations between one cent and ninety cents were initially offered in the series, ...

.''A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics'' (Sharp Photography Publications, 2021) ASIN B091MBTGJ7 (read online, page 41) After conversion to a sailing ship in 1871, it became a coal hulk for the African Steamship line and was beached in August 1885 in Bonny, Rivers State, Africa, after it was leaking so badly it could no longer be used as a storeship. * The ''Atlantic'' was sold; it was broken up for scrap in September 1871. * The ''Baltic'' was sold and later converted to a sailing ship; it was broken up in 1880. The collapse of the Collins line left Cunard with very little opposition in the Atlantic, as the Great Western Steamship Company had already ceased trading.

Collins Line fleet

File:USM Steamship Atlantic (1849).jpg, Steamship ''

'' File:USM steamship Pacific (1849).jpg, Steamship ''

'' File:USM steamship Arctic (1850).jpg, Steamship ''

'' File:USM steamship Baltic (1850).jpg, Steamship '' Baltic'' File:SS Adriatic (1857).jpg, Steamship '' Adriatic''

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Defunct shipping companies of the United States Transatlantic shipping companies 1818 establishments in New York (state) 1858 disestablishments in New York (state) History of the Atlantic Ocean Packet (sea transport) American companies established in 1818 American companies disestablished in 1858 Transport companies established in 1818 Transport companies disestablished in 1858 Historic transport in Merseyside