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.
Background of the SS Arctic
The Arctic had been built in New York City, at a shipyard at the foot of 12th Street and the East River, and was launched in early 1850. It was one of four ships of the new Collins Line, an American steamship company determined to compete with the British steamship line run by Samuel Cunard.
The businessman behind the new company, Edward Knight Collins, had two wealthy backers, James and Stewart Brown of the Wall Street investment bank of Brown Brothers and Company. And Collins had managed to get a contract from the US government that would subsidize the new steamship line as it would carry the US mails between New York and Britain.
