Collins Line

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The Collins Line is the common name for the American shipping company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins. Under Edward Collins' guidance the company grew to be a serious competitor on the transatlantic routes to the British Cunard shipping company.

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[edit] 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. 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 to charter a schooner in order to get to Charleston 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 on the Mexican coast. The line prospered. Israel Collins died in 1831, and Edward took over management of a New York-New Orleans packet line. He made a great success of this venture as well. [1]

[edit] 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 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.[2]

[edit] Transatlantic mail and passenger service

In 1838 SS Great Western, owned by the British Great Western Steamship Company, crossed the Atlantic in fifteen days and heralded a new age in the transatlantic trade. Two years later the British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, commonly known as Cunard Line, began transatlantic steam packet service between Liverpool and Halifax after winning the tender for subsidiaries from the British admiralty. In 1840—41 four ships were delivered to Cunard for this service, with two additional ships following in 1844.[3][4]

Dissatisfied with the dominance of British companies in the transatlantic mail packet trade, the US Congress decided to begin a state subsidiarised service of their own 1845. The United States Postmaster General Office invited tenders from US-based shipping companies for a service from New York to ports in Northern Europe. Four companies, including a group led by Edward Knight Collins, submitted their proposals. A five-year tender of carrying mail from New York to Bremen was eventually awarded to the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, led by Edward Mills, who began service in 1846.[4]

1949 the US Postmaster General Office invited companies to submit bids for a 10-year state-subsidized mail service contract between New York and Liverpool, in direct competition with Cunard who had opened a similar service in 1848.[4][5] 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 & Liverpool United States' Mail Steamship Company, commonly known as 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 SS Atlantic, SS Arctic, SS Baltic and SS Pacific, the new ships were superior to those of Cunard Line in many ways.[4] At nearly 3000 tons, they were twice as large as Cunard's largest ships,[3] at maximum speed of 12 knots faster, and included many new innovations such as steam-heating, running water and a ventilation system in all accommodations.[4][5] Other features included bathing cabins, a hairdressing salon and separate lounges for men and women.[5]

The Atlantic was the first ship in service, beginning her mained 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.[5] 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.[3] However, due to their high speeds the Collins steamers were also extramely uneconomic, with fuel consumption at 87 tons of coal per day (compared to mere 37 tons of Cunard ships).[5] Additionally the ships required constant expensive repairs due to structural damage caused to their wooden hulls by their excessively powerful engines.[4][6]

[edit] Disasters

On 21 September 1854, the Arctic left Liverpool with 233 passengers, including Mrs. Collins, their only daughter and youngest son. The ship had a good crossing until she encountered thick fog less than sixty miles from the US coast. In the fog of Cape Race, Newfoundland, 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. [3]

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 disappeared without trace whilst on a voyage from Liverpool. It is believed that she most probably hit an iceberg, and that about 240 people perished.[3]

[edit] End of the company

The Adriatic was launched on April 7, 1856. She was 355 feet long and was 3,670 tons, with a maximum speed of 13 knots. She was intended to begin service in November, but due to technical problems, she did not run her sea trials until 1857. The Adriatic only made one voyage for Collins’ company, because his opponents in Congress managed to invoke the cancellation clause in his mail contract and the business was lost to a rival line. 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. Its ships were sold at auction, and Adriatic, in the service of her new owners, made a crossing from Galway to Newfoundland in only 5 days 19¾ hours. 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.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ AmericanHeritage.com / THE UNLUCKY COLLINS LINE
  2. ^ AmericanHeritage.com / THE UNLUCKY COLLINS LINE
  3. ^ a b c d e f Bernard Dumpleton, “The Story of the Paddle Steamer”, 1973, The Uffington Press, ISBN 0854750576
  4. ^ a b c d e f Dawson, Philip (2005). The Liner: Retrospective & Renaissance. Conway, pp. 19-21. ISBN 978-1-84486-049-4. 
  5. ^ a b c d e Ulrich, Kurt. Monarchs of the Sea: The Great Ocean Liners, pp. 43-44. ISBN 1 86064 3736. 
  6. ^ le Goff, Oliver (1999). Ocean Liners. Greenwitch Editions, p. 14. ISBN 0 86288 274 5. 

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