twelve or fifteen hours before had hoped to save their lives on this temporary structure. The solitary occupant of this fragile raft must have had a brave heart and a strong nerve to have retained his place upon it for a day and a half, after all his companions had perished, for it was not until that time had elapsed that he was saved by a passing vessel: his tale of how he and they were parted was of the most heart-rending description.[207] As a large proportion of the first-class passengers of the _Arctic_, consisted of persons of wealth and extensive commercial relations in the United States, as well as in England and her colonies, besides more than one member of her aristocracy, the loss of the _Arctic_ and the terrible incidents in connection with her fate caused an unusual amount of grief and consternation on both sides of the Atlantic. [Sidenote: Loss of the _Pacific_, 1856.] Within little more than twelve months from this time, another great calamity befell the Collins Company, and the sad loss of their steamer _Pacific_, from the mystery in which it is shrouded, if not as lamentable as that of the _Arctic_ (for the soul of man has never been harrowed by its details), was equally deplorable. Though the ocean, as in this instance, leaves no record of its ravages, the stern fact, announced in the brief words _she was never heard of_, tells itself the sad, sad tale, that a great ship, with all her living inmates, in infancy, in manhood and in old age, it may be full of hope and joy, has been engulfed in the deep blue waters of the Atlantic—summoned, perhaps in a moment, to an eternity more mysterious than that which still surrounds their melancholy fate. This splendid but unfortunate ship left Liverpool on the 23rd of January, 1856, having on board 25 first-class passengers, 20 second-class passengers, and a crew of 141 persons, almost all of whom were Americans. She carried the mails and a valuable cargo; the insurances effected on her amounting to $2,000,000. But no living soul ever appeared to tell when and where or how she was lost, nor were any articles belonging to her ever found to afford a clue to her melancholy fate; it can only be supposed that she sprang an overwhelming leak, or more probably struck suddenly, when at full speed, on an iceberg and instantly foundered.[208] [Sidenote: Renewed exertions of the Collins, and, also,]