[Illustration: THE “ATLANTIC,” OF THE COLLINS LINE, 1849.] The Line soon came into favour, and its success seemed to be assured. The first voyage was commenced from New York by the _Atlantic_, April 27th, 1849. The _Arctic_ followed, making the eastward voyage in 9 days, 13 hours and 30 minutes; and the westward, in 9 days and 13 hours from Liverpool. Thus they had broken all previous records for speed which, added to their luxurious appointments, caused them to be loyally patronized by the Americans. For a time they carried 50 per cent. more passengers from Liverpool to New York than their opponents. The last addition to the fleet was the _Adriatic_, in 1857, by far the finest and fastest vessel afloat at that time. She was built by Steers, at New York: was 355 feet long, and 50 feet broad; her gross tonnage being 3,670. Her machinery, which was constructed at the Novelty Iron-Works, New York, consisted of two oscillating cylinders, each 100 inches in diameter, working up to 3,600 indicated horse-power, with a steam pressure of 20 lbs. to the square inch. Her paddles were 40 feet in diameter, and, at seventeen revolutions per minute, gave her a speed of thirteen knots on a daily consumption of eighty-five to ninety tons of coal. Owing to financial embarrassments, resulting from losses by shipwreck, the company soon after broke up, and the richly-endowed fast line, that was to drive the Cunarders off the ocean, itself came to grief. The _Adriatic_ was laid up after making a few fine voyages, and finally came to an ignominious end as a coal-hulk in West Africa. In September, 1854, the _Arctic_ collided with a small steamer, the _Vesta_, off Cape Race, in a dense fog, and sank, with the loss of 323 lives. Captain Luce went down with his ship, but rose again to the surface, was picked up by one of the boats and landed in safety. Among those who were drowned were the wife, the only son, and a daughter of Mr. Collins, and many other prominent Americans. The loss of the _Pacific_, which followed two years later, proved the death-knell of the Collins Line. She sailed from Liverpool on June 26th, 1856, in command of Captain Eldridge, with forty-five passengers and a crew of 141, and was never afterwards heard of. The _Atlantic_ and _Baltic_ were sold and converted into sailing ships. Mr. E. K. Collins was a native of Massachusetts, where he was born in 1802. When a youth he went to sea as supercargo. Some years later he joined his father in the general shipping business, and eventually became head of the New York firm, celebrated for its magnificent line of sailing packets. He died in 1878. [Illustration: “CITY OF PARIS,” 1889. Now (1898) a U. S. armed cruiser and renamed _Harvard_.] THE INMAN AND INTERNATIONAL LINE.