SS Pacific lost after leaving Liverpool (1856–1875)

The legacy row claims SS Pacific departed Liverpool on 23 January 1856 and was lost with all hands. However, the supplied passages do not support this specific departure date or loss event. Instead, they indicate Pacific was withdrawn from Nicaraguan service in early 1856 and later operated in the Pacific. The 1875 sinking is the only sourced loss, occurring in Washington State, not the Atlantic.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. SS Pacific was a wooden sidewheel steamer built in 1850. The legacy row asserts a loss in January 1856 after leaving Liverpool. The supplied passages do not confirm this departure or loss. They state Pacific was withdrawn from Nicaraguan service in early 1856. The only sourced sinking occurred in 1875 southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington, resulting in the loss of approximately 275 passengers and crew.

Operational History. Pacific operated in Nicaragua until at least August 1855, facing civil war disruptions. She was withdrawn from this service in early 1856. By 1858, she sailed for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company between San Francisco, Portland, Puget Sound, and Victoria. The legacy row's claim of a 1856 loss from Liverpool contradicts these operational details found in the sources.

Sinking. The only sourced sinking of SS Pacific occurred in 1875. This event resulted from a collision southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington. Approximately 275 passengers and crew were aboard when she sank. This contradicts the legacy row's assertion of a loss in January 1856 after departing Liverpool for New York.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.