Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-08-19
w. d. WALLACH.
THE FATE OF THE STEAMER PACIFIC.
A Message from the Sea-

From q long article in the London Shipping
Gazette, merely referred to in our last foreign
Dispatches, We condense the following as q
possible explanation Of the fate Of the unfortu-
nate steamer Pacific:
Our resders may have observed recently
among our maritime extracts the copy of the
contents Of slip Of paper found in . bottle
some weeks ago on the western coast Of Uist,
in the Hebrides, and forwarded to Us by our
sgent at Stornoway. The paper in question,
apparently the leaf Of q pocket book, used In
the hurry Of the moment, was covered on both
yide' with PENCIL marks, from which the fol-
lowing was with diffcul:y deciphered:
"'On boa ths Pacific, from L'pool to ".
Hsrk.-Ship going down. (Grsat) confusion
on board. Icsbergs around us on every side
know l cannot escape L write the cause Of
our lee that friends may not live in SUSPENSE.
"'Wx.GRAHAx.'
"Ifws srs right in our conjecture the ship
here named is thc Pseifc, one Of The Collins
line Of steamers, which vessel left Liverpool
sn January %, 1856 three days before the
Persia, and has not beep heard Of; and this
slp 0fpaper, three inshes by two, is probably
the only record Of ths fate Of that missing ship.
We have not come to this conclusion hastily
On receiving the frsil record from Stornowsy
We at once published 1, as the best and most
expeditions mode of placing il before those
vhs might possibly be interested in tie fate
OF the vessel nsmed. The Pacific is by no
means sn uncommon appella,ion, more espe-
cially among the shipping Of the United states,
ard We did not despair that some light would
be brown upon the message from the se,'
which had 50 sinsularly been preserved ana
placed In our hands. After waiting for
some time We received 4 communication from
Messrs Zerega, Of New York, stating that
their ship P 5oiho being il port 81 the time II
course the record had 10 rcfsrencG thereto, hut
hp II 10 i1hf
the difference in the names, apply 10 their
ship Baltic, which had left LiverBool in Janua
~ last, and has Tot since been heard of and we
were requested ~ the same time TO connuni-
cate with hessrs. Zerega's agents In Liverpool.
This We have been careful to do, and the same
time We directed q search to be made among
the list Of passengers and crews, both Of the
Baltic and Of the Pacific of the Collins line.
1--WE have sscertsined that no person named
Graham was on board the Baltic when that
vessel Ieft Liverpool last on her passage to New
1ork, but 1t appears q man of that name did
ship as helmsman in the Pacific in January,
1855. 1t Is true be shipped by the name Of
Robert Graham, whereas the slip of paper Is
signed VIM. Graham This, however, is
discrepancy which will not oou at for much with
those who are acquainted with the careless
manner In which sesfaEing people frequently
give their names, and the facility for such
mistake presented By the ordinary mode of
entering ths names Of ships company.
From the facts slicited 30 far, we come to
the conclusion that the vessel lost, and to
which the frail memorandum before rs refers
was ship named the Pacific Tue writer was
evidently some person scO cstomed to the perils
Of the sea, for It is difficult to understand how
any person whose nerves had not been har-
dened by the presence Of frequent and sppsl-
ling dangers co1ld have written with such
manifest ooolness In the immediate presence
Of death. This self possession at once mega
ttves the idea that the person who could exhibit
II In 9 moment Of such supreme peril could
possibly have mistaken the name Of the vessel
whose loss he has recorded. Then. again, We
End from the records Of the lost Pacific that =
person named Graham sailed in her froD,
Liverpool on her Inflated voyage, and, in all
human probability, was on board at tho time
Sne was lost with all hands. This Is the
strongest point in the entire chain Of evidence,
for Il connects the writer Of the memorandum
directly with the lost ship, and the ship with
the writer. Lastly, since the memorandum
has been given to the world (now son weeks
we have had no intimation that any chip named
thc Pacii:, sailing from Liverpool recently,
has been lost or is even missing