The service had auspiciously begun in 1850 with four of the
five steamships called for by the contract. These were the _Atlantic_,
2845 tons, the _Arctic_, 2856 tons, the _Baltic_, 2723 tons, and the
_Pacific_, 2707 tons, each some seven hundred tons larger than the
measurement stipulated--"at least 2000 tons." All were built in New
York ship-yards; were especially designed for fast sailing; and in size,
model, finish, and fittings were pronounced to be "such steamers as the
world had never seen."[GO] In all respects they were superior to the
Cunarders with which they were aggressively to compete; and it was the
boast of the Americans that they would "beat the English in steam
navigation, as they had beaten them in fast sailing." All associated
with the enterprise were of large experience in maritime affairs. Mr.
Collins, a native of Truro, Cape Cod, and long a shipping merchant of
New York, had been at the head of fast clipper-ship lines--the New
Orleans and Vera Cruz packet line, and the more famous "Dramatic line"
(the ships named for plays and players) of transatlantic sailers. The
commanders of the steamers were all tried clipper captains.
The _Atlantic_ made the initial voyage, steaming gallantly out of New
York harbor on the twenty-seventh of April, a month before the contract
time for the beginning of the service.
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