SS Vesta was a propeller-driven fishing vessel 250 gross tons, built in 1853 at Nantes, France, by Hernoux et Cie of Dieppe for the Société Terreneuvienne of Granville in Normandy.

[1] The company had extensive fishing interests in the Grand Banks area off Newfoundland, which it operated from a base in Saint Pierre Island.

[5] By contrast, the only casualties from Vesta's crew and passengers were about a dozen who precipitately left the ship in a lifeboat, which was then accidentally run down by the Arctic.

[6] After the collision, Vesta's captain, Alphonse Duchesne, brought the ship slowly to St John's, Newfoundland, which she reached on 29 September, and was repaired.

[1] Later that year she was sold to the Compagnie Générale Maritime of Le Havre, and after further changes of ownership, passed in 1863 to J Amann of Bilbao and was renamed Amberes.