Polynesian., 1853-09-24
CHE polpmesiat1.

Sovereign Of the Seas.
The following is the official report of
Lieut.. Maury to the Secretary Of the Navy.
giving an account of the extraordinary voy-
age of the Sovereign of the Seas from this
port to New York. We copy it from the
July number of Hunts Mer. Magazine.
National Observatory, Washington,
May 10, 1858.
SIR:-The clipper ship Sovereign of the
Seas" (Mc Kay) has made such an extraor-
dinary run that beg to make it the subject
matter of an official report. It is due to
builders, owners, and masters, as well as to
navigation. that such an achievement should
be made known. III
This ship is one Of the glorious feet of
thousand sail that is voluntarily engaged in
making observations for wind and current
charts. She it is. it will be recollected, who,
taking them for her guide, made the extra
ordinary run of l03 days from New York to
San Francisco, both crossing the equator in
the Pacific and arriving in port on the day
predicted
Returning from the Sandwich Islands to
New York in the remarkably short run of 80
days, she passed through part Of the Great
South Sea which has been seldom traversed
by traders-at least l have the records of
none such.
Little or nothing, except what conjecture
suggested, was known as to the winds in this
part of the ocean. The results of my inves-
LEGATIONS elsewhere with regard to winds and
the circulation Of the atmosphere had ena-
bled me to announce, as a theoretical deduc-
thot he 4. Al
the South Pacific would probably be found to
prevail from the westward with a tradewind-
like regularity.
Between the parallels of Is degrees and
SIS degrees S., from the meridian Of the Cape
Of Good Hope eastward around to that OF
Cape Horn, there is no land or other dis
turbing agent to interrupt the wind in its
regular circuits. Here the winds would be
found blowing from the west with greater
force than from the east in the trade-wind
region, and giving rise to that long rolling
swell peculiar to those regions of the Pacific,
they would enable ships steering east to
make the most remarkable runs that have
ever been accomplished under canvas.
The Sovereign of the Seas has afforded
the most beautiful illustration as to the cor
rectness of these theoretical deductions.
Leaving Oahu for N York, via Cape Horn,
18th of February last, she stood to the south
ward through the belts both of the northeast
and southeast trades, making a course good
on the average through them little to the
west Of south. She finally got clear Of them
March 9th, after crossing the parallel of 45o
| south upon the meridian Of l64e west.
The 9Th and 9th she was in the "horse
latitude weather of the southern hemis-
phere So far her run had been good, but
there was nothing remarkable in it.
Having crossed the parallel of 4So south,
she found herself on the 10th fairly within the
trade-like west winds Of the Southern ocean,
and here commenced a succession Of the most
extraordinary days runs that have ever been
linked together across the ocean.
From March 9th to March 3lst, from the
parallel of 4Sa south in the Pacific to $50
south in the Atlantic, during an interval of
twenty-five days, that ship made 29a of lati-
tude and 1869 Of longitude; her shortest
days run during the interval-determined
by calculation, not by the log-being one
hundred and fifty knots. The wind all this
time is not recorded once with casting in it.
It was steady and fresh from the westward.
In these twenty-five days that ship made
S, ,39l nautical miles. But that you may the
more conveniently contrast her performance
with that OF railroad cars and river steamers,
will quote her in statute miles.
Here, then, is ship under canvas, and
with the winds alone as propelliug power,
and with a crew, too, 20 short, the captain
informs me, that she was but half manned,
accomplishing in % days the enormous run
of6, 245 miles, (one-fourth the distance round
the EARTH and making the daily average Of
two hundred and eighty-three statute miles
and nine-tenths, (2S39. During eleven Of
these days consecutively, she averaged as
high as 3963 statute miles.
From the noon Of one to the noon Of the
next day, the greatest distance made was 362
knots, or 4l9 miles; and the greatest rate
reported by the captain is l6 knots, or 81
statute miles. the hour. This is pretty fair
railroad speed. -
The greatest distance ever before per
formed from noon to noon, on the ocean, wa
374 knots. (4334 statute miles, by the clip
per ship Flying Cloud, in her celebrated
passage Of 80 days and 81 hours to San
Francisco, in 1851, and which yet stands un-
equalIed. say, from noon to noon was not,
with either Of these ships, the exact measure
Of twenty-four hours.
The Flying Cloud was going to the north
ward and westward, and on the day Of her
great run she made deg. 46 min. Of Iongi-
tude, which in time is 10 min. A sec., that is,
her noon to noon for that day was "a hours
l9 min. sec.
On the other hand, the Sovereign Of the
Seas was steering to the eastward, and on
the day Of her great run she made 8 deg. A
min. of longitude, which in time is "a min.
56 sec.; that is, her noon to noon for that
day was only % hours 25 min. sec. longi-
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