The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-04-04

The above approximate distances; a glance at the
table will show the position of the ships upon the
same parallels and how far they receded the to the
east asd the other TO the vest from Maurys directions
in the north Atlantic The Gpin perhaps erred upon
the safe side by keeping his line under her lee but in
doing SO, she went considerable space which was
next to a dead loss; while her swift competitor with
tempting winds, made bold dash in the shortest drec
ton-she almost succeeded. On the sixteenth day out
she only little upwards Of 200 miles from the equa
tor here she met the calms and battling winds peculiar
to that region For four days Capt Nckes struggled but
struggled in vsn to get the eastward westerly eur
rent setting him back ac fast he progressed and
he had finally to give up and cross upon the meridian Of
3.30 Capt. N. again departed from the directions for
in them it is strongly urged upon all vessels not to stick
hereto go directly through and if necessary to beat
to windward after crossing the line It is to be- regretted
that Capt Nckes threw away these three days. and his
not accomplishing the shortest passage yet made to Cali
ornia be imputed to their loss. In his journal he
thus aments that he did not follow the directions of
Lieut. Maury 81 now regret that after making fine
wndward to the northward of st. Rogue have ex.
perienced little or no westwardl set since passing the
inv tour aays h nave Desn o work
north, against strong westwardy set
This is candid admission in Capt. Nickes Upon his
winds and may live to hear that he has made las he
viii certainly do) the voyage to California in less than
The John Gilpin took the "longest road round" hop
ing t. yy the G ss ., w ndns tn hs nearest
nal shows the unusual run q SIS miles IL
hours But her competitor was fully her equal in speed
and the Glpin could i'll afford to throw away that 200
between the parallels & ond 90 is shs
had the advantage of being well to wndward for when
upon easy bowline. and in twenty five days
find her south Of the equator, with good breeze and
prospects bright the skies above her, Of making
It has been shown that both ships lost north of the
line being little too cautious the other little too
eember and from here they had toerably fair start
for the yet far off land Of gold On the oath they
thirty miles apart person at the head Of either
ship might have dscerned the upper sails Of the other
The trade winds hung well to the southward the Glpn
enabled to lay her and she went her way
rejoicing while the Fish had to about" to avoid the
land The Gilpn kept the lead until she entered the
gions where old Eolus loves to hold his court Both
ships attempted to through the Straits Of LeMrs the
Glpin ailedthe Fish succeeded and thereby
The distance she had lost upon the of Brazil Here
again Capt Nickels fearless of the stormy region and
dangerous lee Shores made another bold dash shorten
his passage and this time fortune smiled upon his Efforts
With N +. wind, which does not often blow in those
ATTITUDES, he ahead widening his distance and
when he crossed the equator which he did in twenty
Gilpin
The Flying Fi,h crossed upon the meridian of 112 de-
grees west. In the meantime the Gilpn took the
mended track She secured her westng and with it her
passages when she bore up north she had dread Of cleo
twenty five days which crossed upon the meridian Of
l16 west, two days after the Flying Fish
Here fortune again favored the Gipin and deserted
the Fish The dodrums about the equator seemed to be
fatal to the latter for while she lay becamed the Gpin
passed her. and again got the lead which she continued
70 nod ana atnougn the FISH, ike Inc post boy, came
numbering at her hees the Gilpn kept ahead and en-
tered the Golden Gate in fifteen days from the nethe
shortest passage except upon record. The Flying
Fish had also fine up of eighteen days. Between
and degrees north, for two days. she is logged calm
throughout in 10 she took the northeast trades ON
the 31st of January 1853 day before the Gpn she
anchored in the harbor Of San Francisco after the unu
sualy short voyage from.N York of nnetytwo days
and four hours.
Thus terminated the contest between these two noble
ships We have compared their abstracts and followed
them upon their voyages with interested feelings On
ia tn
titled to the palm Of victory, nearly they matched
Each experienced the vcssudes Of wind and weather to
which they liable upon such heightened voyage
and may well put them down being crack Ships well
handled and ably commanded.