The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-06
DAYS OF THE
FAST CLIPPER

Readers who recall the old sailingship
days, or the younger generation, who
have been told by their fathers of what
the great vessels which brought immi,
grants here, says sydney paper, were
capable of doing under full press of
canvas, will be interested in the follow
ing letter by "X. 4" to Lloyd s list:
cit may, perhaps, be just a matter
| of chance, but quite recently, whilst the
newspapers have been devoting col
umns to the speed of the Lusitania, in
more than one well-read journal there
have been references to the best day 8
sailing of this or the other old time
clipper Strange, that in regard to the
point of speed the clipper and the tur
bine steamer should at this period be
simultaneously discussed.
81 think [ am right in saying that
the Marco Polo, famous flyer though
she was. never reeled off 400 miles in
twenty-four hours. Is it not generally
accepted as a fact that the record for
twenty four hours sailing was held by
the clipper ship James Baines9 This
Black Ball liner in June, 1854, is re-
ported to have sailed 420 miles in TWEEN,
ty-four hours, when running her east
ing down on the parallel of twenty,
hol hnr
skysail set, with a fresh gale blowing
and passed other ships sailing under
reefed topsails. [ have always thought
that this 420 miles spin of the James
Baines was the best days sailing ever
credited to clipper. And 420 miles is
a long way short of 400 the distance
your correspondent mentions in connec
ton with the Marco Polo. The old
James Baines was magnificent vessel
of 1915 tons. She was built by Donald
Mackay, of East Boston, and in 1854
sailed across the Atlantic in twelve
days and seventeen hours On one oc-
casion she made voyage to Australia
and home again in five months ten days |
She was very loftily rugged carrying a
above her skysail. The late |
Queen Victoria visited this vessel in |
1857, when she was taken up by the |
government to convey troops to India.
81 have list of some of the more |
notable sailing performances of ships |
during the past sixty years, but in this
list there are very few cases in which |
ships have been credited with over 400 |
number of runs of between 800 and 400 |
niles in twentyfour hours. For in
stance, in 1856 the Red Jacket averaged
'34 knots daily for eight days and in
he same year the Melt nurne is report.
ID to have sailed 374 in twenty-four
lours. Another swift sailing packet
vas the Sovereign of the Seas, which is
tated to have covered All miles in
hours.
"The ffties and sixties formed, in.
Iced, a period noted for clipper ships
nd marvellous passages. It was the
ime when such swift sailing ships as
he Lightning, Sir Lancelot, Thermopy-
ae, and Marco Polo were making their
'oyages. The Marco Polo, it may be
interesting to recall, was built at st.
ohm s in 1851. She was of 1912 tons,
nd in 1858 she made the passage to
ielbourne from Liverpool in seventy
TX days. In that excellent book, 'The
food Old Days of Shipping by Lieu,
enant Coates, R. N. r., there are nu-
nerous references to the ship. Thus in
SGT she is reported to have sailed from
in company with a steamer,
nd to have arrived off the Irish coast
ONE days ahead of the steam vessel
sit is always distressing to read of
he ultimate fate of this grand oldtimer.
lieutenant Coates, in tracing the last
avs of the Marco Polo, writes: 'She
vas afterwards sold to the Norwegians.
trapped in with chains, this once cele.
rated ship struggled to and fro across
he Atlantic until in an evil hour she
vas wrecked on the bleak shores of
'avendish, Prince Edward Island so
'assed out of existence one of the most
amous clippers of the middle of last
entury.''