The Colonial Clippers
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
THE COLONIAL CLIPPERS
Kent. Lightning. White Star. Malabar. EMIGRANT FLEET IN HOBSON’S BAY. From a painting by Captain D. O. Robertson, late commander of ship “Lightning.” Frontispiece.
Author of “The China Clippers”; “Round the Horn Before the Mast”; “Jack Derringer, a tale of Deep Water”; and “Deep Sea Warriors”
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS
SECOND EDITION GLASGOW JAMES BROWN & SON (glasgow) Ltd., Publishers 52 to 58 Darnley Street 1921
Dedicated to all those who learnt the art of the sea so thoroughly and practised it so skilfully aboard the Colonial Clippers.
In this book I have attempted to give some account of the beautiful sailing ships which played so great a part in the development of the great British Dominions under the Southern Cross.
It is written specially for the officers and seamen of our Mercantile Marine, and I have endeavoured to avoid such a criticism as the following:—“Heaps about other ships, but my old barkey was one of the fastest and best known of them all and he dismisses her with a line or two.”
I have made rather a point of giving passage records, as they are an everlasting theme of interest when seamen get together and yarn about old ships. The memory is notoriously unreliable where sailing records are concerned, so I have been most careful to check these from logbooks and Captains’ reports. Even Lloyd’s I have found to be out by a day or two on occasions.
A great deal of my material has been gathered bit by bit through the past 25 or 30 years. Alas! many of the old timers, who so kindly lent me abstract logs and wrote me interesting letters, have now passed away.
Basil Lubbock
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Dedication
PREFACE
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Power of Gold.
Report on Steerage Conditions in 1844.
The Discovery of Gold in Australia.
Melbourne and its Shipping 1851-2.
First Gold Cargoes Home.
The Great Rush to the Gold Regions in 1852.
Maury’s Improvements on the Old Route to the Colonies.
Early Fast Passages Outward.
Rules and Customs aboard the “Eagle” in 1853.
Liverpool Shipowners in the Australian Trade.
James Baines, of the Black Ball Line.
The “Marco Polo.”
Captain James Nicol Forbes.
“Marco Polo’s” First Voyage to Australia.
“Marco Polo’s” Second Voyage to Australia.
After-Life of “Marco Polo.”
Most Notable Clippers of 1853.
“Ben Nevis.”
The “Star of the East.”
The “Miles Barton.”
The “Guiding Star.”
The “Indian Queen.”
The Famous “Sovereign of the Seas.”
Best Outward Passages for 1853-4, Anchorage to Anchorage.
1854—The Year of the Big Ships.
Extraordinary 24-hour Runs.
The “Lightning.”
The “Red Jacket.”
Race across the Atlantic between “Lightning” and “Red Jacket.”
“Red Jacket’s” First Voyage to Australia.
The “Lightning’s” First Voyage to Australia.
“Champion of the Seas.”
The “James Baines.”
Record Voyage of “James Baines” to Australia.
The “Donald Mackay.”
“Blue Jacket,” “White Star” and “Shalimar.”
The Wreck of the “Schomberg.”
The Best Outward Passages—Liverpool to Melbourne, 1854-5.
1855-1857—Captain Anthony Enright and the “Lightning.”
Best Homeward Passages, 1855-56.
Best Outward Passages 1855-56, Liverpool to Melbourne.
The “James Baines” Overdue!
The “James Baines,” “Champion of the Seas,” and “Lightning” race out to India with Troops in the Time of the Mutiny.
The Burning of the “James Baines.”
America Sells her Clippers to Great Britain.
Notes on the later American-built Passenger Ships.
Black Ballers in the Queensland Emigrant Trade.
“Sunda” and “Empress of the Seas” Carry Sheep to New Zealand.
After Life and End of the Liverpool Emigrant Clippers.
The Burning of “Lightning”.
“Blue Jacket’s” Figure-head.
The Loss of the “Fiery Star.”
Some Famous Coal Hulks.
Loss of the “Young Australia.”
The Fate of “Marco Polo.”
The Carriers of the Golden Fleece.
The Aberdeen White Star Line.
List of the Wood and Composite Ships of the Aberdeen White Star Fleet.
The “Phoenician.”
The Lucky “Nineveh.”
The “Jerusalem.”
Captain Mark Breach’s First Encounter with his Owner.
The “Thermopylae.”
The “Centurion.”
The “Aviemore.”
The Fate of the Early White Star Clippers.
Duthie’s Ships.
Passages of Aberdeen Ships to Sydney, 1872-1873.
The South Australian Trade.
The Orient Line.
The “Orient.”
“Orient’s” Outward Passages.
“Orient” Nearly Destroyed by Fire.
The “Orient” delivers her Carpenter’s Chest to the “Lammermuir” in Mid-Ocean.
The Little “Heather Bell.”
The “Murray.”
The Orient Composite Clippers.
“Yatala.”
The “Beltana,” and Captain Richard Angel.
The Wonderful “Torrens.”
“Torrens’” Outward Passages.
The Great “Sobraon.”
“City of Adelaide” and “South Australian.”
The Speedy Little “St. Vincent.”
“Pekina” and “Hawkesbury.”
Mr. T. B. Walker.
Walker’s Clipper Barques.
The Beautiful Little “Berean.”
Captain John Wyrill.
The “Berean’s” Races.
“Berean” as an Ice Carrier.
Loss of the “Corinth.”
The Little “Ethel.”
The Hobart Barque “Harriet McGregor.”
The Fremantle Barques “Charlotte Padbury” and “Helena Mena.”
PART III.—“THE IRON CLIPPERS.”
The Introduction of Iron in Shipbuilding.
The “Ironsides,” First Iron Sailing Ship.
The “Martaban.”
The Builders of the Iron Wool Clippers.
The “Darling Downs.”
“City of Agra” and “Sam Mendel.”
“Dharwar.”
The Strange Career of “Antiope.”
“Theophane.”
The “Clan Ranald,” “Ben Nevis” and “Loch Awe.”
The Famous “Patriarch”—First Iron Ship of the Aberdeen White Star Line.
The “Thomas Stephens.”
The First Six Ships of the Loch Line.
King’s Island—A Death Trap for Ships.
“Miltiades.”
Carmichael’s Superb Wool Clipper “Mermerus.”
“Hesperus” and “Aurora,” the First Iron Ships of the Orient Line.
The Brassey Cadet Training Scheme.
“Ben Cruachan” and “Ben Voirlich.”
“Samuel Plimsoll.”
“Loch Maree”—the Fastest of the Lochs.
The Tragedy of the “Loch Ard.”
Nicol’s “Romanoff.”
Duthie’s “Cairnbulg.”
The Speedy “Thessalus.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1874.
The “Loch Garry.”
“Loch Vennachar.”
“Salamis”—an Iron “Thermopylae.”
The Colonial Barque “Woollahra.”
“Cassiope” and “Parthenope.”
“Trafalgar.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1875.
“Sir Walter Raleigh.”
“Loch Fyne” and “Loch Long.”
“Aristides”—The Aberdeen White Star Flagship.
“Smyrna.”
The “Harbinger.”
“Argonaut.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1876.
“Brilliant” and “Pericles.”
“Loch Ryan.”
“Loch Etive,” of Captain William Stuart and Joseph Conrad fame.
The Wreck of “Loch Sloy.”
The Loss of Lochs “Shiel” and “Sunart.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1877.
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1878.
“Sophocles.”
Passages to Australia in 1879.
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1880.
Passages under 80 days to Sydney in 1881.
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1881.
The Big “Illawarra.”
“Orontes.”
The “Loch Torridon.”
“Loch Torridon’s” Voyages, 1892-1908.
“Port Jackson.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1882.
The “Derwent.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1884.
“Torridon” and “Yallaroi.”
“Loch Carron” and “Loch Broom.”
Notes on Passages to Australia in 1885.
“Mount Stewart” and “Cromdale,” the last of the Wool Clippers.
Perforated Sails.
Hine’s Clipper Barques.
Iron Barques of Walker and Trinder, Anderson.
The Loss of “Lanoma.”
Occasional Visitors in Australian Waters.
PART IV.—THE NEW ZEALAND TRADE.
The “Mayflowers” of New Zealand.
The “Edwin Fox.”
“Wild Duck.”
The “Crusader.”
“Helen Denny” and “Margaret Galbraith.”
End of Some of Shaw, Savill’s Earlier Ships.
The Loss of the “Cospatrick.”
The Loss of the “Avalanche.”
Patrick Henderson’s Albion Shipping Company.
The “Wild Deer.”
“Peter Denny.”
The Albion Shipping Company, 1869 Ships.
The “Christian McCausland” Loses her Wheel.
The Origin of the Albion House-flag.
The New Zealand Shipping Company.
“Otaki’s” Record Passage Home.
“Turakina” ex-“City of Perth.”
Robert Duncan’s Six Beautiful Sister Ships.
“Wellington” and Captain Cowan.
“Wellington” Collides with an Iceberg.
“Oamaru” and “Timaru.”
“Marlborough,” “Hermione” and “Pleione.”
“Taranaki,” “Lyttelton,” and “Westland.”
“Lutterworth” and “Lady Jocelyn.”
Outsiders in the New Zealand Trade.
The Pretty Little “Ben Venue.”
“Hinemoa.”
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