“Argonaut.”
Carmichael’s Argonaut, like their Thessalus, was not a regular wool carrier, though often seen in Sydney and Melbourne; for some years, however, in her latter days, she was a member of the wool fleet from Sydney. She had all the good looks of a Golden Fleece clipper; and the following records speak for her sailing powers:—
| 1879-80 | London to Calcutta, undocked 3.30 p.m. October 4 Arrived Saugor Roads, Jan 4 | 90 | days. |
| against N.E. monsoon. | |||
| 1881 | Calcutta to Melbourne, Jan 10-February 25 | 45 | days. |
| 1881 | Melbourne to London, 7th April—off Lizard, 4.30 p.m. June 27 | 81 | „ |
| —docked June 30 | 84 | „ | |
| 1882 | Dundee to Frisco, July 17-November 14 | 120 | „ |
| 1882 | Frisco to Queenstown, January 6-April 20 | 104 | „ |
| 1883 | Wifsta, Sweden, to Adelaide, July 11-October 8 | 89 | „ |
| 1883 | Adelaide to Tegal, Java, November 15-December 13 | 28 | „ |
| 1885 | Liverpool to Sydney, June 14-August 31 | 78 | „ |
| 1894-5 | Sydney to London, October 14-January 4 | 82 | „ |
| 1895 | Dungeness to Sydney. March 13-June 4 | 83 | „ |
| 1895 | Sydney to London, October 13-December 29 | 77 | „ |
Argonaut’s best known commander was Captain Hunter, who was one of those who knew how to carry sail. On his wool passage home in 1896, however, he was very much out of luck, as the Argonaut was one of the very few ships that took over 100 days.
“ARGONAUT.”
Photo by Hall & Co., Sydney.
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Captain A. Cook was her first skipper, then Captain Bonner had her in the late eighties.
Argonaut was still afloat in 1914. Under the name of Elvira, she flew the Portuguese flag and used the same home port, Lisbon, as the Cutty Sark and Thomas Stephens—and her round of ports was usually the same as that of Cutty Sark, namely—Rio Janeiro, New Orleans and Lisbon. In 1913, her name was again changed to Argo. The Portuguese, as in the case of the Cutty Sark, retained the yards on the mizen.