“Salamis”—an Iron “Thermopylae.”

Salamis, one of the most beautiful little ships ever launched and without doubt the fastest of all Thompson’s iron ships, was really an enlarged Thermopylae in iron, as she was built from Bernard Waymouth’s lines with a few minor alterations and improvements. The following comparison of their measurements shows that Salamis was roughly 100 tons larger and 10 feet longer than Thermopylae:—

Measurements of	Salamis Iron Ship		Thermopylae Composite Ship
Registered tonnage net	1079	tons.	948	tons.
Registered tonnage gross	1130	„	991	„
Registered tonnage under deck	1021	„	927	„
Length	221.6	feet.	212	feet.
Breadth	36	„	36	„
Depth	21.7	„	20.9	„
Depth moulded	23.7	„	23.2	„

In Salamis, Thompson’s were determined to have an out and out racer, and she was not fitted for passengers, her raised quarterdeck being only 48 feet long as against Thermopylae’s 61 feet. She had a tremendous sail plan and of course spread a full suit of stunsails and other flying kites.

The following spar measurements show that she set even more canvas than Thermopylae, her mainyard being a foot longer, and the other yards in proportion:—

SPAR PLAN OF SALAMIS.
Mainmast—deck to truck	150	Feet
Main lower mast	66	„
Main topmast	52	„
Main topgallant mast	34	„
Main royal mast	23	„
Main masthead	2	„
Main lower doublings	15	„
Main topmast doublings	12	„
Mainyard	81	„
Main lower topsail yard	72	„
Main upper topsail yard	64	„
Main lower topgallant yard	57	„
Main upper topgallant yard	49	„
Main royal yard	37	„
Jibboom	66	„

Messrs. Thompson, when they gave Hood the order for Salamis, intended her for the same round as Thermopylae—out to Melbourne with general cargo, then across to China and home again with tea. But by 1875 the steamers had got a firm hold on the tea trade, and the clippers were either being driven away into other trades or had to content themselves with loading at a cut rate in the N.E. monsoon; and practically only Cutty Sark and Thermopylae were still given a chance to load the new teas. This was not a bright outlook for a newcomer with her reputation all to make, and the only time Salamis loaded a tea cargo home was on her second voyage when she came home from Hong Kong in 110 days. In 1878 she made another attempt to get a tea cargo home, but freights were specially bad this year, and she was withdrawn from the berth at Shanghai, and finally came home with wool from Port Phillip.

“SALAMIS.”

Photo lent by F. G. Layton.

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“THOMAS STEPHENS,” “CAIRNBULG,” “BRILLIANT,” AND “CUTTY SARK,” in Sydney Harbour.

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As a wool clipper she set up a wonderful record; her average for 13 consecutive passages to Melbourne being 75 days pilot to pilot, and for her outward passages from 1875 to 1895 her average was 77 days. Homeward with wool, like all iron ships, she occasionally got hung up and topped the 100 days, nevertheless here she also had the best average for an iron ship, of 87 days for 18 consecutive wool passages from Melbourne to London. Her best run from London to the equator was made in 18½ days. Twice she ran from the equator to the Cape meridian in 21 days, and twice she ran her easting down from the Cape meridian to Cape Otway in 22½ days, and no less than four times in 23 days. Captain Phillip left the Harlaw to take the Salamis, and his name is associated with her during the whole of her life under the British flag.

On her maiden passage Salamis left London on 6th July, took her departure from the Start on the 10th, then had very buffling winds to the equator, which she crossed on 2nd August in 25° W.; the S.E. trades were very poor and she had to make a tack off the Abrolhos Rocks. The Cape meridian was crossed on 24th August in 44° S. Running her easting down, the wind was very changeable, being mostly from the south’ard, and without any steady breezes her best run was only 304 knots. She passed the Otway on 16th September and entered Port Phillip Heads the same evening, 68 days from Start Point.

On her second voyage she had a very protracted start, losing three anchors and chains in the Downs and also a man overboard during a very severe gale. She had to slip her third anchor and get underweigh in a hurry to avoid dragging ashore. After this she had to go into Plymouth to get new anchors and chains. She finally left Plymouth on 24th March, 1876, the “dead horse” being actually up the day she left Plymouth. She took her departure from the Lizard on 25th March, crossed the line on 18th April, and had light winds to the meridian of the Cape, which she crossed on 14th May in 43° S.

In 69° E. she encountered bad weather, and shipped a heavy sea whilst running under a fore topsail. This sea broke over the quarter, smashed the wheel and broke in the cabin skylight, and she had to be hove to for 14 hours whilst repairs were made. The main upper topsail had also blown away and a new one had to be bent.

She eventually made Cape Otway at 10.30 p.m. on 7th June, entering the Heads early morning of the 8th, 75 days from the Lizards. In crossing to China, she went from Sydney to Shanghai in 32 days. Failing to get a tea cargo in Shanghai, she ran down to Hong Kong through the Formosa Channel with a strong N.E. monsoon in two days and some odd hours, but, of course, she was nearly new and in ballast.

In 1878 she again tried for a tea cargo, crossing from Sydney in 43 days: after a very tempestuous passage of 83 days from London to Sydney, during which she continually had to be hove to, indeed, Captain Phillip declared that he had never met with such heavy gales during 30 years’ experience, even so she was only 79 days from the Channel to Cape Otway.

She found tea freights slumping very badly at Shanghai, and was finally placed on the berth for general cargo only at 30s. per 50 cubic feet. Salamis left Shanghai on 26th November in company with Thermopylae, which was the only sailing ship to get a tea cargo for London. The two ships made the Straits of Sunda on 15th December, but were compelled to anchor off Sumatra owing to the strong N.E. current. Here they found a fleet of 37 sail all vainly trying to get past Thwart-the-way Island.

Of this fleet the first to get through was Thermopylae after several ineffectual attempts, but she was closely followed by her iron sister ship; clearing Java Head on 29th December after a delay of 14 days, the two sisters squared away for the S.E. trades, and left the fleet of 37 ships to wait patiently until the N.E. current slackened.

Salamis carried the trades to 32° S., and then made some fine running to the Australian Coast, her best day’s work being 336 miles. On 26th January, 1879, she arrived off Port Phillip Heads and anchored off Queenscliff to await orders. She was sent up to Sydney and loaded coal alongside the Cutty Sark. On 18th March Cutty Sark sailed for Shanghai with 1150 tons of coal, Salamis followed on the 20th with 1200 tons of coal. Unfortunately I have no details of the race across, except that Salamis made the run in 37 days. Both ships failed to get a tea cargo for the London market, and Cutty Sark went off to Manila, whilst Salamis went to Foochow, and took a tea cargo from there to Melbourne, which she reached in time to load wool home, after a very light weather passage of 64 days. After this unsatisfactory voyage Salamis was kept steadily in the Melbourne trade, with the exception of one passage to Sydney.

When the Aberdeen White Star sold their sailing ships, Salamis went to the Norwegians, who stripped the yards off her mizen mast and turned her into a barque. After several weary years of threadbare old age, the beautiful little clipper was finally wrecked on Malden Island in the South Pacific on 20th May, 1905.