The Australian, an iron screw steamer of 2000 tons, was the first steamship to carry the mails from England to Melbourne. She sailed from Plymouth, June 5, 1852, and called at St. Vincent, St. Helena, Table Bay, and St. George’s Sound for coal, which had been sent out by ship from England to meet her. She arrived at Melbourne in 89 days from Plymouth, and returned by the Cape of Good Hope in 76 days. She arrived at London, January 11, 1853, having been 7 months and 6 days upon the voyage, a creditable but not a very brilliant performance. The Australian was soon followed by the Great Britain, Adelaide, Queen of the South, Sydney, Cleopatra, Antelope, and other iron screw steamers; but these vessels nearly ruined
The “Schomberg�
their owners and did not greatly interfere with the clippers.
In 1854 the Argo, a full-rigged iron ship of 1850 tons register, with plenty of canvas and fitted with an auxiliary engine and screw, made the passage from London to Melbourne in 64 days and home round Cape Horn in 63 days; and though she sailed during the greater portion of the voyage, using her engines only in calms and light winds, she was the first merchant vessel using steam-power to circumnavigate the globe. This voyage is peculiarly adapted to auxiliary steam vessels, as, by following the sailing-ship track, very few strong head winds are met, and of course the screw is of great assistance in light winds and calms.
The Argo was followed (1855-1856) by the Royal Charter, Istamboul, and Khersonese and other iron auxiliary “steam clippers,� as they were called. These vessels carried as much canvas as the clipper ships, and were more expensive to handle and not much faster; the rivalry was therefore keen. The clippers still secured their full share of the cabin and steerage passengers, the mails and gold, and were by no means vanquished; indeed, the auxiliaries proved no more successful than the steamships, and brought much the same result to their owners.
It was not till after the close of the Crimean War in 1856, when the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company extended their line to the Australian colonies, that the clipper ships began seriously to feel the competition of steam. From that time iron sailing vessels for this trade were built with a view to carrying large cargoes and steerage passengers, so that by 1860 the day of the Australian clippers had passed away, although the later China tea-clippers sometimes made this voyage. Almost countless splendid iron and steel sailing ships have since been built in Great Britain, and many fine passages have been made to and from Australia, yet the records of the James Baines, North Wind, Lightning, Mandarin, and Lord of the Isles remain unbroken.
CHAPTER XIX
LAST YEARS OF THE AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIP ERA—SUMMARY OF CALIFORNIA PASSAGES
DURING the Crimean War a large number of merchant ships, many of which were American, were chartered by the British and French Governments to carry troops, but when peace was declared in 1856 and this demand for tonnage ceased, it was found that there were more ships afloat than could find profitable employment, or indeed employment of any kind.
Only eight ships were added to the California fleet in 1856—the Alarm, Euterpe, Flying Mist, Florence, Intrepid, Mary L. Sutton, Norseman, and the second Witch of the Wave. These were all handsome medium clippers, and possessed what is so sadly lacking in sailing ships of the present day—style, distinction. The Florence was built by Samuel Hall, Jr., who had succeeded his father as a ship-builder and continued in the same yard at East Boston. She was owned by Captain R. B. Forbes and others of Boston. Captain Dumaresq commanded her and also owned an interest in her until his death in 1860. As Captain Forbes used to say, “He was the prince of sea captains.â€�