These facts refute the historic falsehood that the Alabama and her consorts were the first and immediate cause of decadence in the American merchant marine. As a matter of fact, neither the depression preceding the Civil War, nor the depredations of Confederate privateers, nor the Civil War itself, have had any material bearing upon the decline of American shipping during the last fifty years. The gigantic task of driving the American flag from the ocean has been accomplished by far more insidious and potent means than these. It has been the inevitable consequence of irrational and unjust laws, and until these are repealed, as those of Great Britain were in 1849, we may hope in vain that the ensign of the United States will be restored to its place upon the sea.
Amid the discouraging conditions of these years preceding the Civil War, American sea-captains never lost faith in their ships nor in themselves. They seemed to think, the lower the rate of freight, the more reason that it should be earned quickly, and when once clear of the disheartening influences of a seaport and well off soundings, they sent their ships along with the same energy and skill for which they had become famous in more prosperous days.
It was in the year 1857 that the Great Republic made her remarkable passage of 92 days from New York to San Francisco, and established a new record of 16 days from Sandy Hook to the equator. She was still commanded by Captain Limeburner, who had as his first officer, Montgomery Parker, an accomplished seaman and navigator, afterward commander of the ships Judge Shaw and Lord Lyndhurst. The crew of 50 men before the mast were the usual assortment, 15 or 20 good seamen, the rest adventurers and mongrels of various brands, of whom little could be expected. Captain Limeburner and his officers always went armed, and it was perhaps fortunate, with such a crew, that the topgallantsails were never clewed up during the passage, and that Cape Horn was rounded with skysails set.
The abstract log of the Great Republic is as follows:
| From Sandy Hook to the equator | 16 | days. |
| From the equator to 50° S. | 25 | “ |
| From 50° S. in the Atlantic to 50° S. in the Pacific | 9 | “ |
| From 50° S. to the equator | 23 | “ |
| From the equator to San Francisco | 19 | “ |
| Total | 92 | “ |
Lieutenant Maury, in a letter on the subject to the Secretary of the Navy, remarks: “This vessel did not have the luck to get a wind that could keep her up to her mettle for twenty-four hours consecutively. Here and there she got into favorable streaks of wind, but she appears to have run out of them faster than they could follow. She made the run to San Francisco in 92 days.
“The shortest passage that in the present state of ship-building will probably ever be made from New York to San Francisco, is 85 days; and the very clever first officer of this ship, writing from California, expresses the opinion that ‘should she continue to run between New York and San Francisco, from the experience of this voyage, she will one day make the trip within your possible 85 days.’
“The friends of this noble specimen of naval architecture, however, can scarcely hope for a fair trial and proper display of her prowess until she shall be sent on a voyage to Australia. The brave west winds of the Southern hemisphere, which she will then encounter, will enable her to show herself; elsewhere, she can scarcely find a sea wide enough, with belts of wind broad enough for the full display of her qualities and capabilities.�
There can be little doubt that with her original spars and sail plan, the Great Republic would have made this passage in 85 days or less, and it is to be regretted that, even with her reduced rig, she never made a voyage between England and Australia, the service for which she was built and especially adapted. Her best twenty-four hours’ run, made upon a subsequent voyage while under the command of Captain Josiah Paul, was 413 miles.
In 1857 the Flying Dragon made the passage to San Francisco in 97 days; the Westward Ho and the Andrew Jackson in 100 days, both from New York; and the Flying Fish in 106 days from Boston. In 1858 the Twilight made the passage from New York in 100 days; the Andrew Jackson in 103 days; and in 1859 the Sierra Nevada in 97 days and the Andrew Jackson in 102 days. In 1860 the Andrew Jackson made the trip in 89 days.