This passage of the James Baines showed her splendid capabilities both in light head winds and strong fair winds, for after a succession of light head winds she was reported in 3° N., 29° W., on the 29th December, only 19 days out, whilst in the boisterous gales of the roaring forties she made the following splendid 24-hour runs in about a 23½-hour day.
- Friday, Jan. 26—Lat. 48° 02′ S., Long. 50° 46′ E. Distance 391 miles.
- 27—Lat. 48° 56′ S., Long. 60° 46′ E. Distance 407 miles.
- Feb. 6—Lat. 50° 09′ S., Long. 123° 40′ E. Distance 423 miles.
This magnificent run showed 10′ difference of latitude and 10° 40′ difference of longitude, her position at noon on 5th February being 50° 19′ S., 113° E.
“DONALD MACKAY.”
Entering Port Phillip Heads, 20th December, 1866.
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Leaving Melbourne on the 12th March, 1855, the James Baines made the run home in 69½ days, having completed the voyage to Melbourne and back in 133 days under sail.
Black Ball captains were celebrated for their daring navigation and McDonald was no exception in this respect. His passengers declared that the James Baines was nearly ashore three times whilst tacking off the coast of Ireland under a heavy press of sail, and that when McDonald put her round off the Mizenhead the rocks were so close that a stone could have been thrown ashore from her decks. It was a lee shore, and if she had missed stays she must have been lost. But as McDonald said, when remonstrated with for taking such risks, it was a case of “we have to make a good passage.”
The “Donald Mackay.”
The Donald Mackay, last of the famous Mackay quartette, was for many years the largest sailing ship in the world, her measurements being:—