Donald Mackay’s ships were chiefly distinguished for their powerful workmanlike appearance rather than for delicate beauty—they showed strength rugged and unmistakable, but the Red Jacket’s strength was more disguised under graceful curves; for instance, she had the graceful arched stem and clipper bow of a China ship, whereas Lightning’s stem was almost straight, with only a very slight curve in it.
Red Jacket was not named after Tommy Atkins, but after a great Indian chief, and her figure-head was a beautiful representation of this warrior in all the magnificence of feather head-dress and beaded buckskins.
Race across the Atlantic between “Lightning” and “Red Jacket.”
The Lightning loaded at Constitution Wharf, Boston, and sailed for Liverpool on 18th February, 1854, whilst the Red Jacket sailed from New York on the following day, and great interest was shown in shipping circles as to which should make the best passage across the Atlantic.
In the end these two magnificent clippers arrived in Liverpool on the same day, 4th March, their exact times being:—
Red Jacket—Sandy Hook to Rock Light 13 days 1 hour.
Lightning—Boston Light to Rock Light 13 days 19½ hours.
Their 24-hour runs opened the eyes of the packet ship commanders and in fact the whole world.
The Red Jacket put up runs of 413, 374, 371, 343, and 300 against the Lightning’s 436, 328, 312 and 306, thus there was little to choose between the two vessels on this point.
The Boston Daily Atlas of 18th February, 1854, thus describes the Lightning’s departure from Boston:—
At 2 o’clock the Lightning hove her anchor up, and at 3 o’clock discharged her pilot off Boston Light. She went down in tow of the steamer Rescue, Captain Hennessy, and was piloted by Mr. E. G. Martin.
Before the steamer left her, she set her head sails, and fore and mizen topsails, and had a moderate breeze from W. to S.W. She appeared to go at the rate of 6 knots under this canvas, though she draws 22 feet of water and has only 23 feet depth of hold.
We have seen many vessels pass through the water, but never saw one which disturbed it less. Not a ripple curled before her cut-water, nor did the water break at a single place along her sides. She left a wake as straight as an arrow and this was the only mark of her progress. There was a slight swell, and as she rose we could see the arc of her forefoot rise gently over the seas as she increased her speed. At 5 p.m., two hours after the pilot left her, the outer telegraph station reported her 30 miles east of Boston Light with all drawing sails set and going along like a steam boat.
And the following extract from her log book was published in the Liverpool Albion on her arrival.
| Distance. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb. 19 | Wind, | W.S.W. and N.W. moderate |
200 miles. |
| 20 | „ | N.N.E. and N.E. strong breezes with snow |
328 „ |
| 21 | „ | E.S.E. with snow storms |
145 „ |
| 22 | „ | E.S.E., a gale with high cross sea and rain |
114 „ |
| 23 | „ | N., strong gales to E.S.E.; ends moderate |
110 „ |
| 24 | „ | S.E., moderate |
312 „ |
| 25 | „ | E.S.E. and S.E., fresh breezes with thick weather |
285 „ |
| 26 | „ | W.S.W., moderate |
295 „ |
| 27 | „ | W.N.W. „ |
260 „ |
| 28 | „ | W. and N.W., steady breezes |
306 „ |
| March 1 | „ | South. Strong gales; bore away for the North Channel; carried away the fore topsail and lost jib; hove the log several times and found the ship going through the water at the rate of 18 to 18½ knots; lee rail under water and rigging slack |
436 „ |
| 2 | „ | South, first part moderate, latter part light and calm. |
|
| 3 | „ | Light winds and calms. | |
| 8 | „ | Light S.E. winds and calms; at 7 a.m. off Great Orme’s Head. 12 noon off the N.W. lightship. | |
On 28th February at noon she was in Lat. 52° 38′ N., Long. 22° 45′ W., and her run of 436 nautical miles from that position to her noon position on 1st March gives her the greatest day’s work ever accomplished, to the best of my belief, by a sailing ship. The 1st March entry “Wind south—bore away for the North Channel,” has misled some nautical critics, who have plotted her as being up with Rathlin Island when she bore away, without noticing the direction of the wind. The log is rather ambiguously worded, but her run of 436 miles puts her some 30 miles west of Achill Head—and she then bore away north, bringing the wind on the starboard quarter. If she had been off Rathlin Island she would have had to bring the wind on the starboard bow for the course through the North Channel.
Captain Charles McDonald always hoped to get a day’s run of 500 miles out of the James Baines, and firmly believed she could do it; but he never succeeded in beating the Lightning’s records.
The Red Jacket, which was under the command of Captain Asa Eldridge, of American packet ship fame, had strong winds from S.E. to W.S.W. with rain, snow and hail. As with Lightning, the first half of her passage was the slowest half and for the first seven days she could only average 182 miles a day. But with practically the same weather, it is interesting to compare the performances of the two vessels as they approached the Irish Coast. Red Jacket’s last six runs were 219, 413, 374, 343, 300, and 371, giving a total of 2020 and an average of 336.
The only vessel that has ever beaten this six-day run is the famous Cutty Sark, which in 1876, before her wings were clipped, ran 2163 miles in six days in the roaring forties, when outward bound to Sydney.
“Red Jacket’s” First Voyage to Australia.
At Liverpool Captain Eldridge handed over his command to Captain Samuel Reid, who managed to get the Red Jacket away for Australia, as one of the White Star regular packets, 10 days ahead of Captain Forbes. The Red Jacket sailed on 4th May, 1854, one day behind a new Nova Scotian built Black Ball packet named the Mermaid.
On the 10th May the two ships were off Oporto, and kept close to each other as far as Teneriffe; the N.E. trades were poor and it was a light weather passage to the line, which was crossed on 29th May by the Red Jacket, the Mermaid being then in 1° north.
From this point the Red Jacket, steering a more westerly course, had light and variable winds, whilst the Mermaid was better treated and reached the latitude of the Cape five days ahead, and still held better winds, being actually 1397 miles ahead of the Red Jacket on 15th June. Red Jacket, indeed, did not really get going until 26th June, but from that date her log is so remarkable that I give it below.
The Red Jacket was in 40° S., 14° E., before there was any need to touch her topgallant sheets, and Captain Reid was evidently determined to find wind somehow, with the result that, in spite of it being the depth of winter, he was not deterred from standing far to the southward on a Great Circle course. He was rewarded by all the wind he could desire, but so great was the cold that the ship was put down by the head by the frozen spindrift which covered her to the mainmast in an icy mantle.
Her log from 26th June, when she first began to feel the benefit of the westerlies, was as follows:—
| Date. | Lat. | Long. | Weather. | Dist. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ° ′ | ° ′ | |||
| June 26 | 48 06S | 34 44E | Var. and stiff rain and sleet. |
315 |
| 27 | 50 06 | 42 19 | Wind N.W., fresh and squally with hail, very cold weather. |
330 |
| 28 | 50 54 | 49 16 | Wind W.N.W., squalls with hail showers. |
263 |
| 29 | 50 34 | 56 34 | Wind N.N.W., squalls, entire fore part of ship covered with ice. |
286 |
| 30 | 52 03 | 63 50 | Wind N.N.W., fresh with hail squalls; very cold, air 19°. |
287 |
| July 1 | 51 39 | 71 21 | Wind N.N.W., fresh, with hail squalls, latter part light, air 19°. |
286 |
| 2 | 50 29 | 72 26 | Wind S.W., first part calm, latter part heavy gales and heavy sea. |
|
| 3 | 50 12 | 80 30 | Wind W.S.W., first part heavy gales, latter part fresh breezes, high sea, freezing. |
312 |
| 4 | 49 25 | 88 30 | Wind variable, fresh gales and heavy sea, freezing, rain and sleet. |
300 |
| 5 | 49 13 | 95 00 | Wind N.N.W., first part light and heavy rain, latter stiff, with heavy squalls. |
288 |
| 6 | 48 38 | 104 15 | Wind W.N.W., strong gales and squalls, heavy sea. |
400 |
| 7 | 47 25 | 112 44 | Wind variable in strength and direction. |
299 |
| 8 | 46 38 | 119 44 | Wind N.N.W., stiff and squalls, with rain. |
350 |
| 9 | 45 09 | 129 18 | Wind N.N.W., strong and squally, with rain. |
357 |
| 10 | 42 42 | 134 38 | Wind N.N.W., fine weather. |
334 |
| 11 | 40 36 | 139 35 | Wind N.W., heavy squalls and rain. |
245 |
| 12 | Wind N.N.W., fine weather. Made King’s Island at 10.50 p.m., crossed bar at 11.50 p.m. |
300 |
Red Jacket made the passage from Rock Light to Port Phillip Heads in 69 days 11 hours 15 minutes; passage under sail 67 days 13 hours, total distance run 13,880 miles.
The Mermaid, which gained such an advantage over the Red Jacket in the earlier part of the passage, ran her easting down a good deal further to the northward, and did not arrive till the 17th July, having made a passage of 74½ days.
Red Jacket set sail on her homeward passage on 3rd August. She was not in very good trim this time, being too light and very much down by the stern, however, she still continued to show her quality, constantly logging 17 or 18 knots in fresh breezes and 14 and 15 knots when close-hauled. Only once on the homeward passage were her topsails close-reefed and only once did she ship any water. This was on the 31st August in a heavy squall with foresail and fore and main topgallant sails set.
She rounded the Horn on the 23rd August, only 20 days out, her week’s work averaging out as follows:
- 1st week 231 miles per day.
- 2nd „ 307 „ „
- 3rd „ 254 „ „
But on the day after she had rounded the Horn, she had a narrow escape of being embayed by ice, and one of her passengers gave the following account of her danger to the newspapers:—“On the morning of 24th August, I was roused out of sleep by the noise of shortening sail and the look-out singing out land. Ice had been seen some time before, but the solid masses had been supposed in the dark to be land. On getting out I found we were in smooth water and large masses of ice floating about us. As the day broke, we found ourselves sailing along a lake of water not unlike a canal. The ice seemed to extend on every side in solid fields as far as the eye could reach without any prospect of getting out, so that we had to follow the channel. All sail was clewed up except the topsails, and as there was a good breeze we proceeded along at about 4 or 5 knots. Our situation at this time seemed most appalling, as we appeared to be getting further into the ice, so that by 10 or 11 o’clock we were almost making up our minds to remain for weeks in this fearful situation.
“About noon the captain and second mate, who had been on the fore topsail yard all the morning, discovered clear sea again, to gain which we had to force a passage through dense masses of ice. It was here she sustained the principal damage to her stem and copper. We soon got clear and the rest of the day we saw no traces of ice and were very thankful we had got off so easily. But to our dismay at 8 p.m. we again fell in with it. The ship was put about and sail shortened for the night and we ran back to the clear water in which we had been sailing. At daybreak sail was made and at 7 a.m. we came up to the ice. At first it was only large pans much melted, the water having all the appearance of brine and being quite thick round them. Afterwards large masses of icebergs presented themselves. In grinding the ship through these, great difficulty was experienced—very large bergs were also interspersed and visible all round.
“This day we cleared it again about noon. Icebergs were still, however, seen both near and in the distance; their appearance was most grand, the largest being thought to be about 2 miles in circumference and 100 feet high. It was passed about 4 or 5 miles distant on our starboard and lee side.
“We hove to again at night. Next day, Saturday, was for the most part a dead calm and we were carried back with the current. There was not a breath of wind; a clear sky and beautiful weather, only the air sharp. Icebergs were, however, still seen. The next day, Sunday, we passed a number more, which were the last ice seen. One of these was most grand, being about 200 feet high. We cleared it on our port or windward side about a mile or less distant. The weather during this period was clear and fine. Indeed, the day before encountering the ice was beautiful, a fine light breeze which heightened towards evening and sea smooth. We were running close-hauled 14 knots an hour steadily during the night. The sun had set a deep crimson behind a bank of clouds over against Cape Horn.”
Red Jacket’s next three weeks’ runs averaged:—
| 4th week, | 205 miles per day. | |
| 5th week, | 237 miles per day. | (Mostly light breezes, squalls and rain.) |
| 6th week, | 224 miles per day. | (Easterly winds.) |
The line was crossed on 13th September, the Red Jacket having run 10,243 miles in 42 days, an average of 244 per day. She now had every hope of beating the record, but, alas, from here on she had nothing but calms and light head winds which drove her across into 43° W. and she was 31½ days from the line to port, reaching Liverpool on 15th October, after a passage of 73 days. This was considered an extraordinary performance, when allowance was made for the light weather experienced after crossing the line. During one whole week in the doldrums she averaged under 100 miles per day, and the two following weeks she only averaged 142 and 106 miles respectively.
The whole voyage, however, had been a wonderfully fast one. She had made the trip, out and home, in 5 months 10 days and 22½ hours, and had actually circumnavigated the globe in 62 days 22 hours, between 11th June and 2nd September, running 15,991 miles in that time.
On her homeward passage she ran 14,863 miles, her greatest day’s work being 376 miles and her average 202¼ miles per day.
She brought home gold dust and sovereigns to the value of £208,044. She sailed this voyage under the American flag, being only chartered by the White Star Line, but on her return to Liverpool Messrs. Pilkington & Wilson bought her for the sum of £30,000.
The “Lightning’s” First Voyage to Australia.
The Lightning, with the famous Bully Forbes in command and the almost equally famous Bully Bragg as mate, left Liverpool on the 14th May for Melbourne. But unlike the Red Jacket, she had a light weather passage out, her topgallant sails being carried the whole way. She crossed the line 25 days out and took 30 days running from the meridian of the Cape to Port Phillip Heads, arriving off Sandridge Pier on the afternoon of 31st July, 77 days from Liverpool, her best runs being 348, 332, 329, 311, and 300.
On the morning of the 20th August she left her anchorage at Melbourne in company with the Mermaid, having gold dust on board to the value of £1,000,000. The tug dropped her off the Heads at 4 p.m., and by the following noon she had done 268 knots. At 4 a.m. on the 24th she passed a large ship supposed to be the Mermaid, and at 10 p.m. on the same day passed the Auckland Islands. From here she had fresh westerly and south-westerly winds, seldom logging less than 14 and frequently 18½ and 19 knots per hour. Forbes carried on in the most daring manner, and on the Lightning’s arrival at Liverpool her passengers told weird stories of Bully Forbes keeping his station at the break of the poop with a pistol in each hand in order to prevent his scared crew from letting go the royal halliards.
By 28th August the ship was in 57° 20′ S., but at 11 p.m. on this day a violent squall from the S.W. carried away the fore topmast stunsail boom, and a moment later the fore topmast went over the side, the fore royal, fore topgallant sail and fore topsail being blown out of the bolt ropes at the same instant.
For the next four days the ship was kept under easy canvas whilst a new fore topmast was got aloft and the other damage made good. However, in spite of this delay the ship averaged 300 miles from 1st September to the 8th, when Cape Horn bore N.W., distant 50 miles at 3 a.m.; Lightning’s actual time from the Heads to the Horn was 19 days 1 hour, a record. For the next three days she had the wind ahead at N.E., but on the 13th it came out of the south again strong, and her runs on the 13th and 14th were 351 and 354 miles respectively. Then from the 15th to the 20th with light head winds again, she could only average 6 to 7 knots an hour. On the 20th September she was in Lat. 29° 13′ S., Long. 31° 40′ W. Light N.E. and N.N.E. winds still held right up to the line. On the 28th she passed Pernambuco, 6 miles off, and at 9 a.m. on 30th September she crossed the equator in Long. 34° 30′ W., being only a little over 40 days mean time from Port Phillip, which, considering the poor winds met with after rounding the Horn, was a wonderful performance.