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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900

Seventeen Days To The Line

Seventeen Days To The Line.

the Merwanjee Framjee only took seventeen days from Start Point to the equator, or nineteen from Gravesend, and this was a sterling performance. The famous Thermopylae, when racing the Cutty Sark out to Australia in 1877, did the run from the Lizard to the line in exactly the same time—seventeen days—while the Cutty Sark took 22 days. The Thermopylae, which was bound to Melbourne, took 74 days, and the Cutty Sark did the voyage from the Lizard to Sydney in 72 days. When the Loch Awe made her record passage to Auckland, she took 21 days from Start Point to the equator, and the Vanduara took 24 days from Deal.

To return to the Merwanjee Framjee, she dropped anchor in the Waitemata on March 21, 1876, and her appearance caused much surprise in the city, as, giving her average time for the trip, she was not expected for another three weeks. Gravesend was left on January 4, and two days later she was off Start Point. In seventeen more days she was across the Line, and the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope was crossed on February 17, 44 days after leaving Gravesend. When the ship was away down in the South Indian Ocean, below the Crozets, she passed several icebergs, one of which made a magnificent spectacle. It was estimated to be two miles long, half a mile wide, and of an average height of 300 feet. This monster had a number of smaller bergs round about it.

the Merwanjee Framjee did not make what may be termed sensational runs when running down her Easting. The log showed that on the 12th and 13th February she made 305 and 303 miles; on the 20th of the same month she recorded 297; the 28th 272, and on the 4th and 5th March 290 and 295.