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

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How many people in Auckland can tell you what the signals on Mount Victoria mean? A certain number can possibly tell when the flagstaff indicates a steamer arriving, but beyond that very few bother their heads. Steam and wireless have taken much of the romance out of the sea.

Fifty years ago, when we had to depend on the beautiful old sailing ships to keep us in touch with the outside world, an expected arrival from overseas was an event, and we used to watch the Mount Victoria flagstaff for days ahead.
Barque Alice Cameron.

Barque Alice Cameron.

Everybody knew the graceful clipper ships and discussed their performances, and the names of their captains were household words. People who came to the young colony had a feeling of affection for the ship that had been their home for so many days, and there was always a friendly rivalry between the admirers of the different vessels.

That this natural love of British people for a ship still survives is shown by the keen interest taken in the performances of the old-time craft. How many times in the newspapers have you not seen paragraphs from old hands recalling a fast passage by such and such a ship or barque? In the past twenty years the "Auckland Star" and other journals in the province have contained scores of letters and statements concerning fast passages made in the sailing ship days between Sydney and Auckland, San Francisco and Auckland, and London and Auckland.

As I was shipping reporter ("marine reporter" we used to call it in those days) on the "Southern Cross" from 1863 to 1865, and then on the "Herald" from 1865 to 1871, it has occurred to me that some reminiscences of the fast sailing ships of half a century and more ago would be of interest. During the periods I speak of I made notes of notable passages, and in going over old records I have been able to decide several points which are still being disputed.

Quite recently, for instance, several correspondents have written to the "Star" about the fastest sailing time between Sydney and Auckland, one crediting the Alice Cameron and another claiming that it was the Trieste, with making the record passage under five days. Neither of these statements is correct, and I venture to assert that no sailing vessel has made the run from Sydney to Auckland—that is, port to port—in less than five days.