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White Wings Vol II. Founding Of The Provinces And Old-Time Shipping. Passenger Ships From 1840 To 1885

The Andrew Jackson

The Andrew Jackson.

The Andrew Jackson, an American clipper-built ship of 1,252 tons, which made two voyages to New Zealand with passengers, was one of the fastest sailers afloat, but never had a fair chance of making a record passage to either of the ports visited—Auckland and Otago. Her first voyage was to Port Chalmers in 1864. She sailed from Glasgow on the 14th April, and met with unfavourable winds generally to the equator, but was then favoured with good S.E. trades, and made the run from the line to Port Chalmers in 47 days. Port was reached on the 12th July. On two successive days, when running down her easting, she made 330 and 340 knots in the 24 hours. The "Otago Daily Times," reporting her arrival, stated the ship had made the best run of the season. The Andrew Jackson was chartered by Messrs. Potter and Wilson, and was commanded by Captain J. McCallum. She landed 162 passengers for Otago.

The next voyage of the Andrew Jackson was to Auckland in 1865. She sailed from Gravesend on the 18th May, from Dover on the 20th, and was off the Lizard two days later. On June 19th she encountered a heavy squall from eastward, which struck her almost without any warning, and although sail was shortened with all possible speed, five of them were split to ribbons.

She struck another severe gale on 21st July, which lasted some hours, and met icebergs. On this trip, on the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th July, she made runs of 296, 311, 306, and 321 miles respectively, making a total of 1,234 miles in four successive days, an average of 308½ miles per day, or nearly 13 knots per hour—an excellent record.

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The ship arrived in Auckland harbour on the 24th August, after a passage of 96 days from Dover. She brought out 269 passengers. There were three deaths (adults) and two births during the voyage. Captain J. McCallum was in command.

The Andrew Jackson had made twelve previous voyages, six of which were from New York to San Francisco.