The Constance.

One of the very few big overseas ships owned in Auckland in the early days was the barque Constance, which belonged to the Circular Saw Line (Henderson and Macfarlane). She first arrived at Auckland on July 24, 1868, 116 days out from London, after an adventurous voyage. Like the ship Racecourse, which had preceded her, the Constance encountered some very bad weather, but being a stronger and much newer vessel, she did not suffer anything like the same damage.

The Constance, under Captain Elliott, left Gravesend on March 29th, passed the Lizard on April 3rd, and crossed the equator on the 30th of that month. On May 17th she spoke H.M.S. Galatea. All her officers could be seen assembled on the quarter-deck waving their hats and handkerchiefs to the Constance, whose passengers and crew gladly returned the compliment. The Galatea was in command of the Duke of Edinburgh, who, unknown to the passengers, had narrowly escaped assassination on his visit to Australia, and was then returning home. After an exchange of flag signals and greetings, the Constance dipped her ensign three times as a salute, the crew and passengers giving three lusty cheers for the ship and her royal commander. She struck a good deal of bad weather, and eventually made port on the 24th July.

In 1862 the Constance, in command of Captain Reid, made a voyage from London to Wellington, sailing on the 11th August and arriving on December 12th, after an uneventful and protracted passage of 123 days. She brought out 40 passengers.