For one thing, it was a trade in which their
own ships were not directly concerned, and partizan bias is apt
to color the views of the best of us when national prestige is
involved. American historians themselves have dispensed with many
unpleasant facts when engaged with the War of 1812. With regard
to the speed of clipper ships, however, involving a rivalry far
more thrilling and important than all the races ever sailed for
the America's cup, the evidence is available in concrete form.
Lindsay's "History of Merchant Shipping" is the most elaborate
English work of the kind. Heavily ballasted with facts and rather
dull reading for the most part, it kindles with enthusiasm when
eulogizing the Thermopylae and the Sir Launcelot, composite
clippers of wood and iron, afloat in 1870, which it declares to
be "the fastest sailing ships that ever traversed the ocean."
This fairly presents the issue which a true-blooded Yankee has no
right to evade. The greatest distance sailed by the Sir Launcelot
in twenty-four hours between China and London was 354 knots,
compared with the 424 miles of the Sovereign of the Seas and the
436 miles of the Lightning. Her best sustained run was one of
seven days for an average of a trifle more than 300 miles a day.
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