Seaman's Ocean — ^Lt. M. F. Maury, USN : 253 



publication of the charts, gold was discovered in the state of Califor- 

 nia, The rush to the Pacific coast was on. The other was that the 

 design of ships was changing in the interest of speed and shorter pas- 

 sages. The clipper ship was replacing the old packet. It offered a spe- 

 cial opportunity to test Maury's methods and to benefit by them. 



An example of the benefits that came to early collaborators of 

 Maury is the case of the barque W. H. D. C. Wright of Baltimore. 

 The first year after the publication of his charts, that is in 1848, she 

 made a voyage to Rio and back. Previously this had required fifty-five 

 days between the Virginia capes and Rio and the same time for the 

 return passage. Now, using Maury's charts and instructions, the time 

 was thirty-six days out and forty days home. 



Likewise, when Maury dealt with passage between English and 

 American ports and Australia, he shattered records and precedents. 

 The custom was that ships bound from London or New York to Aus- 

 tralia would head directly for the Cape of Good Hope; on the return 

 voyage they would work their way back by the same route. Maury 

 pointed out that if the ships would sail south at once (which they 

 would in any case have to do to pass either Cape Horn or the Cape 

 of Good Hope) they would get in the brave westerly winds that blow 

 continually about the world below the capes. So a trip to Australia 

 became a trip around the world which turned out also to be "the 

 shortest way home." The original time of 120 days was reduced by 

 one-fifth for EngHsh vessels and by one-third for American vessels. 



The usual time allowed before Maury's publications for a passage 

 between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States was 180 

 days. As early as 1851 President Fillmore, in his annual message to 

 the Congress, reported that the use of Maury's charts and sailing 

 directions had reduced by forty days the average time of such a pas- 

 sage round the Horn. Fillmore's announcement was only a begin- 

 ning; for decades times of passage fell and records tumbled. Soon 

 passages only a little over 100 days were common and records under 

 100 days were established. In fact before 1851 ended the clipper ship 

 Flying Cloud, following Maury's directions, exceeded even the Presi- 

 dent's predictions by sailing from New York to San Francisco in 89 

 days 21 hours. 



She was a new and extreme ship. What part of her record should 

 be assigned to McKay's genius in design and what part to Maury's 

 genius in navigation would be difficult to determine. The fact 

 remains that merchants, shipowners, captains and governments cred- 



