60 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



lar trade, with the object of making the voyage as short 

 as possible. It was, therefore, a splendid opportunity 

 for putting Maury's charts to the test, and the practical 

 results of his new sailing directions soon displayed them- 

 selves. 



Before his charts came to be used, the average passage 

 from New York to San Francisco was about 180 days, 

 but by the year 1855 the average passage between those 

 ports for the year round had been reduced to 133 days. 

 Moreover, there were dozens of clipper ships which, 

 under Maury's directions, made the voyage in 110 days 

 or even less. The record was made in 185 1 by the Flying 

 Cloud, which fairly flew over the passage in 89 days and 

 21 hours, during one day making the extraordinary 

 distance of 433J statute miles or sailing at the rate of 

 18 statute miles per hour. This exploit was celebrated 

 with great rejoicing in San Francisco, because the in- 

 habitants felt that they had been brought so much 

 nearer to their old homes in the East. 



Under the circumstances it was but natural that there 

 should be races among the clipper ships. The route 

 from New York to San Francisco became the great race- 

 course of the ocean, fifteen thousand miles in length. 

 As Maury wrote, "Some of the most glorious trials of 

 speed and prowess that the world ever witnessed, among 

 ships that 'walk the waters', have taken place over it. 

 Here the modern clipper ship — the noblest work that 

 has ever come from the hands of man — has been sent, 

 guided by the lights of science, to contend with the 

 elements, to outstrip steam, and astonish the world".^ 

 There was the great race in 1851 of the Raven, the 

 Typhoon, and the Sea Witch, which was won by the first- 



2 "Physical Geography of the Sea", 1855, p. 263. 



