342 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



parallel of 51° soutL. on the other side of the "Horn," the Fish 

 and the Pigeon one day each ahead of the Gilpin. 



The Pigeon was now, according to the Charts, in the hest po- 

 sition, the Gilpin next, and the Fish last ; but all were doing weU. 



980. From this parallel to the southeast trades of the Pacific 

 the prevailing winds are from the northwest. The position of the 

 Fish, therefore, did not seem as good as the others, because she 

 did not have the sea-room in case of an obstinate northwest gale. 



981. But the winds favored her. On the 30th of December 

 the three ships crossed the parallel of 35° south, the Fish recog- 

 nizing the Pigeon ; the Pigeon saw only a " clipper ship," for she 

 could not conceive how the ship in sight could possibly be the 

 Flying Fish, as that vessel was not to leave New York for some 

 three weeks after she did ; the Gilpin was only thirty or forty 

 miles off at the same time. 



982. The race was now wing and wing, and had become excit- 

 ing. With fair winds and an open sea, the competitors had now 

 a clear stretch to the equator of two thousand five hundred miles 

 before them. 



983. The Flying Fish led the way, the Wild Pigeon pressing 

 her hard, and both dropping the Gilpin quite rapidly, who was 

 edging off to the westward. 



The two foremost reached the equator on the 13th of January, 

 the Fish leading just twenty-five miles in latitude, and crossing in 

 112° 17'';* the Pigeon forty miles farther to the east. At this 

 time the John Gilpin had dropped two hundred and sixty miles 

 astern, and had sagged off several degrees to the westward. 



984. Here Putnam, of the Pigeon, again displayed his tact as 

 a navigator, and again the fickle winds deceived him : the belt of 

 northeast trades had yet to be passed ; it was winter ; and, by 

 crossing where she did, she would have an opportunity of making 

 a fair wind of them, without being much to the west of her port 

 when she should lose them. Moreover, it was exactly one year 

 since she had passed this way before ; she then crossed in 109°, 

 and had a capital run thence of seventeen days to San Francisco. 



* Twenty-five days after that, the Trade Wind clipper came along, crossed in 112^, 

 and had a passage of sixteen days thcnco into San Francisco. 



