10.--28th. Wind west and northwest, steady breezes; 306 miles.” [The position at noon on this day was latitude 52° 38′ N., longitude 22° 45′ W., and here began the greatest day’s run ever made by a ship under canvas.] 11.--“March 1st. Wind south. Strong gales; bore away for the North Channel, carried away the foretopsail and lost jib; hove the log several times and found the ship going through the water at the rate of 18 to 18½ knots; lee rail under water, and rigging slack. Distance run in twenty-four hours, 436 miles. 12.--2d. Wind south, first part moderate, latter part light and calm. 13.--3d. Light winds and calms. 14.--4th. Light southeast winds and calms; at 7 A.M. off Great Orms Head; 12 m. off the N. W. Lightship.” This was a remarkable passage considering the percentage of easterly winds, though its memorable incident is, of course, the phenomenal run of 436 miles in twenty-four hours, an average of 18½ knots, which entitles the _Lightning_ to the proud distinction of being the swiftest ship that ever sailed the seas. There was no ocean steamship of her day that approached her record by less than 100 miles, and another five-and-twenty years passed away before the Atlantic greyhound, the _Arizona_, made 18 knots for a single hour, on her trial trip. Even at the present time, according to Lloyd’s Register, there are not more than thirty ocean-going mail steamships afloat, that are able to steam over 18 knots. It must have been blowing hard enough when the _Lightning’s_ jib and foretopsail carried away, for these were not old, worn-out sails, put on board to attract the favorable consideration of underwriters, but were of new canvas, made unusually strong, and had not been out of the sail loft more than a couple of weeks. Strange as it may seem, the “wood butchers of Liverpool,” as Donald McKay used to call them, were allowed to fill in the concave lines of the _Lightning’s_ bow with slabs of oak sheathing, and while she continued to be a fast ship, she doubtless would have proved still faster had her original design not been tampered with.[12]