October 22—Left Sydney.
November 18—Passed Cape Horn 27 days out.
December 11—Crossed the equator 50 days out.
December 25—Passed the Western Isles 64 days out.
January 3 ’90—Signalled in the Channel 73 days out.
January 5—Arrived London 75 days out.
Captain Holmes, who took the _Cimba_ in 1895, had had a long experience
in clipper ships. He had been third mate of the _Salamis_, chief mate
of _Hallowe’en_ and _Blackadder_, and commander of the _Lencadia_, a
smart ship built for the China trade.
The Aberdeen ships were, however, very clannish, and being a stranger
and not a Scot, he had his reputation all to make, the standard set
being a very high one. However, he knew how to carry sail, and he
managed to keep the _Cimba_ moving, though she was always a tender ship
requiring a master hand.
Under him, her best passages were:—
1895 Lizard to Sydney 82 days.
Her best week’s work was 1860 miles, and her best 24 hour’s run, made
on 6th June in 39° 51′ S., 34° 54′ E., 336 miles in a fresh gale from
S.W., during which the second mate was lost overboard.
Other good runs on this passage were:—300, 302, 308 and 312.
1896 Sydney to London 78 days.
_Cimba_ left Sydney in company with _Thessalus_ and _Argonaut_ on 17th
October. Passed the Horn on 15th November, 29 days out—on 18th November
in 51° 31′ S., 55° 47′ W., ran 316 miles, the wind blowing a strong
gale from W.S.W. to W.N.W.—crossed the line on 8th December, 23 days
from the Horn—passed Fayal, Western Isles, on Xmas Day, and signalled
the Lizard at 1 p.m. 31st December, 75 days out.
This was really a splendid performance, for the _Thessalus_, which was
really a much faster and more powerful ship, signalled the Start on
31st December at noon, whilst _Argonaut_, which was certainly quite as
fast as _Cimba_, did not arrive until a month later.
1898 Sydney to London 81 days.
Passed the Horn on 2nd November, 25 days out, having run 3422 miles
in 14 days—crossed the line on 29th November, 27 days from the
Horn—passed the Western Isles on 20th December, Lizard light abeam at
8 a.m. on 26th December, 79 days out.
In 1899 _Cimba_ went out to Rockhampton and loaded home from Brisbane.
In 1901 she went out to Sydney in 85 days, her best run being 310 miles.
By this time sailing ship freights were in a very bad way, and a
profitable charter in Sydney grew more and more difficult to obtain,
thus in 1905 we find her making the record passage between Callao and
Iquique for a sailing ship. As this may be of interest, I give her
abstract log below:—
ABSTRACT LOG OF _CIMBA_ FROM CALLAO TO IQUIQUE
RECORD SAILING SHIP PASSAGE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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