27th February, 1855.—Lat. 46° 22′ S., Long. 26° 15′ E. Wind, west, course S.E. All last night it blew a fresh gale with heavy squalls and occasional showers of hail and snow, the sea running high. From noon yesterday till noon to-day, we ran down 9 degrees and 20 miles of longitude and 34 miles of latitude, making 390 geographical miles or 450 English miles direct course in the 24 hours, giving an average of 16¼ knots or 18¾ statute miles per hour. During 6 hours in the morning the ship logged 18 knots per hour with royals, main skysail and topgallant studding sails set, the wind blowing a fresh gale from the westward. 21st October, 1855.—Lat. 36° 4′ S., Long. 24° 52′ W. During the afternoon the wind chopped round and blew strongly from the S.W. At 5 p.m. sighted a large ship on our weather quarter, sailing under double-reefed topsails and we apprehend they must have taken us for the _Flying Dutchman_ seen occasionally in these latitudes, for notwithstanding the strong breeze we could be observed carrying our skysails with studding sails ‘low and aloft.’ 14th March, 1857.—Lat. 34° 47′ S., Long. 35° 06′ W. The breeze a splendid one. A barque on the port beam about 3, homeward bound. The wind was as fair for her as wind could be, yet she had no royals set. We formed a striking contrast to her, for we—on a wind—had all sail set up to main skysail. 20th March, 1857.—Lat. 43° S., Long. 0° 55′ E. We have made during the last 47 hours the greatest run that perhaps ship ever made, yet all the time we have carried our main skysail and all sorts and conditions of studding sails. Extraordinary 24-hour Runs. I have quoted the above passages to show the way in which a Black Baller could carry sail either with a fresh favouring gale or in a strong head wind. This is sufficiently astonishing in itself, but what amazes most present day sailors and compels many of them to be incredulous are such statements as the much quoted one concerning _James Baines_—“Ship going 21 knots with main skysail set.” This and other log book statements have been looked upon by many as far-fetched exaggerations, but, after careful study of the subject, during which I have pricked off the different voyages on a track chart, I have come to the conclusion that these amazing performances were in no way a stretching of the imagination. To begin with, I will give the main arguments advanced against them by the sceptics. The late Mr. J. N. Barry, writing in an Australian paper, remarks:— Where American records are concerned much caution must be observed in taking their feats of speed for granted. Our cousins had a canny fashion of, no matter where they might be sailing, always reckoning 60 miles to a degree of longitude whilst doing their easting, so that a day’s run of, say, 240 miles upon a parallel of 45°, would by this means give the distance covered as exactly 100 miles in excess of what it should be.