The James Baines was going 17 knots with main skysail set; the Libertas, for such was her name, was under double-reefed topsails." "June 17th. Latitude 44° S., longitude 106° E., ship going 21 knots with main skysail set." This appears to be the highest rate of speed ever made by a sailing vessel of which any reliable record has been preserved.
The Champion of the Seas made the passage out in 71 days and home in 84 days, and the Donald McKay made the voyage in about the same time, but the Lightning and James Baines proved the most famous of these ships. So well pleased was Mr. Baines that he wrote to Mr. McKay, saying, "In these ships you have given us all and more than we expected." These were the last extreme clipper ships built by Donald McKay.
During the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 a large number of British and American merchant ships were chartered by the British Government to carry troops to India, and among others the James Baines, Champion of the Seas, and Lightning. The James Baines sailed from Portsmouth for Calcutta on August 8th, with the Ninety-seventh Regiment on board, and the Illustrated London News, in a notice of her departure, remarked: "Previous to her starting she was honored by a visit of Her Majesty, who highly eulogized the vessel and is said to have declared that she was not aware that so splendid a merchant ship belonged to her dominions."
The Champion of the Seas sailed from Portsmouth on the same day, also bound for Calcutta with troops, and the race between these clippers was close and exciting. Nine days out they fell in
