James Baines, Immigrant Voyage to Victoria 1854-55

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

The premier sailing of the James Baines from Liverpool to Melbourne took 65 days or 63½ days to Hobson's Bay. ^[1]

Arrival of the James Baines was reported in the Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857) Sat 17 Feb 1855 Page 2 PORT OF MELBOURNE. ^[2]

The James Baines anchored in Hobson's Bay last evening at about half-past ten o'clock, after having made the most extraordinary voyage to Australia on record, having accomplished the passage in sixty four days, or one day under her contract time. She has experienced nothing but light winds from the day she left the Irish Channel, but has proved her capabilities in light, as she has already done in heavy weather, during her celebrated run across the Atlantic in twelve days. The voyage has been an entirely successful one, and to the hitherto well-earned fame of Captain M'Donnell, we have the additional testimony of the six hundred and ninety passengers by the James Baines. The late hour at which the vessel arrived prevents our attempting a description, but as she came up in the dark of the night, her outline struck us as the most graceful we had ever seen. There was no possibility of conceiving her immense proportions till our boat was fairly under her, so effectually are beauty, strength, and magnitude made to harmonize in her composition.

.....

Sources

1. ↑ James Baines, 1854, http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/James_Baines(1854).html
2. ↑ Trove, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA, Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857) Sat 17 Feb 1855 Page 2 PORT OF MELBOURNE., https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8779230

• James Baines, 1855, http://www.blaxland.com/ozships/events/7/615.htm#63047
• Public Record Office Victoria, Unassisted passenger lists, (1852-1923) Record Series Number (VPRS): 947, JAMES BAINES, 1855, https://prov.vic.gov.au/index.php/explore-collection/explore-topic/passenger-records-and-immigration/unassisted-passenger-lists