18th, 106 days from Sandy Hook; the Raven, November 19th, 105 days from Boston Light, and the Sea Witch, November 20th, 110 days from Sandy Hook. Here is a brief abstract from their log-books:
| Raven | Typhoon | Sea Witch | ||||
| To the equator in the Atlantic … | 25 | days | 27 | days | 29 | days. |
| From the equator to 50° S … | 21 | " | 23 | " | 22 | " |
| From 50° S. in the Atlantic to 50° S. in the Pacific. … | 14 | " | 13 | " | 14 | " |
| From 50° S. to the equator … | 24 | " | 25 | " | 22 | " |
| From the equator to the Golden Gate … | 21 | " | 18 | " | 23 | " |
| Total … | 105 | " | 106 | " | 110 | " |
This was a great victory for the Raven, the only ship of her tonnage that ever outsailed the Sea Witch, to say nothing of vanquishing the large and famous Typhoon, a ship more than double her size. It should, however, be remembered with regard to the Sea Witch, that she was at that time over five years old, and had led a pretty wild life under Waterman, while she had known no peace with Prazer in command, and had been strained and weakened by hard driving. Moreover, a wooden ship, after five or six years, begins to lose her speed through absorbing water, and becomes sluggish in light airs. In her prime and at her best with Waterman in command, the Sea Witch was probably the fastest sailing-ship of her inches ever built.
The California clippers were, of course, racing all the time, against each other and against the record,
