The Thomas Daniels.

A long passage of 165 days was that made by the barque Thomas Daniels, a small vessel of only 291 tons, between Liverpool and Auckland in 1869-70. Commanded by Captain Shotton, she left Liverpool on September 5th, 1869, with a heavy cargo of machinery and general merchandise. She had bad luck with the weather from the start, and it was fourteen days before she cleared the land. On October 20th, when in latitude 14deg. 19min. north, 25deg. 6min. west, the ship met with a serious accident by which she was deprived of the use of her mainmast. The vessel was under all sail at the time, when suddenly the main mast head carried away by the truss hand. All hands were called, and as much gear was sent down as possible to ease the strain. At five a.m. the next day the fore-topgallant backstay carried away to add to the troubles of the crew. For a week officers and men were hard at work repairing the damage, and at length things were once more secure aloft. It was not until November 8th that the Equator was crossed, the barque then having been over two months at sea, and the meridian of the Cape was crossed on December 1st. All the vessel's bad luck was not over, as before she completed this very protracted passage she struck more bad weather and had a portion of her port bulwarks carried away.