Maritime Record.

New Zealander, Volume XV, Issue 1348, 19 March 1859, Page 2

Maritime Record.

The smart northerly breeze that set in on Wednesday morning brought quite a small fleet of inter-provincials and coaster* into port, together with the London ship Exce'sior. The former comprized the schooners Zephyr and Emily Allison from Nelson and other Southern ports, aad the St. Kilda from the Bay of Islands.

The Excelsior. Captain Faithful, has had a fair average passage of 104 days from the Downs, whence she sailed on the 2nd December, calling at no port in the Channel. The earlier part of her passage proved to be tedious, and she experienced four and twenty hours of very heavy weather in the Western Ocean, but happily without any casualty. Had almost no K.E. trades, but caught a smart S.E. trade four degrees to the Northward of the Equator, which she crossed on the sth January, in long. 31° 31' West, and carried the trade wind to 23 ° South, sighting Cape Augustine on the Brazilian Coast. Crossed the meridian of Greenwich on the 2nd of February, and that of the Cape of Good Hope on the Gth. Ran down her Easting in the parallel of 45 ° Soutn, meeting with drift ice in longitude 137 ° 30' We3t, latitude, 45° 21' South. Passed to the Southward and outside of Tasmania in a heavy gale, sighting no land (except Cape Augustine) from the date of her departure from the Downs until she made the Three Kings on Friday the 11th; had light weather up the coast. On the 6th January, spoke the ship Donald Mackay from Liverpool to Melbourne in latitude 11 ° s., longitude 31 ° W.; [There must, we suspect, be some mistake in dates, it being, we think, impossible for a ship crossing the Equator on the sth to speak another ship eleven degrees to the Southward of it on the oth January], and, on the 2i)th January, the Lincluden Castle, in latitude 25° 53' South, longitude 23 c 24' W., from London to Bombay with troops. There were two deaths and two births during the passage. The Excelsior is a clipper ship, and a fine vessel of her class, carrying her beam well aft, and thereby affording ample accommodation for passengers in her spacious cuddy. She brings another large accession to our population, and has come into port in clean and creditable condition. We beg to return our acknowledgments to Captain Faithful! for the prompt and gentlemanly courtesy with which we were furnished with every information in his power to give us. Three of the seamen, accused of theft, were landed in charge of the Police, as goon as the ship came to anchor, the hands aloft stowing the foretopsi»ii cheering them loudly on their shoreward passage.

Report ok Whalers at thb Bay of Islands:—Arrivvd. March 9th. Norman, ship, 338 tons, Ray, Nantucket, 40 months out, with 800 barrels sperm. March 9th. Hiawatha, Ellis, 29 months out, with 830 barrelssperm. March llth. Seagull, ship, 45J tons, C. Nichols, New Bedford, !) months out, with 130 barrels sperm. March llth Mount Wollaston, ship, 325 tons Coffin, New Bedford, 9 months out, with 100 barrels sperm, 30 barrels whale. March llth. Henry Taber, barque, 3.W tons, Ewer, New Bedford, 40 months out, with IGOO barrels whale. March llth .Margaret Scott, ship, tons, Cleveland, New Bedford, 17 months out, with ""0 barrels whale. March 14th, Waterwitch, Lee, Sydney, 10 months out, with 2iitl barrels sperm. March 14th. Woodlark, Verney, Sydney, 11 months out, with 200barrel*sperm. Sailed. March llth Moctezuma, ship, 430" tons, Tinker, New Bedford, for the whaling ground*.