Captain Nils Bull Melsom Lancing' s master for more than eleven years, Captain Melsom showed the world how to get the most out of a full-rigged ship . passages. Speedy turnaro unds reaped even greater profits. Her officers and owners were pleased, of course, but, for her crew, this translated into backbreaking labor. Afte r Captain M elsom discovered what he could squeeze o ut of this almost for ty-yearold vessel, he determined ro figure out her exact speed. In his log, he wrote that the ship made twenty knots fo r two consecuti ve ho urs during a four-hou r watch when she had made good a distance of seven tysix nauti cal miles. The average speed for this watch was nineteen knots! Surviving logbooks from that time show th at Lancing, over and over, maintained an average speed of well over fifteen knots in a noonto-noon run. Lancing m ade record-breaking passages when the weather was fair, not just in those gale-force downwind legs . In 1904 Captain M elsom rook Lancing from Saint John , New Brunswick, ro Melbourne, Australia, in 79 days, averaging eighteen knots during many watches en route. In 1908, he drove his ship from Lands End ro Melbourne in 64 days. In 19 10, he was just two weeks out from Cape Ch at in the St. Lawrence when he pulled into port at Ardrossan, Scotland. There are m any o ther examples of impressive runs from one end of the globe ro the o ther. Melsom's feats were impressive but no t anomalies . Lancings logbooks docum ent that fo ur of her Norwegian captains
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sailed the ship well over 300 nautical miles on 24-hour runs, and each recorded fourhour watches that consistently averaged speeds better than fourteen knots. An article published in the No rwegian magazine, Ship-o-Hoy, corroborates M elsom's claims ro Lancing's speed. The article quotes a Captain Krneber, who was in command of a big four-masted barque, deeply laden with grain, sailing from Australia ro Europe. H e admi tted his pride at m aking thirteen knots under lower topsails at the latitude of the Falkland Islands in gale force wi nds, when he spied a ship astern, also deeply laden: "It was a large four-m as ted, full-rigged ship, and she carri ed all her topgallant sails! She must have logged a speed of at least eighteen knots and was a fantas tic sight. She quickly passed us and made us appear standing still with o ur thirteen knots. We barely managed ro exchange greetings and signal letters. She was the Lancing of Kristiania!" Lancing sailed wo rld-wide during Wo rld War I and continued ro earn solid profits for h er owners. When Melsom gave up command, Captain O scar Olufse n relieved him. Olufsen had sailed as m ate on Lancing under Captain M elsom for m any years. He turned out to be just as skilled as his m aster when it cam e ro dri ving the ship. It was under his command in 1916 that Lancing sailed from Ambrose Lightship off New York ro Muckle Flugga on the north tip of the Shetland Islands in 12 days and 21 hours. The crossi ng of the At-
!antic from Cape Race to Shetland was accomplished in unbelievable 6 days and 18 hours. During that time the Lancing sailed 2,071 nautical miles. That is an average speed of 12.3 knots for the Atlantic crossing and must be the fastest Atlantic run of a cargo-carrying windjammer. Captain Olufsen only got to comm and Lancing for 4-1/2 years. On 16 September 191 8, he fell overboard, aft by the log line, and was lost in a storm. Cap tain Olufsen's best noon-to-noon run was 366 n autical miles, with 72 miles on the best watch-average speed, eighteen knots. On the return trip, he rook the Lancing from Denmark's Skagen Rev Lightship ro H alifax, Nova Scotia, in under twentyone days, with a recorded speed of sixteen knocs one day and the following entry the next day: "Calm the whole wacch, no recorded speed, sails given up." A round trip voyage with two transAtlantic crossings, including a route across the N orth Sea, in a mere twen ty-seven days is an outstanding achievement. This particular voyage occurred during World War I. En route, Lancing was sropped and boarded by British warships for inspectio n before she could continue her voyage. After her arrival in the US, she headed ro Canada ro rake on a load of spool wood before heading back across the Atlantic to G lasgowall in fifteen days. At che end of che war in 191 8, Magnus Melsom bought the ship, and Melsom & Melsom would be her final owners. No t
Lancing under full sail. A careful look reveals her name painted in huge letters on the topsides, between the main and mizzen masts, as was done during Wo rld W'tir I.
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SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 200 8