Champion of the Seas set a record for the fastest day's run in 24 hours: 465nmi noon to noon 10–11 December 1854 under the command of Captain Alexander Newlands (which translates into 19.5 knots). This record stood until August 1984, nearly 130 years.[2]
Champion of the Seas was "fuller aft than forward", and her strength of construction was an improvement over the Lightning, which Mackay had built the previous year. The frame was white oak, diagonally cross-braced with iron, planking and ceiling of hard pine, square fastened throughout. She had 3 decks. Her sail area and spars were roughly the same as Lightning. Her working suit of sails required 12,500 yards of cotton, 18 inches wide.
Upon completion, Champion of the Seas was towed from Boston to New York by the steam tug R.B. Forbes.[3]
Champion of the Seass figurehead was the full figure of a sailor "with his hat in his right hand, and left hand extended ... It was certainly a most striking figurehead, the tall square-built mariner, with dark curly hair and bronze clean-shaven face."[4] Her semi-elliptical stern was ornamented with the coat of arms of Australia. She was painted black on the outside, white on the inside, with blue waterways: the colors of the Black Ball Line.
James Baines ordered Champion of the Seas from Donald McKay of East Boston for the Black Ball Line of Liverpool. She was similar in appearance to McKay's other clippers, Lightning and James Baines, but set no sails above the royals. She set the record for the longest day's run, 465nmi on 10–11 December 1854 on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne.
From her launching to 1868, Champion served in the passenger trade. During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the British government chartered the three Black Ball clippers to carry troops to Calcutta. Before embarking about 1,000 troops, she and James Baines were reviewed by Queen Victoria. In 1868 she entered the general shipping trade. She remained in this trade until 3 January 1877 when she was abandoned, leaking badly, with a load of guano off Cape Horn.
| Date | Log | Master | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 April 1854 | Launched at the shipyard of Donald McKay, East Boston, for the Black Ball Line, Liverpool. | ||
| June 1854 | New York to Liverpool in 29 days. | Captain Alexander Newlands | |
| 11 October 1854 - 26 December 1854 | Her maiden voyage Liverpool - Melbourne took 75 days during which a 24‑hour run of 465 miles (861 km) was recorded. | Captain Alexander Newlands | |
| 1855 | Melbourne-Liverpool in 84 days. | Captain Alexander Newlands | |
| 1855 | Liverpool-Melbourne in 83 days. | Captain John McKirdy | |
| 1855 - 25 January 1856 | Melbourne-Liverpool in 90 days. | Captain John McKirdy | |
| 1856 | Liverpool-Melbourne in 85 days. | ||
| 10 August 1857 | Portsmouth-Bay of Bengal together with James Baines. Arrived at Sand Heads, Calcutta after 101 days. | ||
| 1858 | Departed Liverpool 8 August 1858 arrived Melbourne 7 November 1858Passengers: 16 in Saloon and 298 in Intermediate and steerage. | Captain John McKirdy | |
| 1 January 1860 - 26 March 1860 | Melbourne-Liverpool in 85 days. | ||
| 20 November 1860 to 24 February 1861 | Melbourne to Liverpool | Seaman William Cuthbert (my great great uncle). Served as seaman although he had a Master's certificate. | |
| 1866 | Sold to Thomas Harrison and Thomas Sully Stowe for £9750, but chartered back to the Black Ball Line for three more voyages | ||
| September 1868 | Put into general trading. | ||
| February 1874 | After having found that she was badly affected by dry rot she was subsequently sold to A. Cassels of Liverpool for £7500. | ||
| July 1875 | Arrived at San Francisco-Hong Kong in 39 days. | Captain Wilson | |
| 5 October 1875 | San Francisco-Callao in 45 days. | ||
| 3 January 1877 | Abandoned off Cape Horn in leaking condition with a cargo of guano. The crew was saved by the British barque Windsor.[5] | ||
Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) had a practice of naming its airliners "Clippers", as an allusion to the clipper ships of earlier times.[6] Between 1984 and 1991, a Pan Am Boeing 747-121 airliner (MSN 19641 / tail number N734PA) was named Clipper Champion of the Seas in accordance with this practice. The airliner, which had been delivered to Pan Am in 1969, had previously been named Clipper Flying Cloud.[7]