water-line. Her bow was ornamented with a finely executed bust of her namesake, which was carved in England and was said to be an excellent likeness. Across her stern she carried a carved medallion of the globe, supported by the arms of Great Britain and the United States. She was commanded by Captain McDonnell, late of the Marco Polo, who sailed from Liverpool for Boston soon after his return from Melbourne.
The James Baines sailed from Boston, September 12, 1854, and made the run from Boston Light to the Rock Light, Liverpool, in the record time of 12 days 6 hours. An English correspondent of one of the Boston papers remarked: "You wish to know what professional men say about the ship James Baines. Her unrivalled passage, of course, brought her prominently before the public, and she has already been visited by many of the most eminent mechanics in the country. She is so strongly built, so finely finished, and is of so beautiful a model, that even envy cannot prompt a fault against her. On all hands she has been praised as the most perfect sailing ship that ever entered the river Mersey."
The last of this quartette, the Donald McKay, measured: length 269 feet, breadth 47 feet, depth 29 feet, with 18 inches dead-rise at half floor, and her mainyard was 100 feet long. While her waterlines were fuller than those of the James Baines, she was still an extremely sharp vessel, and with the single exception of the Great Republic was the largest merchant ship afloat. She sailed from Boston, February 21, 1855, under the command of
