[Illustration: Captain JOHN WYRILL, of “Berean.”]
_From a painting in possession of the late Captain John Wyrill._ ]
Net tonnage 526 tons. Gross tonnage 542 „ Under deck 506 „ Length 160.5 feet. Breadth 30.2 „ Depth 17.2 „
She had a raised quarterdeck 43 feet long. This was laid with New Zealand Kauri pine planking, 4 inches wide, extending the full length without a butt, and what is more without a knot. All the deck fittings, houses, fiferails, skylights and topgallant bulwarks were of selected teak, the bulwarks being panelled with fretwork designs. The boats also were of polished teak; in fact, the only bit of painted wood about the decks was the longboat chocks. Even the bunk boards and lining of the foc’s’le were of teak.
The _Berean_ carried skysails for many years, and the following are her spar measurements:—
+-----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------+ | Spars. | Foremast. | Mainmast. | Mizen | | | | | mast. | +-----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------+ | | ft. | ft. | ft. | |Mast (deck to truck) | 112 | 116 | 93 | |Lower mast (deck to cap) | 50 | 54 | 50 | |Doublings | 12 | 12 | 9 | |Topmast | 38 | 38 | 29 | |Doublings | 6.6 | 6.6 | — | |Topgallant, royal and skysail masts| 42.6 | 42.6 | 23 | |Lower yard | 62 | 62 | — | |Lower topsail yard | 55 | 55 | — | |Upper topsail yard | 50 | 50 | — | |Topgallant yard | 40 | 40 | — | |Royal yard | 30 | 30 | — | |Skysail yard | 23 | 23 | — | |Spanker boom | — | — | 44.6 | |Spanker gaff | — | — | 44 | |Bowsprit and jibboom | 48 | | | +-----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
_Berean’s_ best point of sailing was with a whole sail breeze and smooth water, the wind quarterly or 2 points abaft the beam. Her best run in the 24 hours was 315 miles. She was, of course, too small and hardly powerful enough to equal the larger iron clippers when running down the easting, but in moderate weather there were not many ships which could show her their sterns. The following sailing records will give some idea of her powers:—
Equator to the Channel 17 days. First 4 passages out averaged 77 „ First 4 passages home averaged 84 „
In sailing round the world from 30° S., 20° W., to 30° S., 20° W., her yearly average was from 80 to 85 days, her quickest circle of the globe being 76 days.