A top-sail breeze: The Lightening

Lightening was built for the Black Ball Line of Australian packets by Donald McKay at East Boston in 1853. Launched in January 1854, she crossed to Liverpool the next month and then went out to Melbourne in 77 days. Returning home in a heady 64 days with a full passenger list and a cargo of 1 million in gold bullion, she became renowned for her speedy passage times and was chartered to rush troops to India following the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857. Retaining her popularity despite the growing competition from steam throughout the 1860' s, she caught fire at the dockside in Melbourne on 31 October 1869 and was scuttled in the harbour there in an attempt to save her cargo.