Pacific blue - The full-rigger Arctic Stream

Built for A.L. Polson by Russell & Co. at Port Glasgow in 1885, Arctic Stream was acquired for the Shire Line's extensive fleet of commercial sail in 1891 and spent the rest of her career under Shire's colours. Registered in Glasgow at 1,584 tons gross (1,498 net), she measured 250½ feet in length with a 38 foot beam and was said to be one of her builders' "finest models". She operated on many routes and never failed to turn in above average passages, often within a day or two of the record, even though she herself was no record-breaker. All her successive captains seemed to get the best out of her and her most well-known run was a celebrated race back home to Europe from Sydney against the crack German training ship Herzogin Sophie Charlotte in 1907. The race was officially declared a dead heat but the moral victory belonged to Arctic Stream given the overwhelming advantages enjoyed by the massive 4-masted German barque. Still maintaining excellent passage times despite her increasing age, her end came in 1914 although not as a casualty of War. Leaving Leith in ballast under tow for the Tyne, she was caught in a gale off the Northumberland coast on 22nd February; the wind and sea conditions were so severe the tug could not hold her, the towrope parted and Arctic Stream was driven ashore at Newbiggin where she broke up rapidly in the pounding surf.