About the Conflict

Description

The Conflict, when twenty years' fron the stocks, was chartered by the Shaw Savill, Co., and made two very fast passages to New Zealand. She was a full-rigged ship of 1171 tons, built at Liverpool in 1855. She made her first voyage to the Dominion in 1874, bringing out 450 immigrants. She sailed from Gravesend on this occasion, on May 12, and arrived at Wellington on August 7, 1874, making the passage in 80 days.

The Conflict, the following year, sailed from Belfast with 271 immigrants on November 4, 1875, and arrived at Lyttleton on January 29, 1876. From December 29 to January 6, both days inclusive, the ship ran a distance of 2423 miles, averaging over eleven knots. Captain Hardy was in command on each voyage. The celebrated ship, Crusader, sailed from London on October 31, and the Otaki on November 1 of the same year. This was a contest between these two ships as they sailed from the docks withina few hours of each other, and arrived at Lyttleton on the same day, but neither made a fast passage as they did not arrive at Lyttleton until February 8, a rather lengthy passage of 99 days. The Conflict, which sailed on November 4, three days after the Crusader and Otaki, arrived at Lyttleton on January 29, making the run in 87 days, and 82 land to land. The ship encountered a furious gale in the Bay of Biscay during which she lost her jib boom, and from the 8th to the 11th of the same month another gale raged, when the fore and mizzen topsails were carried away. The Conflict was 31 days out when the Equator was crossed. She passedthe meridian of the Cape on December 4, and was in sight of the Snares on the 30th.

Identification