THE CLIPPER SHIPs WILD PIGEON AND GOLDEN GATE,-- The New York Herald says, the Wild Pigeon, was 107 days on the passage from New York to San Francisco, the Commercial Advertiser, that she was 106, the San Francisco Herald of Feb. 1st, that she was 103, and a letter from a gentleman who made the passage in her, that she was only 102 days. Upon the authority of the letter, we stated the time of her passage, as we were well aware, that very little attention is paid in New York to the sailing of vessels from that port. Frequently we have seen in the New York papers, reports of vessels having sailed, which did not clear until several days afterwards; and of the arrivals of ships which were not even known to be below. Having little faith, therefore, in the New York reports, we adopted what we believed to be good authority. A correspondent of the Courier & Enquirer says, the Golden Gate is only 344 tons larger than the Wild Pigeon, and not 500, as we stated, and that she sailed on the 14th, and the Wild Pigeon on the 13th; but we still he must admit, that the Wild Pigeon has been beaten her. The Commercial Advertiser speaks of "unfair disparagement of other vessels," yet, in the same column, it publishes a most invidious comparison between the Game Cock and the Flying Cloud. We admit that we made a mistake when we attempted to crow about the Wild Pigeon, for crowning is a branch of music practised to perfection, only in New York. Had the Wild Pigeon been built there, she would have had the benefit of New York numbers, and been crowned into San Francisco, to the tune of perhaps, a hundred days. Such is Gotham music!

Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.

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Copyright © 1998 Lars Bruzelius.