A quarter port-broadside and stern view of the clipper ship 'Constance' as she navigates in tumultuous open waters off the Kerguelens Islands. A wave crashes over a rock in the left foreground. Men furl the fore topsail and the main course, and people are on the deck. The 'Constance' was most notable for being the first ship under Captain Godfrey to sail a new route to the Australian colonies in 1850. He reached Adelaide in a record 77 days. Unlike the old route, in which ships would sail to Cape Town, cross the southern Indian Ocean, and then sail 7,000 miles to their destination, the new route had ships sail far south as ice would permit, bypassing Cape Town and taking advantage of the favorable "roaring forties" winds. The new route, later known as the Great Circle route, exploited the earth's round shape by taking a large arc south towards the Antarctic and eventually swinging back towards Australia.
