1854 February 18 - March 3 
     Sailed Boston - Liverpool in 13 days, 20 hours under command of
Captain James Nicol Forbes who had left the Marco Polo to take
     command of Donald McKay's new clipper. 

     In a Letter to the Editor of the Nothern Daily Times dated, March 8th,
     1854, Captain Forbes disputes a calim from Captain Eldridge of Red
     Jacket of having done the fastest Atlantic crossing. 

          Not a ripple curled before her cutwater, nor did the water
          break at a single place along her sides. She left a wake
          straight as an arrow, and this was the only mark of her
          progress. There was a slight swell, and as she rose, one
          could see the arc of her forefoot rise gently over the sea as
          she increased her speed. 

Duncan McLean: Boston Daily Atlas, 1854.

1854 March 1 
     On the this day the Lightning sailed 436 miles, which is the longest
     day's run recorded by a sailing ship. 

          March 1. — Wind S., strong gales; bore away for the
          North Channel, carried away the foretopsail and lost jib;
          hove the log several times, and found the ship going through
          the water at the rate of 18 to 18½ knots per hour; lee rail
          under water, and the rigging slack; saw the Irish land at 9:30
          p.m. Distance run in the twenty-four hours, 436 miles. 

1854 May 14 - July 31 
     Sailed Liverpool - Melbourne in 77 days. The round trip from England
     to Australia and Back has been discussed by John Willis Griffiths in
     the U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal, Vol. III (1954).
     Excerpts from a passenger diary from this passage have also been
     reprinted in the Dog Watch No. 18 (1968) & 19 (1969). 
1854 August 20 - October 23 
     Sailed Melbourne - Liverpool in 64 days 3 hours. 
1855 
     Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in 73 days [78 days according to
     Stammers]. Captain Anthony Enright succeeded Captain Forbes as
     master who was to assume of command of a new ship, the unlucky
     Schomberg. 
1855 April 11 - June 29 
     Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 79 days. Eleven issues of The
     Lightning Gazette printed onboard during the passage have been
     reprinted in Sea Breezes Vol. 18-19 (1954-1955). 
1855 
     Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in 81 days. 
1855 December 28 
     Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool. 
1856 May 6 
     Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in 68 days 10 hours. 
1856 August 28 
     Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 84 days. 
1857 February 5 
     Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in 69 days 6 hours. 
1857 March 19 
     Sailed 430 miles in 24 hours while bound for Australia. This is the
     second longest day's run recorded by a sailing ship. 
1857 May 11 
     Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 82 days. 
Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 82 days. 
1857 August 25 
     Sailed from Portsmouth to India in 87 days with 650 men and officers
     of the 7th Hussar regiment. 
1859 
     Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool where she arrived on May 11 after
     80 days. 
1867 
     Sold to Thomas Harrison, Liverpool, but continued to sail for the
     Black Ball Line. 
1869 October 31 
     Burned while loading wool at Geelong. The disaster was described in
the Geelong Advertiser, November 1, 1869. 

In a Letter to the Editor of the Scientific American published November 26, 1859, Donald McKay writes:

     Although I designed and built the Clipper Ship Lightning and
     therefore ought to be the last to praise her, yet such has been her
     performance since Englishmen learned to sail her that I must
     confess I feel proud of her. You are aware that she was so sharp
     and concave forward that one of her stupid captains who did not
     comprehend the principle upon which she was built, persuaded
     the owners to fill in the hollows of her bows. They did so, and
     according to their British bluff notions, she was not only better
     for the addition, but would sail faster, and wrote me to the effect.
     Well, the next passage to Melbourne, Australia, she washed the
     encumbrance away on one side, and when she returned to
     Liverpool, the other side was also cleared away. Since then she
     has been running as I modelled her. As a specimen of her speed,
     I may say that I saw recorded in her log (of 24 hours) 436
     nautical miles, a trifle over 18 knots an hour. 

Select Bibliography:

The Lightning Gazette, Nos. 13-23. 
     Sea Breezes Vol. 18 (July - December) & Vol. 19 (January - June),
     Liverpool, 1954-1955. 
     The Lightning Passage. 
     The Dogwatch, No. 25 and No. 26, Melbourne, 1968-1969. 
     Chapelle, Howard I.: The Search for Speed Under Sail 1700-1855. 
     Bonanza Books, New York, 1967. +8vo, xiv, 451 pp, ill, 16 pl. 
     Howe, Octavius T. & Matthews, Fredric C.: American Clipper Ships
     1833-1858. 
     Argosy Antiquarian, New York, 1967 (facs av ou 1926). 2 vols. 
     McLean, Duncan: The New Clipper Lightning, of Liverpool. 
     The Boston Daily Atlas, Vol. XXII, No. 181, Tuesday, January 31,
     1854. 
Reprinted in Howes & Matthews: American Clipper Ships
     1833-1858, 1926. pp 356-365, and in Nautical Research Journal Vol.
     25 (1979), pp 65-68. 
     Loney, Jack: The Clipper Lightning in Geelong 1862-1869. 
     Portarlington, Victoria, 1988. A4, 24 pp, ill. 
     McKay, Richard: Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder
     Donald McKay. 
     G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1928. 8vo, xxvii, 395 pp, 62 pl. 
     Stammers, Michael K.: The Passage Makers. 
     Teredo Books, Brighton, 1978. +8vo, xxii, 508 pp, ill.