The ship is remembered in the name of a road, Cressy Terrace, in the port town of Lyttelton.

On the morning of 4 September 1850. the barque Cressy, J. D. Bell, master, left Gravesend, and was towed down the river.

After sailing down the Channel and nearly becalmed off the Isle of Wight, she did not drop anchor in Plymouth Sound until after 3 AM on 7 September.

The long passage was put down to fore-topsail being reefed whenever the breeze freshened, as the fore-top-mast had been badly sprung South of the Cape of Good Hope and no confidence could be placed in it taking a heavy load.

The captain consulted the passengers about their health and comfort and did not run further south, where a shorter passage might have been made, but in colder latitudes.