Tons. Passage.
Flying Cloud 1700 89 days.
Flying-Fish 1600 92 days.
Sovereign of the Seas 2400 103 days.
Bald Eagle 1600 107 days.
Empress of the Sea 2250 118 days.
Staghound 1550 112 days.
The following sailed from Boston to San Francisco:
Tons. Passage.
Westward Ho 1700 107 days.
Staffordshire 1950 101 days.
Mr. McKay built the _Great Republic_, of 4550 tons, with four decks; but
she was partly burned in New York in 1853, and when repaired the fourth
deck was taken off. She sailed several voyages between New York and San
Francisco, and was never beaten. During the Crimean war she was hired as
a transport by the French government, and with a leading whole-sail
breeze not a steamer, far less a sailing-vessel, could keep alongside of
her.
[Illustration: SHOWING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LINES OF THE OLD SHIPS AND
THE NEW CLIPPERS.]
The last great ship designed and built by Mr. McKay was the _Glory of
the Seas_, of 2009 tons. She was a combination of the clipper and the
New York packet-ship, designed to carry a large cargo, to sail fast, and
to work like a pilot-boat. She was 240 feet 2 inches long, had 44 feet
extreme breadth of beam, and was 28 feet deep, with three decks. Captain
Tom Chatfield, who commanded her several voyages, speaks of her as the
grandest vessel he ever knew. She is still afloat, and hails from San
Francisco. At one time she was owned by J. Henry Sears & Co., well known
as eminent merchants of Boston.
Captain Waterman, in command of the clipper-ship _Sea Witch_, made some
of the quickest passages on record between New York and China. His last
command afloat was in the ship _Challenge_, which he took from New York
to San Francisco. Captain Philip Dumaresq, of Boston, who last sailed in
the ship _Florence_ in the China trade with New York, ranked high during
his whole service afloat. At sea he never took his clothes off to turn
in at night, that he might always be on hand to spring on deck. The
quickest passage on record from Shanghai (China) to New York was made in
the ship _Swordfish_ by Captain Crocker. Though becalmed a week on the
equator, he made the run in 84 days, and beat the overland mail from
India a week. It was stated in a San Francisco paper that the _Young
America_ made the passage from New York in less time than the _Flying
Cloud_, but it was not confirmed. One hundred days was considered quick
time for an outward passage. The ship _Northern Light_ made the passage
from San Francisco to Boston in 76 days. She was in ballast, and had
fair winds all the way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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