It is only fair to say, however, that the _N. B. Palmer_ lost five days through putting into Valparaiso to land two of her crew, and as it turned out, to ship seventeen men to replace deserters. One of the two men landed had shot and wounded the mate, and the other, known as “Doublin Jack,” had knocked the second mate down with a handspike. Captain Low put both these men in irons, triced them up in the mizzen rigging, and gave them each four dozen lashes of ratline stuff, which they had well earned. Captain R. B. Forbes, one of the most humane and kind-hearted of men, declared in an address before the Boston Marine Society in 1854, that he regarded “the abolition of the power of flogging refractory seamen as having been injudicious”; and I think that most men who had experience in handling the crews of merchant ships on the high seas in those days will be inclined to agree with him. The demand for new clipper ships had by no means abated in 1852, and thirty-three California clippers were launched in this year. Donald McKay built the _Sovereign of the Seas_, _Bald Eagle_, and _Westward Ho_; William H. Webb, the _Flying Dutchman_; Samuel Hall, the _Polynesia_, John Gilpin, _Flying Childers_, and _Wizard_; Jacob A. Westervelt, the _Golden City_, _Golden State_, and _Contest_; Jacob Bell, the _Messenger_ and _Jacob Bell_; Paul Curtis, the _Golden West_, _Queen of the Seas_, _Cleopatra_, and _Radiant_; J. O. Curtis, the _Phantom_ and _Whirlwind_; Jabez Williams, the _Simoon_; R. E. Jackson, the _Winged Racer_; Fernald & Pettigrew, the _Red Rover_. Undismayed by difficulties as to spars and rigging that beset the minds of other ship-builders, Donald McKay resolved in this year to build a still larger clipper than had yet appeared. This ship was the _Sovereign of the Seas_, of 2421 tons register, and when she was launched in June, 1852, the bells that had welcomed the _New World_ and _Stag-Hound_ as the largest merchant ships afloat, again rang out a joyous greeting to this noble clipper, as she glided smoothly and swiftly into the blue waters of Boston harbor. The _Sovereign of the Seas_ measured: length 258 feet, breadth 44 feet, depth 23 feet 6 inches, with 20 inches dead-rise at half floor. It is interesting to note that each one of Mr. McKay’s clippers had less dead-rise than her predecessor. The _Stag-Hound_ had 40 inches dead-rise at half floor with slightly convex water-lines; the _Flying Cloud_ and _Staffordshire_ 30 inches with concave water-lines and shorter but sharper ends. The _Sovereign of the Seas_ had the longest and sharpest ends of any vessel then built, and combined the grace and beauty of the smaller ships with immense strength and power to carry sail.