Donald McKay was a man of untiring energy and industry. He was a rapid and skilful draughtsman and designed and superintended the construction of every vessel that he built. This may also be said of almost every ship-builder of that period, but Mr. McKay’s skill, the result of an intuitive perception ripened by experience, gave him a peculiar insight not only into how to create, but into what to create, and it was this genius that made him pre-eminent as a builder of clipper ships. He was a born artist and his ships were the finest expression of mechanical art. They are entitled to a place in the realm of fine arts far more than much of the merchandise that claims that distinction. Mr. McKay was of a generous nature, and liberally rewarded the men who assisted him, and he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself. So soon as he began to prosper he sent for his parents and made a new home for them at East Boston, and their comfort and happiness were always his care and greatest pleasure. In his later years he endured misfortune and ingratitude with the same sturdy sweetness and equanimity that he had shown in the days when fortune smiled. CHAPTER XVII AUSTRALIAN VOYAGES, 1851-1854 The years between 1849 and 1856 were perhaps the most prosperous that ship-owners and ship-builders have ever known. The discovery of gold in Australia in 1851 had much the same effect as that in California in 1848, and people flocked to Melbourne from all parts of the world. There was this difference, however, that whereas passengers went to California, after the first rush, by steamers via Panama, and the mails and gold were always transported by this route, all the Australian passengers, mails, and gold were for a considerable period carried by sailing vessels. The extent of this traffic may be judged from the fact that the yield of the gold fields up to December 30, 1852, a little more than a year after their discovery, was estimated at £16,000,000 sterling, or $80,000,000. Prior to 1851 the emigration to the Australian colonies had been about 100,000 persons per annum, while the average between 1851 and 1854 was 340,000 annually. The transportation of these passengers alone required an enormous amount of tonnage, so that the discovery of gold in Australia gave an additional impulse to clipper ship building.