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Donald McKay

San Francisco Bay 1800s.

Ship Builder

Brother to Captain Laughlin McKay

Donald McKay.

Donald McKay (1810-1880) was a master shipbuilder, with his shipyard located on Border Street in East Boston. His company launched many of the fastest clippers in history, with Flying Cloud being the most famous.

A clipper ship is a large sailing vessel with three or four masts and square-like sails. The bow or front of the boat is wide and raked forward, allowing increased speed on the open ocean. The clippers were utilized for the New York-San Francisco run during the California Gold Rush, as well as trans-Atlantic routes. The clipper ships of the 1850s are an inspiration for today's Coast Guard cutters, which are designed for speed in rough seas.

Donald McKay.

In Boston, there are two significant memorials to Donald McKay. The first marker is a large obelisk that stands at Castle Island. When entering Boston Harbor by ocean, one passes by the conspicuous monument as it cannot be unnoticed. The other memorial is a small pavilion located at Piers Park in East Boston on Marginal Street. Thus, Donald McKay has been commemorated on both sides of the harbor for all ships to view. Also, McKay's House still stands atop Eagle Hill in East Boston on White Street. Following is an edited biography of McKay from Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States, 1903Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States.:

Donald McKay, shipbuilder, was born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, September 4, 1810. He learned the shipbuilders' trade in New York City, settled in Newburyport, Massachusetts, as a shipbuilder, and in 1845 removed his business to East Boston, where he conducted a large shipyard. He built for Enoch Train several clipper ships for his line of Liverpool packets (Diamond Line) which were celebrated for their speed.

Description of the largest ship in the world. The Clipper Great Republic.

He also built many of the New England clipper ships for the California and Australian trade.

He built the Great Republic, of 4556 tons, in 1853, at the time the largest merchantman in the world; the Flying Cloud, that made the run from New York to San Francisco in eighty-nine days, three days less than the Great Republic; the Sovereign of the Seas, 2400 tons, making 430 geographical miles in twenty-four consecutive hours and 3144 miles in ten consecutive days.

He constructed the model of a paddle-wheel steamer, exhibited in July, 1853, which he claimed would cross the ocean in six days. He constructed a number of U.S. Gunboats, including the light-draft monitor Nauset and the double-end gunboat Ashuelot, [Native American word meaning "A collection of many waters."] for service in the Civil War.

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 and in Australia in 1850, along with the importance of arriving at ports first with merchandise, created a demand for the fastest passages to both places. The repeal of the British Navigation Acts in 1849, opening the tea trade from China to London to foreign ships, gave a tremendous boost to the production of American clippers. Tea from China was a very profitable cargo and several clippers were specially built for the trade. The first arrivals in London of the new crop each year commanded the highest prices. The famous British clipper Fiery Cross, built by Chaloner of Liverpool in 1860, was the winner of the premium for the first ship home on no less than four occasions.

Launch of Donald McKay's Flying Cloud.Donald McKay took the lead, producing first the revolutionary Stag Hound, then Flying Fish and Flying Cloud.

These were perhaps his most famous clippers, though his Sovereign of the Seas was a record-breaker. Built in 1852 for the Swallow Tail Line, Flying Cloud made a name for herself through the speed of her voyages on the New York California run.

The last boat of his construction was the U.S. Sloop-of-War Adams, in 1874.

He retired to Hamilton, Massachusetts, in 1874, and devoted himself to farming. The beauty and speed of the clipper ships, Westward Ho, Flying Fish, Bald Eagle, Empress of the Seas, Staghound, Star of Empire and Golden Fleece gave him a world-wide reputation as a naval constructor. He died in Hamilton, Massachusetts, September 20, 1880.

September 26, 1851, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California

Clipper Ships Again

Messrs. Editor of the Alta California

Donald McKay's Sovereign of the Seas.

Donald McKay's Sovereign of the Seas
The first ship to travel more than 400 miles in 24 hours. Her dimensions 258.2 x 44.7 x 23.6. 2420 tons.

Gentlemen: Allow me, through your columns, to return my sincere thanks to "one of the Villagers," for his attempt to enlighten me. My communication on the 24th was intended to correct an error of yours only, but to my surprise this morning I find the "Villagers" down on me in all directions, and I must say they are a little tender on the subject of "clippers."

I have no great desire for newspaper notoriety, bat as my "Villager" friend affirms that the passages of the Boston built ships do not equal those of New York build, which he enumerates. We will compare the time from port to port, and "figures never lie," you know. Not being able to obtain the passage of the Celestial, I leave her and the Witchcraft out of the comparison, and find the passage of the Sea Witch 97, Samuel Russell 109, N. B. Palmer, 109 days; aggregate, 315 days, making an average for New York ships of 105 days Flying Cloud, 89, Surprise, 95, Staghound, 114 days; aggregate, 29S days] average for Boston ships, 99J days, making a difference of over 5 days in favor of Boston ships.

Mr. McKay, as "Villager" truly remarks, served his apprenticeship in New York, but removed to Boston and vicinity to complete his education. l am sorry to find my friend has exposed his ignorance of Yankee exports, for in addition to "clothespins," we are some on wooden buckets, pails and tubs, let for his punches. &c, that the "village" can't boast of, and as for the wooden nutmegs, a reference to his geography will show him that the land of wooden nutmegs, is several rods nearer to his "village" than to the "city of notions." For his information with regard to the Gamecock, she was at Rio Janeiro, June 29th, getting new masts, having fairly ran away from the spars she left New York with. The writer in the Herald is so perfectly savage that I cannot answer him, and would only recommend an application of Boston ice to his temples. ~ YANKEE

May 25, 1852, The Boston Daily Atlas, Boston, Massachusetts

Donald McKay's Sovereign of the Seas

Donald McKayMcKay's Sovereign of the Seas. Poster by Currier and Ives.

The first ship to travel more than 400 miles in 24 hours. Launched June 1852 in East Boston, Maine. Arrived San Francisco 103 days out from New York. The best day's run was 368 miles. Her dimensions 258.2 x 44.7 x 23.6. 2420 tons.

May 25, 1852, Boston Daily Atlas, Boston, Massachusetts.

Mr McKay has now on the stocks, at East Boston, a magnificent clipper ship, which will register about 2300 tons. She is not only the largest merchant ship, but the sharpest and longest known at the present day, either building or afloat. Her ends are sharper than those of the Collins steamers, but she has great surface of floor, which is carried forward and aft, almost to the extremes, and will render her both buoyant and weatherly. In outline she is a perfect beauty. Her sheer is easy and graceful, and rises boldly forward and aft; her stern curvilinear, formed from the line of the planksheer, and her sides are as true in their sweep and swell as if she had been cast in a mould. Her lines are concave, but as they ascend forward, above the load-displacement line, become convex, to correspond with her outline on the rail. She is 240 feet long on the keel, and 265 feet over all; her extreme breadth of beam is 43½ feet, and depth 23 feet 3 inches, including 8 feet height of between decks. Her upper deck is without break, and on it are all her accommodations for officers and crew. She has a topgallant forecastle, a large house abaft the foremast, and a trunk cabin, built into a half poop 75 feet long, thus leaving all the space below for the stowage of cargo.

Her frame is of seasoned white oak, and her back bone, including the moulding of her floor timbers, is sided 18 inches, and 11 feet 8 inches through, from the top of the keelson to the base of the keel. Beside the midship keelsons, she has two tiers of sister keelsons, one over the other, on each side. These combined, are sided 15 inches and moulded 30, and her keel and keelsons fastenings are of 1½ inch copper and iron. The floor ceiling is 5 inches thick, and on the bilge, commencing inside of the floor heads, she has 6 strakes of 15 inches square, and those above are graduated to 10 inches thickness, the substance up to the deck. She has also a stringer of 15 inches square, upon which the lower ends of her hanging knees rest; and all her knees, hooks, &c., in the hold are of oak. Her between decks waterways are 16 inches square, the strake inside of them 12 by 14, and that over them 11 by 16; the ceiling above is 6 inches thick, and the clamp 7 inches. The garboards are 8 inches thick, the next strake 6, graduated to 5 inches, the substance of her bottom planking. She has 25 wales of 6 by 7 inches, and is planked up smooth to the planksheer. She is square bolted throughout; and all her thick work extends forward and aft, and is scarphed. Her ends are almost filled with massive hooks and pointers, and neither expense nor labor have been spared to make her strong and durable. Her lower masts and bowsprit are made, and are very stout. In diameter, the masts, commensing with the fore, are 41, 42, and 36 inches at the deck, and only 2 inches smaller at the truss-bands, and are in length 89, 92, and 78 feet, including 16, 17, and 15 feet length of heads. Her fore and main topmasts are 48 and 55 feet long, with 11 feet heads, and 19½ and 20 inches in diameter, and will be fitted with gins aloft for the ties, instead of sheave-holes. The topgallant ties also will work through gins, thus preserving the strength of the respective masts, unaffected by holes. Her lower yards, commencing with the fore, are, in diameters, 23½, 24, and 20 inches, and in length, 80, 90, and 70 feet, and are single spars, not scarphed. Her rigging, and all her outfits aloft, when completed, will be as perfect as skill and money can make them.

These brief details will give some idea of her strength and outfits; but the beauty of her model must be seen to be appreciated. Mr. McKay says that he designed her to be the fastest ship in the world, and he feels confident that, if properly managed, she will answer his most sanguine expectations. He built her on his own account, and, we understand, has had several offers for her, but whether he has disposed of her or not, we do not know. She has been named the Enoch Train, a merited compliment to one of our most enterprising merchants -- a gentleman who has done much for the shipping interests of Boston. We advise every body to pay her a visit she is on the stocks, and examine the style of her construction. In two or three weeks she will be ready for launching, and she is already advertised to load in Messrs. Glidden & Co.'s line of California packets.

January 24, 1853, Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Scientific Prediction Fulfilled

The Boston Journal states that McKay, of the clipper Sovereign of the Seas, built in Boston, previous to sailing from this city (N.Y.), for San Francisco, in August last, addressed a letter to Lieut. Maury of the National Observatory at Washington, requesting a copy of the fourth edition of his Sailing Directions, for the use of the voyage. Lieut. Maury answered the letter, stating that if Capt. McKay would follow the directions laid down, the Sovereign of the Seas would be able to cross the Equator in the Pacific on or before the 25th day of October, and would reach San Francisco in one hundred and three days.

The Sovereign of the Seas crossed the line only 14 hours behind the predicted time, and dropped anchor in the harbor of San Francisco in one hundred and three days and two hours after leaving New York.

This prediction on a voyage of 17,000 miles is a forcible illustration of the benefits of modern scientific research.

July 17, 1853, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California

Capt. L. McKay, the commander of the ship Sovereign of the Seas, has been presented with a handsome and valuable service of plate by the underwriters of New York, for his skill at sea, and safely getting his vessel in San Francisco after being dis-masted. On one of the pieces is inscribed the following:--

Presented by Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., to Capt. L. McKay, of the ship Sovereign of the Seas, to express their appreciation of his skill and ability in fitting his ship at sea after having been dis-masted on the 12th October, 1852. The Sovereign of the Seas sailed from New York on 18th June for Liverpool.

September 7, 1853, London Nonconformist, London, United Kingdom

Anglo American. McKay Clipper. Artist Roy Cross.

In the new American clipper, the Sovereign of the Seas, the ropes which form the running rigging are of cotton, which is not only capable of a tighter twist, but is not liable to become deteriorated by friction in the same degree as hempen cords. After they have been in use, too, for years, they can be sold for nearly as much as the original cost. These ropes are quite smooth, and run with great rapidity through the blocks. The sails also of this vessel are of cotton, two sets of cotton sails costing only the sum paid for one set of linen.

Staghound

Three Centuries of Seafaring:
The Maritime Art of Paul Hee
The Maritime Art of Paul Hee.
Rick Carroll, Marcie Carroll (Authors/Editors)

Three Centuries of Seafaring. The Maritime Art of Paul Hee. The largest merchant ship built in 1850, the 215 foot extreme clipper ship Staghound unfurled 9,500 square yards of sail with an 88-foot main mast. A carved golden staghound was its figurehead. Built by Donald McKay for the California trade, teh ship in 1851 reached San Francisco from New York, a voyage of 16,408 imles, in 107 sailing days, a record it never equaled. A decade later, on Otober 12, 1861, laden with coal, the ship caught fire off Brazil's coast and was abandoned with all hands saved.

A Review of the Minority Report, On the Navy Yard Question: With an Appendix, Containing Letters from Maj. General John A. Dix, Gen. Prosper M. Wetmore, Mr. Donald Mckay, and Professor Silliman
London Navy Yard Committee, New London Navy Yard
This reproduction was produced prior to 1923.

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Sources: As noted on entries and through research centers including National Archives, San Bruno, California; CDNC: California Digital Newspaper Collection; San Francisco Main Library History Collection; and Maritime Museums and Collections in Australia, China, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, etc.

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