The Oriental approaches the West India Dock in London on December 3, 1850
Griffiths had since gone on to design another heavily-sparred clipper, the Memnon, at the Smith & Dimon yard, a fine, sharp ship of 1,000 tons much like the Sea Witch. The Memnon had sailed on her maiden run to Liverpool on November 6, 1848, in fourteen days, seven hours, very good time. The Memnon returned and was now loading cargo at the South Street docks for her first voyage around the Horn.
On April 11, 1849, the Memnon cleared Sandy Hook under the command of Captain Joseph R. Gordon, and made a very fine run to the equator, crossing the line in nineteen days, and was off the coast of Rio Janeiro thirteen days later. Gordon had it in his mind to set the record with this voyage around the Horn and was driving his new crew hard, and soon had a mutiny with "all hands refusing duty." Belaying pins and hand spikes were soon flying, and the Memnon was forced to put into Montevideo, where Gordon discharged the troublemakers. He took on a new crew before proceeding on the Memnon's record breaking voyage of 123 sailing days from Sandy Hook, arriving in San Francisco Bay on August 28, 1849.
The Memnon set the precedent soon to be followed by other clippers by setting the record on her first run around the Horn. But she had also experienced the first rumblings of mutiny and discontent that would find its way aboard the Cape Horn clippers in the years to come.
Other forty-niner ships were soon to follow. The Thomas Perkins out of Boston, under the command of William C. Rogers, made a very fine passage of 126 days. The Probus and the William Sprague also made it around the Horn that year.
In East Boston, the Forbes-rigged Reindeer, of 800 tons, slid down the skids at the McKay shipyard on June 9, 1849. She was built for George B. Upton, an enterprising Boston merchant, and soon became the first McKay ship to enter the California trade and was considered to be Donald McKay's first "Cape Horner," designed to handle the stormy sea off Cape Horn. The Reindeer cleared Boston with Captain Lord in command and arrived at the Golden Gate on April 2, 1850, after a voyage of 130 days.
With the building clamor for fast clippers, Donald McKay hoped to get Upton to let him build a larger sharply built ship of his own design, but he was not successful. Up to then, none of the vessels built in the New England shipyards approached the New York clippers in size and sharpness.
A small, sharp bark, the Hazard, was built that year, alongside the China packet Lantao, at Samuel Hall's shipyard in Boston. The Hazard was 122 feet long and under 400 tons register, but still her mainmast shot up 130 feet. Her critics said that she was over sparred, but she would go on to make a name for herself in the coffee trade even rivaling the Courier. In her first three years of service, the Hazard made six fast passages to Rio Janeiro, making good time through all the seasons thanks to her lofty rigging.
Boston merchants were still not convinced that larger, sharper ships with less carrying capacity would be profitable and it would be another few months before New England merchant houses and shipbuilders would try to match their South Street rivals.
New York merchants had already made up their minds, for they saw that the demand for ships had taken on new dimensions with the discovery of gold in California. The tea packets up till then had been engaged in round voyages out past the Cape of Good Hope to China for a cargo of tea, and return past the Cape of Good Hope for Home. The California trade now called for a westbound circumnavigator twice the size of a tea packet, capable of slicing through the strong westerly winds that they would encounter off Cape Horn in all seasons, and to carry larger mixed cargoes of merchandise much heavier than tea.
But already rising in the stocks along the East River, was Captain Nat's latest answer of just what the perfect tea clipper should look like, and the Oriental would sail the eastern passage on her maiden voyage to China.
Jacob Bell had succeeded Brown & Bell and now ran his own shipyard. Eager to follow up the success of the Houqua and the Samuel Russell, A. A. Low & Brother had already given Captain Nat the go ahead to oversee the building of the 185-foot Oriental and she quickly rose in the stocks. Larger and loftier than her predecessor, the Oriental resembled the Samuel Russell. She was of 1003-tons register and a strikingly beautiful ship, the second largest China clipper, after the Memnon, to slide down the skids, at a cost of $70,000.
The Commercial Advertiser caught the moment of her launch in the Monday, August 6, 1849 edition:
The Oriental, a splendid vessel for the China trade, and to be commanded by Capt. N. B. Palmer, was launched on Saturday morning, from the yard of Mr. Jacob Bell, at the foot of Stanton Street. she is owned by A. A. Low & Brother. She is a two decked vessel, burthen 1050 tons, length 175 feet, breadth of beam 30, and depth of hold 21 feet. She is built of white oak, live oak, locust and cedar; her flooring being of white oak.
Her model gives promise that she will be both a safe and fast ship; and Capt. Palmer a gentleman likely to do the Oriental justice in both respects, being well known as a cautious and enterprising officer. Her launch was exceedingly beautiful. She was taken to dry dock to be coppered.
( * There is an obvious discrepancy in this account as to the length and registered tonnage of the Oriental. )
Nathaniel Palmer and the Low brothers were in agreement as to what their ideal of a China clipper should be and the Oriental was the culmination of the third attempt to achieve perfection in the Brown & Bell shipyard. The "try it and see" approach taken with the building of the Houqua had proven to be successful, and the building of the Samuel Russell had taken Nat's ideas another step in the right direction. The Oriental promised to be a fast ship for her maiden run to China.
Speed was certainly of the utmost importance to Nathaniel Palmer and the Lows, but they were also practical men who saw folly in the theories of extreme sharp bow lines as advocated by John Willis Griffiths that went along with "overloading the canvas," especially at the sacrifice of cargo-carrying capacity.
Ships like the Sea Witch, with such lofty rigging, required large crews and maintenance expenses could get out of hand and eat up profits. The Lows and Captain Nat sought a compromise with seaworthy ships of good cargo-carrying capacity and able to sail with moderate crews. Ships lofty enough to make them fast but certainly not as sharp and over-hatted as Griffiths designed clippers. The Oriental held much promise in this regard as an ideal clipper for the China run around the Cape of Good Hope.
On September 14, 1849, Captain Nat took the Oriental out on her maiden voyage to Hong Kong, by way of the eastern passage and the Cape of Good Hope. On the outward bound maiden passage with Captain Nat in command, the Oriental crossed the track of the Samuel Russell that had sailed from Canton on September, 1, 1849, on her third homeward bound round voyage from China, the second under the command of Theodore Palmer, Nat's younger brother.
He brought the Samuel Russell scurrying home to New York in 90 days from Canton, and from Java Head to the South Street docks in 64 days in all, arriving there on December 1, 1849, after a most remarkable out-of-season run. After two round voyages to China in command of the Samuel Russell, Captain Theodore Palmer turned command over to Captain Charles Porter Low who had formally commanded the Houqua.
Freight rates were soaring at the time and the Lows had decided to go after some of the California gold, and put up the Samuel Russell for San Francisco, even though she was a China tea clipper and was not designed for the Cape Horn run. Theodore Palmer stayed ashore to await the arrival of the Oriental.
The last ship to clear New York in 1949 for San Francisco was the Natchez, which cleared December 31, 1849, from New York, but did not leave anchor on the North River until January 4th or 5th, 1850.
By the end of 1849, 775 vessels had cleared from Atlantic and Gulf ports for San Francisco, that besides 242 ships, included brigs, barques, and schooners, as well as twelve steamers. One by one, those that made it around the Horn entered the Golden Gate: Hazard, Inca, Isabelita Heyne, Mimosa, Ocean Wave, Jennette, Candace, and others; loaded down with speculative cargoes from the East. All these ships brought over 90,000 people to San Francisco by year's end.
The John Q. Adams, under the command of Captain Nickels, arrived from Manila on December 18, 1849, with a round trip record voyage of 7 months, 25 days. With the high freight rates then prevailing, South Street merchants lost little time in putting up the John Q. Adams and the Samuel Russell up for San Francisco.
It was said that the Samuel Russell "was loaded as deeply as a sand barge" with 1200 measurement tons of general cargo worth $75,000. The Samuel Russell cleared Sandy Hook on January 15, 1850. During a Gulf Stream storm, the Samuel Russell lost her binnacle and compasses and had to use a small compass, until they fell in with a California bound ship off Rio Janeiro, from whom they were able to borrow two compasses. A stormy passage soon followed upon the Russell's arrival off Cape Horn in 44 days, where the high waves almost did drive the Samuel Russell under on Captain Low's first Cape Horn voyage. The Samuel Russell entered the Golden Gate on May 6, 1850, with a record-setting passage of 109 days at sea and the 110-day mark was shattered The San Francisco press called her the "Queen of the Cape Horn clipper fleet."
The Daily Pacific News took note that the Russell "is one of the most beautiful specimens of naval architecture afloat."
One month after the Samuel Russell's departure, the John Q. Adams, still commanded by Captain Nickels, sailed away on her second voyage around the Horn. The Wisconsin followed six days later. Captain Daniel McKenzie in command of the Houqua left on her first run to San Francisco on March 15, 1850.
The Sea Witch returned from her fourth around the world voyage, via Cape Horn, Valparaiso, Callao, Hong Kong, and the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at her home pier on the East River on March 7, 1850. It was a respectable voyage of 85 days from Whampoa, but nowhere near the previous records set by Waterman. The Sea Witch soon put up for San Francisco and began loading cargo at the South Street docks. The Sea Witch, under Captain Fraser, sailed on April 14, 1850.
The Memnon, back from its last voyage to San Francisco, soon set sail for the gold fields again on May 28, 1850. And to chase after the Sea Witch around the Horn.
The Oriental
The Oriental arrived at Hong Kong on January 1, 1850, 109 days at sea. This was to be the last voyage for Captain Nat. He was fifty years old and still an able-bodied giant of a man with an iron will who had endured many triumphs and hardships over his many years at sea, but now he was ready to retire. Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer climaxed his career taking the Oriental home to New York in 81 days, a very good run, arriving April 21, 1850.
The New York press of the day summed up Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer's final homeward voyage "a proud and fitting climax to the career of one of the most worthy representatives of the old sailing days." Captain Nat still had many active years ahead of him.
Captain Nat passed on command of the Oriental to his brother and Theodore D. Palmer cleared the Oriental on May 19, 1850, for her second voyage to China, the first under his command, and set sail for the Cape of Good Hope. Eighty-one days later on August 8th, the Oriental arrived at Hong Kong setting a new record for the New York to China run.
In New York, thirteen new contenders for the San Francisco swiftly rose in the stocks of the East River shipyards in 1850. The Celestial was an extreme clipper of 860 tons that was launched at William Webb's shipyard on June 10, 1850. Soon to follow her down the ways into the East River at the nearby Smith & Dimon shipyard, was the 776 ton Mandarin that was designed to be even faster than the Sea Witch and was called "a perfect little gem." Soon, both ships were off to join the race around the Horn.
The first vessel to make the voyage around the Horn to San Francisco in under 109 days was the little Gloucester brig Eagle, that made it past the Golden Gate in 106 days, arriving three days before the Argonaut, that had cleared Boston 133 days earlier.
The old cotton packet Natchez, that Robert Waterman had sailed to fame, did not fare as well on the Cape Horn run, logging a 150-day passage, arriving June 3, 1850. The Severn followed her into San Francisco Bay after an eight month passage. Three weeks later, the Wisconsin arrived after a 123-day voyage. The next day, the Thomas Watson arrived from Philadelphia, after a remarkable 113 days at sea beating ships that had sailed a month before.
On July 1, 1850, the John Q. Adams arrived in San Francisco Harbor after a 136-day passage and was joined on July 23rd by the Houqua, that had sailed around the Horn in 130 days.
The very next day, July 24, 1850, the San Francisco waterfront went wild when the Sea Witch came through the Golden Gate setting the new record of 97 sailing days. The century mark had been broken and that was considered to be quite amazing, for the average passages from northeastern seaports were over 160 days.
A marine reporter from the Alta California congratulated Captain Frazer the following morning and this story that he wrote appeared in the July 27 edition.
THE QUICKEST TRIP YET.-- The Eastern press boasts of the performance of their steamships, and with good reason, for they can beat the world. With the self same pride in American naval architecture, we can boast of our sailing craft. "Britannia rules the waves!"--rules a fiddle-sticks-end, why she can scarcely rule anything. The ship Sea Witch, Capt. Fraser, arrived yesterday, in ninety-seven days from New York, "all around the Horn." What do you think of that! And only thirty-eight days from Valparaiso. She was kept under easy sail all the while, and never tried once. This is the very quickest trip on record, beating the Samuel Russell, which was but 109 days, half a month. There is no knowing what the Sea Witch could do if she was put to it, and just spread herself once. Her trip excels in speed that made by the steamship California, which made the quickest trip recorded. Why would it not be a good idea for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to run her connection with their steamers?
The Memnon sailed through the Golden Gate on September 27, 1850, after a 123-day voyage. The Celestial arrived on November 1st, in 104 days.
By then, the procession of ships entering the Golden Gate was a continuous occurrence as noted in the November 20th edition of the Pacific News:
The number of vessels entering our harbor is really a matter of wonder. Within the forty-eight hours ending on Sunday night, nearly sixty sail entered the Golden Gate. The history of the world presents no comparison. The arrivals yesterday were between twenty and thirty sail.
The Boston barque Race Horse, a 512 ton Barque launched at Samuel Hall's East Boston shipyard earlier that year, was next through the Golden Gate on November 24th with a 109-day passage. The Mandarin from New York arrived November 29th with a 126-day passage.
Earlier in November, on the 8th, the Memnon cleared for Hong Kong with 20 passengers aboard on a homeward voyage from San Francisco, scheduled to take them around the world to New York. The Memnon broke the record with a 36-day passage to Canton, where she loaded up a cargo of tea for London. Three days out from Whampoa, the Memnon perished on a reef in Gaspar Strait and was stripped by Malay pirates, a sorry end of a noble clipper that had only started living up to her true potential.
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