The Staffordshire

Despite the losses of the Anglo-Saxon and the Ocean Monarch, pubic confidence in Enoch Train's White Diamond Line remained strong. Boston's mercantile community was pleased with the fleet's excellent sailing qualities and the fact that their cargoes always arrived in sound condition.

The McKay packets Washington Irving, Parliament, and the Daniel Webster were the pride of Boston. Their excellent sailing qualities surpassed the finest New York packets in the eyes of Boston merchants and firmly established Enoch Train's reputation in their eyes, and as trade increased, new ships were needed to fill the demand.

Enoch Train then commissioned Donald McKay to build the clipper packet Staffordshire, and she would be the largest, swiftest, and most magnificent ship of the fleet. She was launched on June 17, 1851.

Named after one of the great potteries in England, whose pottery often filled the holds of returning Train vessels on the homeward bound runs from Liverpool to Boston, the Staffordshire registered at 1817 tons and was 240 feet overall with a keel length of 228 feet. Her breadth of beam amidships was 41 feet and her depth of hold was 29 feet. Her deadrise was 20 inches. She had three decks. Her figurehead was that of a witch, and her elliptical stern was ornamented on one side with a gilded carved Staffordshire manufacturing scene. On the other side was a gilded carving of the Train counting house on Lewis' wharf. Lion's heads were flanked on each side of the carvings. Below the lion's heads was the name "Staffordshire" and her port of hail. Elegant and spacious accommodations ran throughout the ship.

The rake of the Staffordshire's masts was the same as those of the Flying Cloud, but she did not carry as much sail aloft. Her lines were quite sharp, but her ends not as long as either those of the Flying Cloud or Stag Hound.

The Staffordshire took on a full cargo of freight, and 50 first-class and 150 second-class passengers came aboard. The Staffordshire sailed to Liverpool on August 4, 1851, under the command of Captain Albert H. Brown, and arrived at the Liverpool docks in 14 days, 18 hours. The Staffordshire returned to Boston with her cargo holds filled with Staffordshire pottery. Upon her return, Enoch Train decided to put her up for a run around the Horn to California, and the Staffordshire was re-rigged and accommodated for the voyage. Josiah Richardson, the former captain of the Stag Hound, then took command of the Staffordshire.

Captain Richardson was a very good friend of Donald McKay and a frequent guest at Eagle Hill in East Boston whenever he was home from the sea.

The Staffordshire sailed from Boston on May 3, 1852, and made a rapid passage around the Horn in 102 days arriving at San Francisco on August 13, 1852.

From San Francisco, the Staffordshire then sailed for Singapore, arriving there in 51 days, and then sailed to Calcutta in 21 days. She cleared that port on January 23, 1853, and arrived back in Boston on April 20, 1853, with a record passage of 84 days. Upon her arrival, Enoch Train put her back on the Boston-Liverpool run.

The Nightingale

All through 1851 clipper ships arrived through the Golden Gate to the San Francisco wharves, where they were unloaded and sent on their way as quickly as possible. Many sailed on to China into Hong Kong Harbor and Whampoa for a cargo of teas and silks to transport to England or America, among them, the Surprise, Memnon, and White Squall.

The Memnon was lost in Gaspar Straits that year, but the other clippers mentioned made it to the London Docks with rich cargoes of tea and created quite a stir with the British.

The White Squall, 1119 tons, was a 190-foot extreme clipper built by Jacob Bell, and was very similar in design and appearance to the Oriental and Samuel Russell, both having come from the same yard, but White Squall was sharper with greater deadrise.

She had left New York on her maiden voyage around the Horn on September 5, 1850. Fifty hours past Sandy Hook, she lost all three topgallant sails but sailed down all the way to Rio, where she put in to refit. She then proceeded around the Horn, and from latitude 50° S. in the Pacific, she made it to the Golden Gate on January 8, 1851, in 39 days, 14 days from crossing the equator, just a few hours off the record.

The White Squall sailed on to China, where the Hong Kong Register took notice of her:

The new American clipper ship White Squall, Captain Lockwood, anchored in our harbour on Saturday evening, after a passage of 39 days from San Francisco. We believe she is the longest and the sharpest ship of the new class that has yet to be launched. She is a beautiful specimen of naval architecture. The extreme symmetry of her masts & spars conceals the appearance of her great length. The round stern, while it doubtless adds to her strength and durability, to our eye, rather detracts from her appearance. Her speed is most extraordinary-15 knots being registered in the log.

The White Squall is about 200 ft. long, but ship owners seem to have a most insuperable objection to giving length to their ship, without which it is useless to look for speed. We understand that ships are building in New York for the California trade, 230 and 240 feet long. We confess we cannot look upon such ships as White Squall without a feeling of apprehension for our carrying trade. We have had a deal of writing lately about the relative speed of the new class of ships built in England and America, and fortunately the tests of their speed and capacity as evidenced in late passages from China to England do not lead us to doubt of the ability of our ship builders to hold their own with Brother Jonathan. But if they mean to do so, after seeing the White Squall, we tell them they had better be about it, and that speedily.

The Seamen on board the Vessel speak in the highest terms of their Commander and his officers; and we learn that yesterday morning, to show their admiration of Captain Lockwood, and in honour of this being his thirtieth voyage to these seas, they gave a handsome ball on board the vessel.

The White Squall sailed from Whampoa on September 5, 1851, and ran into a typhoon a week later. She sailed through light winds across the Indian Ocean and lost her maintopmast off Madagascar. She arrived at the London docks after a 104-day voyage, the fastest passage of the season. Captain Lockwood wrote of the voyage:

Our teas were discharged in fine order which fact and our general appearance has caused great excitement here. It is conceded that the White Squall bears off the palm and is the finest ship that ever entered the port.

The White Squall had beaten the Surprise to the London docks much to the anguish of her Boston backers who had wagered large sums of money on the outcome of this contest.

The Stornoway

The Typhoon had sailed from San Francisco to Calcutta following her race around the Horn against the Raven and the Sea Witch. From there, she made a very fine record run from the Sand Heads of Calcutta to the Cape of Good Hope that has only been equaled by the Witch of the Wave. The Typhoon arrived in London after a 107-day passage from Calcutta. She then sailed around England to Liverpool for a cargo and cleared on November 14th and made a 25-day passage to New York.

The Raven had raced the Sea Witch across the Pacific to Hong Kong, beating her by three days. And then raced her the rest of the way around the world to New York, beating the Sea Witch again by three days with passages of 107 days and 110 days respectively. Very good time for the unfavorable season, much to the delight of her Boston fans that most likely made their money back from their New York rivals.

Around this time, the Aberdeen British tea clippers Chrysolite, Stornoway, and Challenger began to be noticed on the China run as British shipbuilders showed that they were making a determined effort to compete with the Americans.

It was early in the fall of 1851, when news of recent gold discoveries in Australia began to trickle in across the Isthmus. Whalers returning to New England ports from the South Seas with their casks filled with whale oil also brought home the rumors of the glittering metal from the land "down under." England was already abuzz with excitement and the stories arrived swiftly on the packet fleet. In California, much of the diggings were "played out" and many miners were quick to abandon their old claims, ready to move on to Sydney and Melbourne, and sailed aboard ships leaving San Francisco for Australia in droves.

By chance, the Nightingale was launched in Portsmouth, N. H., on June 16, 1851. Perfect timing, her owners thought, to sail her to London to the World's Fair. The Nightingale was designed and built by Samuel Hanscomb, Jr. She was an exquisite extreme clipper with her measurements being 185 x 36 x 19, 1060 tons old measurement, and said to be a sharp ship at both ends with a 36 inch deadrise, raking masts, and beautifully proportioned spars giving her the luxurious appearance of a yacht. Lavish interior decorations ran throughout the ship. A figurehead of the famous singer Jenny Lind graced her bow. On her stern was a reclining figure of the same lady with a nightingale perched on her finger. "Nightingale" appeared in blue and gold letters on her stern, bow, and quarter.

She originally was to be called the Sara Coles, and was to sail under the command of Captain F. A. Miller. She was supposed to convey wealthy passengers to Southampton, England, to the World's Fair in late May of that year. And advertised that April promising a "cheap and delightful trip to London" in the Boston Journal. The name of the ship was changed to "Nightingale " in May.

Before the Nightingale was completed, however, her owner ran into financial difficulties and Captain Miller claimed that the ship did not come up to specifications. The unfinished clipper was then mortgaged to parties in Boston, where her creditors agreed to finish her and then auction her off to settle her tangled financial troubles. In her unfinished state, the Nightingale was towed to Boston by the R. B. Forbes and auctioned off on Long Wharf on September 6, 1851. The bidding was described as listless with the clipper going for only $43,500. Ship brokers Davis & Co. who, after advancing money to the contractors to finish her construction, took clear title to the ship. They sold her to Sampson & Tappan at a substantial profit for $75,000, who immediately upon rigging and outfitting the Nightingale put her up for Sydney. The Nightingale cleared Boston Harbor on October 17, 1851, for "Oceania and China" under the command of Captain John H. Fisk, and would soon begin a long illustrious career at sea.

The Nightingale reached Sydney in 90 days and then proceeded on to Canton, and from there to Shanghai for a cargo of London tea. Along the China coast, she encountered the British clippers Stornoway, Chrysoloite, and Challenger, along with the American clippers, Surprise and Challenge. With a cargo of tea in her hold, the Nightingale took a long 61 days to reach the Sunda Straits. But from there, she only took 72 days to reach the London docks, better time than all the British clippers for that leg of the journey and bested only by the Challenge. But Captain Fiske was personally disappointed with the results of this first round voyage, for in his eyes the Nightingale had shown little promise of great speed. So Fiske, in disgust, left the ship in London and the owners had to send Captain Samuel W. Mather to take command of the ship and sail her back to Boston.

The Nightingale

All through 1851, clipper after clipper, clipper barques, other fine large ships, were built in every major shipyard from Baltimore to Maine. Freight rates were high and the economy was booming right along.

The clipper ship frenzy still showed no signs of abating. All of the pioneering design work had been done and the principles were already established on existing ships, the analyses complete, leaving room for only the discriminating refinements of the master's touch, which showed up in each new clipper that slid down the ways. Besides being designed for speed, each possessed her own special beauty, all designed to attract favorable attention in the press and the highest rates of freight.

By November 1851, the following clippers launched earlier that year had already left on their maiden voyages around the Horn: Ino, Flying Cloud, Challenge, Comet, Golden Gate, Trade Wind, Wild Pigeon, Nightingale, Invincible, Hornet, Northern Light, Southern Cross, Hurricane, Shooting Star, Monsoon, Syren, Typhoon, Raven, and others.

The rivalry between the New York and Boston shipyards was growing more intense as Boston had snatched the laurels for the Cape Horn to San Francisco run. Ever since the Surprise passed on through the Golden Gate in 96 days eclipsing the New York built Sea Witch's 97-day run by a day. The two previous record holders had been the New York built Samuel Russell and the Memnon with 109 days and 122 days respectively.

The Flying Cloud had astonished the world with her record run to the Golden Gate in 89 days, 21 hours, and all Massachusetts rejoiced over her triumph and that of the Surprise, even though both clippers claimed New York as their port of hail. Around that time, ditties that ended with the following lines were heard along the South Street waterfront:

Wide-awake Down-Easters

No-mistake Down-Easters

Old Massachusetts will carry the day!

These ditties soon began to stick in the craws of New York shipbuilders and ship owners and they became weary of hearing them.

Next: Flying Fish

The Era of the Clipper Ships
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