The Sovereign of the Seas

When news of the Flying Cloud's record setting passage of 89 days, 21 hours, reached Boston in the fall of 1851, Donald McKay was very pleased to hear of it. Word of such a victory certainly would have satisfied most shipbuilders who would have been content to rest on their laurels, but not Donald McKay. For in his daring restless mind, he realized that he had not discovered ultimate perfection as of yet, and this single victory of a record-setting passage around the Horn of the Flying Cloud only pointed the way. Over the coming days, he carefully reviewed and analyzed all his past ships and the results they had achieved and ran all this information through his mind, over and over again.

He concluded that the ideal model of a clipper ship had not yet been discovered, at least not in his eyes, and that no vessel up till then, designed by him or others, lived up to his ideal. It would require a ceaseless effort on McKay's part to excel and improve upon the sailing qualities of his future clippers and he incorporated different features with the building of his next three extreme clippers: Staffordshire, North American, and Flying Fish.

Following the launchings there was a brief respite from the clipper shipbuilding frenzy. That fall, Donald McKay was notified by East Boston city authorities that Border Street was going to be extended and that he would have to move his shipyard, which he did a few blocks to the north. As he set up his new yard, his thoughts were of a larger, loftier clipper ship that in his mind's eye strove closer to his ideal.

Work soon began on the Sovereign of the Seas, which right from the beginning was pronounced to be "the longest, sharpest, and the most beautiful merchant ship in the world."

Mathew Fontaine Maury

Over the years, Donald McKay had struck up a friendship with Matthew Fontaine Maury who urged him to design a larger clipper more suited for the Australian passage and the heavy seas that the ship would encounter. Her captain had to seek out the strong westerly winds that he would find at the bottom of the Great Southern Ocean in the "roaring forties" that would send these giant clippers flying around the world in record time

For in the lower forties and fifties the winds blew hard and the seas ran high. Mountainous 60-foot waves rolled along the open ocean all the way around the bottom of the world with no land to slow them down. Such conditions called for a larger heavily rigged ship with a heavier rudder and stern capable of harnessing the screaming westerlies and to keep a steady course through rolling seas.

Donald McKay conceived of such a ship in his mind and a ship's lift-model and plan soon took form upon his drafting table. While he was firmly convinced of the merits of such a mighty clipper, others in the shipping community were not so sure.

Regardless of his reputation and the high esteem that McKay was held in by the merchant houses of Boston and New York, none of them were about to take the risk in ordering such a large and costly ship. So McKay built the Sovereign of the Seas on his own account, "on spec," against the contrary advice of his best friends.

Shipping experts of the day thought the ship too large and that all the profits would be swallowed up with the time it would take to fill her hold, but her builder thought otherwise.

Donald McKay felt that he had mastered all the early lessons learned from the California trade. His next attempt to achieve his ideal of perfection took form in his imagination and he conceived the Sovereign of the Seas in her entirety before he began laying out her keel.

Once the work was begun, Donald McKay was constantly hovering about the hull as she rose from the stocks checking her from every angle with his keen hawk-like eye as his shipwrights and carpenters worked away. Lauchlan McKay supervised the riggers and sailmakers.

Donald McKay had such faith in his intuitive sense about this ship that he was willing to risk all that he had accumulated over the course of his shipbuilding career to see the Sovereign of the Seas to completion. To him, going with a greater size clipper was the next logical step to take in solving the clipper ship puzzle as he saw it in his mind's eye. A clipper ship of such grand proportions that it would be capable of carrying 3,000 tons of merchandise and transport it across the oceans of the world with Neptune, an appropriate choice of a figurehead, leading the way. For Juxtaposed to her bow was the bronze figure of the half-man half-fish sea god, Neptune, blowing on a conch shell, who would guide the Sovereign of the Seas over her many voyages to come.

Now, Donald McKay got the chance to hone the skills that were normally taken on by the merchant ship owners as he was now responsible for his ship's mercantile transactions. He soon signed on Messrs. Grinnell & Minturn & Co., the owners of the Flying Cloud, as consignees for her first cargo of assorted merchandise to be delivered at San Francisco.

Lauchlan McKay

McKay's choice of captain to command the Sovereign of the Seas was his brother, Lauchlan McKay. He had served with Donald in his apprenticeship under Isaac Webb, and had gone on to serve aboard the U.S. frigate Constellation as ship carpenter, and was a master mariner of the transatlantic packet service and a shipbuilder in his own right.

As usual, George Francis Train in his "Reminiscences" was all too eager to take credit for this clipper as well, although it was known that Train & Co. had contemplated buying the Sovereign of the Seas while she was rising in the stocks. Henceforth this amusing embellished account is presented here:

The building of the Flying Cloud was a tremendous leap forward in shipbuilding; but I was not satisfied, I told McKay that I wanted a still larger ship. He said that he could build it and so we began another ship that was to outstrip in size and capacity the great Flying Cloud.

I was desirous to name this ship the Enoch Train, in honor of the head of the Boston house, and had said as much to Duncan McLean who was the marine reporter for the Boston Atlas. McLean had usually written a column for his paper on the launching of our ships. He wanted to have something to write about the new vessel. I told him the story of Colonel Train's life and that we were going to christen the new vessel with his name. I did not consult Colonel Train, thinking that, of course, it was all right.

The Atlas published a long account of the ship and gave the name as the Enoch Train. When I went down to the office that morning Colonel Train had not yet arrived, but he soon came in, walking straight as a gun barrel and seeming to be a little stiff. 'Did you see the Atlas this morning?' I asked. 'Premature,' he replied. That was all he said. He would not discuss the matter. I was nettled that he did not appreciate the honor I thought I was conferring on him. It was not for nothing that a man's name should be borne by the greatest vessel on the seas. I said to myself that the name should be changed at once. The ship was to be of 2,200 tons burden, larger than the Flying Cloud and the Staffordshire, both of 2,000 tons, and I decided to call her Sovereign of the Seas.

The news that we were building a still bigger ship was rapidly circulated throughout the world. Many shipping lines wanted to buy her before she was off the ways. Despatches from New York shipping lines making inquiry as to price came almost daily. I invariably replied that we would take $130,000. But this was a little too stiff a price at that time, although the Flying Cloud had paid for herself in a single trip.

I finally sold her to Berren Roosen, Jr. of Hamburg, Germany, through the brokers Funch & Meinke, of New York, for $110,000. She was entered in my name although I was at the time only nineteen years of age. I was quite proud to have the greatest vessel afloat on any water associated with my name. She was sent to Liverpool.

The Sovereign of the Seas was launched in late June 1852. The sight of this majestic clipper bobbing gently in the swells of Boston Harbor was enough for certain merchant princes to start having second thoughts about their earlier reluctance to purchase such a ship and inquiries started coming in as to just how much Donald McKay would take for her.

In July, Andrew F. Meinke expressed interest in purchasing the Sovereign of the Seas. Andrew F. Meinke was a member of Funch & Meinke, a firm of ship brokers from New York who had astutely taken notice that the Sovereign's consignees would fill the holds on this huge clipper for her maiden voyage. And that she would reap a handsome profit with a successful voyage for her builder and owner, Donald McKay, and that Funch & Meinke could expect to realize a profit too when the ship was delivered to them; following the Sovereign of the Seas' maiden voyage around the Horn and home.

Duncan McLean, marine writer for the Boston Atlas, wrote the following account:

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Boston Atlas Sovereign account:

More than two centuries have passed away since this name was first applied to a ship. In 1637 that ship was built in Woolwich dockyard, her tonnage corresponding with the year. She was the first ship with "flushe deckes," and the largest of any vessel which had previously belonged to the British navy. Her keel measured 187 feet and 9 inches, her main breadth of beam was 48 feet 4 inches, and she had three decks, a poop and topgallant forecastle, and "bare five lanthorns, the biggest of which could hold ten persons upright." She pierced for 126 guns, but probably only mounted 100.

How strangely this uncouth hulk would look alongside of her modern namesake. The difference between one of our clipper schooners and a Chinese junk would not be more marked; yet it is only by referring to the past that we can justly appreciate the improvements of the present.

Behold the modern Sovereign of the Seas, the longest, sharpest, the most beautiful merchant ship in the world, designed to sail at least twenty miles an hour with a whole-sail breeze. See her in the "beauty of her strength," the simplicity and neatness of her rig, flying before the gale and laughing at the rising sea; and then imagine her cumbrous ancestor, wallowing from side to side, tearing up the ocean into whitened foam, and drifting perhaps seven miles an hour; yet she was the first ship of her day. Imagine all this, and even a landsman can comprehend the wonderful progress of naval architecture.

Mr. McKay could not have selected a better name for his ship; its historical association is full of instruction, and no ship was ever more worthy of such a name.

Since the opening of the California trade, Mr. McKay had built five large clippers-the Stag Hound, Flying Cloud, Staffordshire, Flying Fish, and Sovereign of the Seas, but no two of them are alike in model. The Stag Hound was 40 inches dead rise at half floor, and convex lines; the Flying Cloud was 30 inches and concave lines; the Staffordshire the same dead rise, and concave lines, but is much fuller in the ends, and has a deck more than any of the others; the Flying Fish has 25 inches and concave lines, but shorter ends, though sharper at the extremes, than her predecessors, and more capacity in proportion to her register; but the last and greatest of all, indeed the largest merchant ship in the world, has only 20 inches dead rise, and concave lines,, but has the longest and sharpest ends of any ship or ocean steamer, either afloat or building. Owing to the length of her ends, her lines are less concave than those of the Flying Fish. A chord from the extreme of her cutwater, to the turn of her side at the load displacement line, (20 1/2 feet draft forward) would only show a concavity of 2 inches. The angle of her bow, at the same line, is 14 1/2 degrees, and of her stern 15 1/2.

Her leading dimensions are as follows:-Length of keel 245 feet, on deck, between perpendiculars 258 feet over all, from the knight-heads to the taffrail, 265 feet; extreme breadth of beam 44 feet, about 20 feet forward of the centre, breadth at the gunwale 42 feet; depth 23 1/2 feet, including 8 feet height of between decks, dead rise 20 inches, swell or rounding of sides 1 foot, sheer nearly 4 feet, and register 2421 tons.

As Mr. McKay built this ship on his own account, he alone is responsible for her success as a sea-boat. He designed that she should be the swiftest vessel in the world, and what is apparent to all, has made her strong enough to carry shot in bulk. Considering the sharpness of her ends, she has large stowage capacity for a clipper, great surface and length of floor, and will be very buoyant, and easy under canvas.

Her lines forward, as they ascend above the water, become convex, to correspond with her outline on the rail, and her bow is plain, without even trail boards, and terminates with the figure of a sea god, half man half fish, with a conch shell raised to his mouth, as if in the act of blowing it. The figure accords with the sheer of the bow, is well executed, and forms a beautiful finish.

Her bow rises boldly, and is beautiful beyond description. The same terms will apply to her model throughout. She is planked flush to the covering-board; her stern is curvilinear, and is formed from the moulding of her planksheer, is very neat and graceful. Her run is long and clean, but still there is not a straight place in her whole model. She is sheathed in yellow metal up to 20 1/2 feet forward, and 21 1/2 feet aft. The rest of her hull is painted black, and her figure head is bronzed sea color.

Her bulwarks are five feet two inches high, surmounted by a monkey rail of 16 inches, and the space between the main and rackrails is filed with a heavy clamp, bolted both ways. All her accommodations are on deck. She has a full topgallant forecastle, a large house amidships, and a spacious trunk cabin, in two divisions, built into a half poop deck, with steerage room abaft. Her accommodations forward and aft, are plain, but neat, and are well adopted for all hands.

Her construction, for solidity and strength, is of the highest order. Her frame is entirely of seasoned white oak, and all her planking and ceiling, as well as her deck-frames, and the lower deck, are of the best hard pine, and she is strongly copper fastened and square bolted, and treenailed throughout. The knees in the between decks are of hacmatack, but the hooks and stanchions are of oak. She is 11 feet 8 inches through the back bone, including the moulding of the floor timbers, which is 19 inches, and all her keel and keelson fastening is of 1 1/2 inch copper and iron, driven in the strongest style, and riveted. Her keel is sided 16 inches, and beside the midship keelsons, she has double sister keelsons, one over the other, on each side, which, combined, side 15 inches, and mould 30. Her floor ceiling is 5 inches thick, and commencing below the floorheads, the ceiling is 14 inches thickness. All this ceiling is scarphed, square fastened, caulked and paved. Her hold stanchions are kneed above and below, and her ends are literally filed with massive hooks and pointers, and are further strengthened with hold beams, which are also strongly kneed. She has three of these beams forward and two aft.

The between decks waterways are in 16 inches square, the strake inside of them 10 by 12, and that over them 11 by 16; the ceiling above is 6 inches thick, and the clamp 7 inches. The hold beams are 15 inches square, the upper deck beams 16 by 10 inches, and the hanging knees under them have 20 bolts and 4 spikes each.

The upper deck waterways are 14 inches square, with thick strakes inside of them, and the planking of both decks is 3 1/2 inches thick.

Her garboards are 8 inches thick, the next strake 6, graduated to 5, the substance of her bottom planking, and she has 25 strakes of wales, each 6 by 7 inches. The covering board and main rail are each 7 inches thick, and the bulwarks 2 1/2 inches, neatly tongued and grooved, Inside she is painted buff-color, and looks well about the decks.

Her windlass, pumps, capstans, ground tackle, 7c., are all of the first quality, and are made more for war than show.

The beauty and strength of her hull are only equaled by her completeness aloft. She has not only the stoutest and most beautifully proportioned set of spars that ever towered above a ship's deck, but the rigging is the very best that could be procured, and the style in which it is fitted reflects high credit on her rigger, Mr. Wm. Dorrian, of New York.

All her lower masts are made from the heads to the steps, each mast in five pieces, bolted and hooped together. Her bowsprit is also a made spar, and all the outside pieces are of hard pine. Her mast rake, commencing with the fore, 6-8ths, 7-8ths, and 1 1/8 inch to the foot. The following are the dimensions of her masts and yards.

Masts

Diameter, Length, Mast-heads,

Inches Feet Feet

Fore........................41 89 3/4 16

Top.........................19 50 10

Topgallant...........14 27 1/2 0

Royal.....................11 1/2 18 pole 10

Main......................42 92 3/4 17

Top.........................19 1/2 54 11

Topgallant...........14 3/4 30 0

Royal......................12 20 0

Skysail...................10 14 pole 8

Mizzen...................34 82 3/4 14

Top..........................16 43 9

Topgallant............11 24 0

Royal......................9 1/2 17 pole 8

Yards

Fore.........................22 80 yard-arms 5

Top..........................17 1/2 63 5 1/2

Topgallant............14 47 3 1/2

Royal........................8 37 2 1/2

Main.......................24 90 5

Top..........................19 1/2 70 5 1/2

Topgallant............15 53 1/2 4

Royal......................11 42 3

Skysail.....................9 35 2

Crossjack..............20 70 4

Mizzentopsail.....15 56 4 1/2

Topgallant............11 43 3

Royal........................7 32 2

The bowsprit is made of hard pine, is 20 feet outboard, 34 inches in diameter, and has 4 inches steve to the foot. Jibboom and flying jibboom in one spar, divided at 15 or 12 feet for the two jibs, with 7 feet end; spanker boom 61 feet long, 2 feet end; the other spars in proportion. Her lower masts are only two inches smaller at the truss-bands that what they are at the deck; and instead of holes in the topmast heads, she has double gins for the topsail ties, with gins on the yards and double halliards. The main topgallantmast has also a gin at the mast head, and a double tie to the yard, the standing part fast aloft.

Her fore and main rigging is of 12 inch wormed, served over the ends and eyes; her topmast backstays of the same size. She has double topgallant backstays on each side, and all the chain and iron work about her bowsprit, masts and yards, now in general use. Her mastheads are crowned with gilded balls; her yards black, booms bright, and lower masts white, and altogether aloft, she is the best fitted ship that ever was built in this port. She will spread between 11 and 12,000 yards of canvas. Her yards are all of single spars, not scarped and together with the masts, are strong enough to stand till every stitch of canvas blows away.

Her ornamental work was made by Messrs. Gleason & Sons; Mr. T. J. Shelton made her pumps and blocks, and Mr. Mendum was her blacksmith. She was built at East Boston by Mr. Donald McKay, and is the embodiment of his idea of clipper perfection. So perfectly true are her proportions, that, notwithstanding her vast size, there are many freighting ships of half her register, that loom larger to the eye.

At four hundred yards' distance, she does not appear to be larger that 7 or 800 tons. She has been inspected by nautical men from all parts of the country, and we believe, has been the object of unqualified admiration. There are doubtless many ships more tastefully ornamented with carving, gilding and other excrescences; but for beauty of model, strength of construction and completeness of equipment aloft, she has no superior. It is but reasonable to presume that, with a fair chance, she will make the quickest voyage ever performed under canvas. We consider her not only an honor to her enterprising builder, but to the country at large. Americans on distant seas may refer to her with national pride, and challenge a comparison from the commercial navies of the world. She is well named the Sovereign of the Seas.

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The maiden voyage of the Sovereign of the Seas

The Sovereign of the Seas sailed to New York, where upon her arrival at the Swallow Tail Line of Liverpool pier, she attracted much attention. The Sovereign was now the largest merchant ship in the world, and everyone interested in naval architecture dropped by the loading wharf for a look at this magnificent ship for themselves.

Her consignees were so proud of her that Messrs. Grinell, Minturn & Co. gave a dinner on board and invited the city's most prominent merchants and shipping men. The following New York newspaper account reported on the proceedings:

The two spacious and elegant saloons were comfortably filed, Moses H. Grinnell presiding in one, Captain McKay in the other, assisted by George W. Blunt, Esq. The roominess and elegance of the ship seemed to have infused a universal cheerfulness and much pleasantry prevailed. Mr. Blunt made a capital speech in proposing the health of Captain McKay, who responded with the true modesty of innate worth, and very happily proposed the health of Mr. Blunt.

Captain Nye's pleasant face, always turned to the Pacific, now loomed up to leeward of a chowder tureen, and his manly, cheery voice was heard hailing the "Hon. Daniel Webster, the Lion of the Nation." The toast being recognized as not now political, Mr. Grinell was hailed for a response. That merchant prince, a nobleman of the right mould, soon appeared in the "Golden Gate" that separated the two saloons and bearing up to the windward, took Mr. Blunt's chair instead of his chart, and after a little backing and filling, paid an eloquent tribute to the great statesman's merits, reasserting his claims upon the country and especially upon the mercantile community, but declaring himself now to be in the ranks of General Scott's army. Then followed sundry pleasantries about the candidates for presidency, and the very pleasant company broke up, first joining in a unanimous "Success to the Sovereign of the Seas-our only Sovereign.

Upon arrival, the loading of the Sovereign of the Seas commenced in earnest and 2950 tons of mixed merchandise was stowed aboard over a period of 30 working days, the largest freight list up to that time to clear the port of New York, all under the supervision of agents for Messrs. Grinnell, Minturn & Co., along with provisions for a year at sea.

The Sovereign of the Seas, with the Grinnell, Minturn & Co. Swallow Tail Line flag flying, sailed on August 4, 1852, under the command of Captain Lauchlan McKay, for her maiden voyage around the Horn. With a crew of 103 men and boys, and 21 passengers, including eight children.

The crew consisted of 80 able-bodied seamen, or A.B.s, four mates, two boatswains, two carpenters, three stewards, two cooks, and ten boys. A large crew for an exceptionally large ship.

Her pilot took her down the East River, where she commanded much attention, and out past the Battery. Upon discharging her pilot off Sandy Hook, the Sovereign of the Seas caught a fine leading breeze that took her out into the Atlantic.

A gale blew in over the night and the mighty clipper was forced to claw off the New Jersey shore until morning, when the winds died down and changed direction, and the clipper crew hoisted up her large expanse of sails and the Sovereign of the Seas was able to sail close-hauled to eastward at a good clip of 15 miles an hour and by late afternoon was gone from the horizon.

That day, Captain McKay divided his crew into watches as was the usual custom, and they were stationed about the ship in man-of-war fashion and he laid down the rules in an orderly way that would govern the conduct expected from each man over the course of the voyage.

Early on in the voyage, the First Mate turned out to be a big swaggering bully whom the captain saw cursing at the seamen in a tyrannical fashion. Captain McKay took him aside and privately berated him, but the mate thought the reprimand a mild one and continued to curse the crew thinking that the captain feared him. Soon, he was countermanding the captain's orders and attempted mutiny to take command of the ship.

Twenty days out, Captain McKay in a mild, but stern manner, ordered the mate off duty and informed him that his services were no longer required for the rest of the voyage.

Strong winds came from the south over the first sixteen days of the voyage and the Sovereign of the Seas covered only 600 miles on her southern tack down the Atlantic over this period. She crossed the equator 27 days out, dead to windward much of the time. As the clipper approached the Falkland Islands, fierce southwest gales blew up monstrous seas, yet her captain kept up a heavy press of sail and rode out the gales day and night, through the hail and snow, as the Sovereign of the Seas steadily plowed on through the waves at a constant pace nobly proving her worth.

Captain McKay stood his watch, four hours on, four hours off, like everyone else. Between the Falklands and Cape Horn, the currents were strong and the gales blew head on, forcing Captain McKay to beat his ship dead to windward, while carrying much sail aloft, so much sail that the masts bowed tugging on the stays, which sang out loudly in the howling wind and it was a frightful sight to look aloft.

Boys worked the stoves in their quarters attending the fires drying out the sailors' wet clothes and boiling water for coffee and tea. The cooks served hot food to the crew day and night. Throughout the voyage around the Horn, Captain McKay never exposed his crew more than was necessary and not a single sailor became sick or disabled. In 51 days, they were around the Horn and then ran into four days of calm.

A heavy gale blew down on the Sovereign of the Seas on the night of October 12th and took her maintopmast over the side along with the foretopmast, foreyard, and mizzen topgallantmast and foremast canvas.

The Sovereign of the Seas dismasted

A statement by one of the Sovereign of the Seas' sailors concerning the incident gives a good account of what happened next:

The hands were called, the ship hove to; and, now, said Captain McKay to the second mate (acting mate), "You take the mainmast, and I will take the foremast, and let us clear the wreck. Remember, everything must be saved-nothing must be cut."

"Impossible, sir," replied the mate, "we must cut the wreck adrift." "I repeat," said the captain, in a tone of voice not to be mistaken, "nothing shall be cut;" and turning familiarly to the crew, said-"Boys, nothing is impossible to him that wills! I will that everything shall be saved. Now go to work like Trojans." And to work they went in earnest. They vied with each other in going overboard to clear the wreck-not a murmur was heard fore or aft, and before sunset the next day everything was on board, and the ship under her mainsail, crossjack course and mizzen-topsail, was balling off 12 knots. Her decks were lumbered up to the leading blocks. The Captain was everywhere; now setting a sailmakers' gang to work repairing sails, next to a carpenter's gang to making and fitting masts and yards, and the sailors generally to clearing the rigging, and getting down the stumps of the topmasts. Every man was employed and worked with a will, but at night the watch was regularly set, though Captain McKay himself did not sleep. The watch on deck worked during the night and all hands during the day. In a week both topmasts, topsail yards and fore yard were aloft and the sails bent, and in 12 days the ship was once more a-tanto, and as complete aloft as if nothing had happened. Captain Lauchlan McKay's skill as a sailor, his dauntless energy as a man, his kindness to his crew, and his entire abnegation of self, all stamped him as a truly great commander. His brother Donald's confidence in him had been vindicated.

Fifteen days after re-rigging the Sovereign of the Seas, she crossed the equator and reached San Francisco 19 days later with a passage of 103 days from New York on November 15, 1852, beating every vessel that had sailed within a month of her.

All along the wharf and waterfront, thousands of people gathered and greeted the Sovereign of the Seas with cheers and songs. Sailors on board the clipper whirled around the capstan singing their own version of Oh Susannah:

"Oh, Susannah, darling, take your ease

For we have beat the clipper fleet,

The Sovereign of the Seas!"

While not a record passage, it was very good time considering the unfavorable season during which she sailed and the dismasting in the Pacific. Prices were high when the Sovereign of the Seas arrived and her cargo was sold for over $98,000. The crew aboard the Sovereign of the Seas received a $1,000 bonus for their services in taking the clipper around the Horn, and most of them then departed for the gold fields. Captain McKay had to come up with a new crew.

The Sovereign of the Seas was then chartered to transport a cargo of whale oil from Honolulu to New York, the first clipper to be so chartered, and much preferable to sailing back around the Horn in ballast. Between 1842 and 1854, Honolulu was a major supply base for whaling ships.

The Sovereign of the Seas sailed from San Francisco on December 22, 1852, with a crew of 45 men, and was "flying light," that is, with a minimum of ballast, when the winds picked up on the third day and the clipper flew along at 20 miles an hour. Until she heeled over with the lee rail under water, which forced Captain McKay to run before the wind, where she flew even faster and a crew member recalled that "she must have been going at the rate of twenty-five."

Upon arrival at Honolulu, most of the crew left the ship for they had shipped aboard for the passage to the Sandwich Islands only, as the Hawaiian Islands were called at that time. The arrival of the Sovereign of the Seas was a boon to the whaling community for it set a new precedent because now they could inexpensively send their whale oil back to their home ports, thus enabling them to continue cruising out there in the Pacific in search of whales.

While berthed at Honolulu, the Sovereign of the Seas was visited by the Hawaiian King Kamehameha III and his entourage, and Captain Lauchlan McKay entertained them aboard ship for a couple of hours and showed his guests a collection of animals, a large grizzly bear, a wolf, a coyote, a wildcat, and a leopard that the Sovereign were transporting back around the Horn for an exhibition at the Crystal Palace in New York.

With great difficulty, Captain McKay was able to come up with a new crew of 34 men to bring the giant clipper, with 8000 barrels of whale oil and bone aboard, and with weakened fore and main topmasts, back around the Horn. The Sovereign of the Seas departed Hawaii on February 12, 1853, and with such a small crew and weakened masts it was hardly expected that a fast passage would be made. But Captain McKay consulted his copy of Maury's Sailing Directions and was able to find some fine winds which blew the giant clipper right along and during one 24 hour period the Sovereign made 433 miles. An officer aboard ship wrote a letter to a friend in Boston:

The day we ran 430 miles she had the wind on the larboard quarter and carried all drawing sail from the topsail down, but had the topmast been sound she could have borne the topmast-studding sail also. The sea was high and broken, the weather alternately clear and cloudy, with heavy showers, and at night we had occasional glimpses of moonlight She ran about as fast as the sea and when struck by a squall would send the spray masthead high. Now and then she would fly up a point and heeling over skim along between the deep valleys of the waves, and then, brought to her course again, righten with majestic ease and as if taking a fresh start would seem to bound from wave to wave.

Captain McKay brought the Sovereign of the Seas back from Honolulu around the Horn to New York in the record time of 82 days. She had been gone for nine months and in that time earned for her owner and builder Donald McKay the princely sum of $138,000.

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