The Deep Sea Derby

Other notable clippers taking part in the Deep Sea Derby were the Flying Dutchman, Dauntless, Westward Ho, Northern Light, Queen of the Seas, Grey Feather, Whirlwind, Telegraph, Contest, Game Cock, Meteor, Winged Racer, Golden Eagle, Fleetwood, Jacob Bell, Flying Childers, Golden West, Red Rover, Peerless, and Bald Eagle.

Over the year of 1852, ninety-five clipper ships along with ten clipper barques sailed from northeastern ports around the Horn for San Francisco and seventeen of them made the passage in less than 110 days. This remarkable contest has been described by the historian Carl C. Cutler in Greyhounds of the Sea, as representing "the very crest of the clipper wave."

The Flying Fish entered the Golden Gate on January 31, 1853, with the winning Deep Sea Derby passage of 92 days, 4 hours, anchor to anchor. There to greet her in San Francisco Harbor, was the Westward Ho, another McKay clipper that had been launched on September 24, 1852. The Westward Ho had entered the Deep Sea Derby sailing from Boston twenty-two days after her launching on October 16, 1852, fifteen days before the Flying Fish; to chase after the Dauntless that had cleared Boston Harbor the day before on her maiden run to the Golden Gate, the same day the Flying Dutchman departed New York.

The Westward Ho had sailed around the Horn in 107 days arriving at the Golden Gate only a few hours before the Flying Fish, and her crew was rolling up her canvas as the Flying Fish arrived.

The Westward Ho was a magnificent sharp looking clipper with a figurehead of a full-length Indian warrior in the running position of the chase on an intricately carved ornamental flowering pedestal juxtaposed to her bow with her name "Westward Ho!" on both sides of her bow.

Sampson & Tappan of Boston had ordered the Westward Ho as soon as the Flying Fish had proven herself. Her owners selected the name, "Westward Ho!," from the writings of Charles Kingsley who wrote about England's naval and commercial glory during the time of Queen Elizabeth's reign in his literary work, Westward Ho!.

The Westward Ho!

The Westward Ho was a 1650-ton extreme clipper whose measurements were 210 x 40:6 x 23:6 feet and had a rakish appearance to her, although somewhat less than other clippers of the period. She carried slightly less sail aloft than her sister Sampson & Tappan ships, Stag Hound and Flying Fish, and was not as lofty as the Flying Cloud.

Sampson & Tappen shipmasters insisted that Donald McKay work some of their ideas into the Westward Ho's model and rigging that called for a sharp-ended clipper with the greatest beam moved forward of midships and not as much rake to her masts. They called for changes included nearly square royal and skysail yards and added canvas on the foremast.

Donald McKay ran with these ideas and what he came up with was a fast ship capable of consistently fast runs, especially after Captain Hussy took over command of the ship upon the completion of her first around the world voyage.

The fact that the Flying Fish had beaten Westward Ho on the Westward Ho's maiden voyage around the Horn was a point of irony with Captain Nickels. For he was supposed to have left the command of the Flying Fish upon her arrival back in Boston from her maiden round the world voyage, and taken command of the just launched Westward Ho. Esteemed at the time to be the crack Boston clipper ship and one of the best sailing ships afloat. But that command instead went to Captain Johnson and her owners had expected the Westward Ho to make it around the Horn to the Golden Gate in less than 100 days. But by that time, Captain Nickels was "well settled and comfortable on the 'Fish' and well liked his command" and was reluctant to change ships anyway.

The Westward Ho had missed that mark set for her, but she did have a very fine run making it down the North Atlantic to the equator in 29 days, and 23 days on to 50° South. And from there, around the Horn in 13 days, quite remarkable time considering the fact that Captain Johnson was consistently drunk over the course of the voyage. The following account is from one of the passengers said to be an experienced seafaring man:

Westward Ho, ought to have done the run in 90 days. The captain was a drunken beast and remained in his cabin for nearly the whole passage, boozing on his own liquor and that of the passengers from whom he can beg and at last broke out the fore hold in search of liquor and found some champagne cider on which he boozed the remainder of the passage. We were off the Plate River with a fair, strong wind headed east and north for several days until there was nearly a mutiny among the passengers. I finally told the mate to put her on her course, and we would back him up in any trouble. The captain never knew of any change; we lost at least ten days' time by such delays. At one time after passing Cape Horn, we were running about N. by W., wind S.S.W., long, easy sea, and wind strong under topgallant sails, and she was going like a scared dog, her starboard plank sheer even with the water, two men at the wheel, and they had all they could do to hold her on her course. One day she ran over 400 nautical miles. The drunken captain was at once displaced in Frisco and the mate who had navigated from Boston placed in charge. He made the run to Manila in 31 days.

The Westward Ho flew on up the South Pacific crossing the equator from 50° in 23 days, steadily closing the distance north of the line between her and the Flying Dutchman. And 19 days later, arrived at the Farallones just as the fog rolled in and the wind died down, shortly after the Flying Dutchman passed through the Golden Gate. The Westward Ho remained off the Farallones for four days as the Flying Fish was racing north catching some fine winds over the last leg of her passage. Sailors aboard the Flying Fish were greeted with the sight of the Westward Ho proceeding on through the Golden Gate three hours ahead them.

Captain Nickels was elated with his 92-day run and was said to have derived much satisfaction with his victory over the Westward Ho in the number of days at sea.

Both the Flying Fish and Westward Ho sailed on to Manila from San Francisco in late February. Both clippers had exceptionally fine runs across the Pacific and the Westward Ho finally racked up a victory over her rival, arriving there in 39 days, one day better than the Flying Fish.

At that moment, there were four McKay clippers in the Pacific, for the Sovereign of the Seas had left Honolulu with a cargo of whale oil and was en route for Cape Horn and New York at the time her two sister clippers cleared San Francisco for Manila. The Bald Eagle, the newest McKay clipper, was the last clipper to get away from New York clearing that port on December 26, 1852, and was rounding the Horn in late February. The Staffordshire around that same time was en route from Calcutta crossing the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope. The Flying Cloud at that moment was out in the middle of the Atlantic between St. Paul Island and Bermuda on a run to the northwest bound for New York returning from her second around the world voyage.

The Flying Dutchman had arrived at the Farallones four days before Westward Ho, on January 27, 1853, just a few hours under 104 days. And passed through the Golden Gate into San Francisco Harbor right before a fog bank closed in on the bay which shut down the harbor for a time.

The Flying Dutchman was an extreme clipper of 1257 tons, 200 x 38 x 21 feet, that was built by William Webb and launched from his yard on September 9, 1852. She was said to be one of the sharpest clippers ever built at New York and was a very strongly built ship that had been diagonally braced with iron straps. The Flying Dutchman had cleared New York on October 15, 1852, under the command of Captain Ashbel Hubbard and made a fine run around the Horn, where she encountered very foul weather and heavy seas.

The Dauntless was the next to arrive from Boston on February 12, 1853. She was an exquisitely beautiful extreme clipper ship of 791 tons, 185 x 33 x 21 1/2 feet, built by Benjamin F. Delano and launched at Medford in the fall of 1852. She was modeled and designed by W. N. Goddard, her owner, who also supervised her construction. Her ends were narrow and sharp with a figurehead of a nymph with outstretched wings adorned in flowing white garments and a golden girdle with a chaplet of flowers upon her head ablaze with gold.

Smaller than the others, she was the most expensive ship of her size ever built in Boston up to that time. Her beauty was said to be "beyond comparison." Carved gilded ornamental work graced her stern in rich profusion as they did the cat-heads of this sharp and narrow petite clipper, unique among the others about the bay. Her cabins were furnished with the finest woods available. Stained glass windows presented scenes of The Sovereign of the Seas, the yacht America, and Enoch Train's counting house.

The Dauntless had made it around the Horn in 15 days through heavy seas and survived her baptism at the bottom of the world the first time around. There she was for all of San Francisco and the rest of the clipper fleet to gaze upon with wonder.

The Contest and the Trade Wind arrived from New York on February 24th, in 100 and 103 days respectively. The Contest had made a very fast voyage, which was not unusual for a Low ship of 1098 tons. She was 207 X 38 x 21 feet. The Contest was said to be a beautiful sharp model in every respect and designed and built by young David D. Westervelt at his father Jacob's shipyard. She had flown around the Horn in 100 days and left port in ballast fifteen days later for a swift voyage back around the Horn to New York in 80 days.

The giant Trade Wind, from Jacob Bell's yard, had just made her second passage to San Francisco.

Next to arrive in late February, was Northern Light, 117 days from Boston on her second passage around the Horn. She was a medium clipper, launched on September 25, 1851, from the South Boston shipyard of H.O. Briggs. She was designed by Samuel Harte Pook and said to be very sharp below the waterline. She had a deadrise of 40 inches. The Northern Light was 1021 tons, 171 x 36 x 21 feet. Her figurehead was that of an angel dressed in flowing drapery with one hand bearing a torch with a golden flame extended overhead.

Her first passage around the Horn took 109 days under Captain Bailey Loring. This time around, the stormy seas encountered at the bottom of the world delayed her a little longer. Upon the unloading of her cargo, Captain Hatch took the Northern Light around the Horn back to Boston in 76 days, 8 hours, a record-breaking run.

Two weeks later, Meteor, Telegraph, and Game Cock came through the Golden Gate together after voyages around the Horn of 113, 114, and 115 days respectively.

The Meteor, 1067 tons, was a medium clipper built to order by James Huckins of Boston, and launched from the E. & H. O. Briggs shipyard in South Boston on October 27, 1852, and sold to Curtis & Peabody before completion. Her measurements were 195 x 36 x 24 feet. She was a splendid looking ship whose sharp bow was ornamented with a figurehead of Atalanta picking up the golden apples. In appearance, the Meteor was much like the Northern Light, a Pook ship launched the year before at the same shipyard.

The Telegraph, 1078 tons, was a Pook designed extreme clipper, 178 x 36 x 21: 6 feet, launched from J. O. Curtis' Medford shipyard in May 1851. This was her second passage around the Horn from Boston, this time with Captain C. W. Pousland in command, and had experienced foul weather most of the way.

The Telegraph was a very sharp Pook creation where he took the best points that he saw in his earlier creations, the Surprise and the Game Cock, and incorporated them into the Telegraph. Her figurehead was that of a female figure pointing out toward the sea.

The Boston Atlas caught the essence of the Telegraph in their May 25, 1851 edition:

The design of this beautiful vessel may be said to embrace the most advantageous points contained in the ships Surprise and Game Cock. Her ends are sharper than those of the Surprise, and she had about the same fore rake or inclination of the stem, but more buoyancy of floor. Her dead rise is 27 inches, and her floor, owing to the uprightness of her stem, for she has only 5 feet fore rake, is carried well forward and aft, and is, therefore, available for speed and buoyancy almost the whole length of her keel.

She has 24 inches sheer, and broadside on has somewhat the appearance of our fast vessels of war, but aft the outline of her stern is lighter, and is fashioned to carry along the line of the monkey rail, and below, to form a complete arch like the stern of the Game Cock. Her sides swell about four inches, but their fore and aft sweep is bold and easy. She has round lines and ends of great beauty.

The Game Cock, from the East Boston shipyard of Samuel Hall, and undoubtedly influenced by Samuel Harte Pook, arrived from New York after her second voyage around the Horn with Captain Hollis still in command.

It had been a three-cornered sailing match between the Meteor, Telegraph, and Game Cock all the way around the Horn, much of the time well within sight of one another, where all three clippers had experienced harsh weather conditions and delays as would the other later arrivals.

The next day, on March 11, 1853, Whirlwind and Queen of the Seas arrived through the Golden Gate in company with passages of 119 and 128 days.

The Whirlwind, an extreme clipper, 185 x 38 x 21 feet, of close to 960 1/2 tons, arrived from Boston on her maiden voyage around the Horn. She had been built and launched on September 13, 1852, from the Medford Shipyard of James O. Curtis. Her ends were said to resemble those of a very sharp steamboat with a wedge-shaped bow and round stern. Her figurehead was that of the "Goddess of the Winds" who held a lighted torch in her left hand above her head to light the way.

The Queen of the Seas, 1356 tons, had been launched on September 18, 1852, from the Medford shipyard of Paul Curtis, and was 195 x 38 x 22 feet, and was a very well constructed clipper of the finest materials. Her figurehead was that of a queen adorned in flowing white garments, the queen wearing a crown and holding a wand aloft in her left hand. Gilded twin suns adorned her cat-heads and much gilded fancy work adorned her semi-elliptical stern.

The Queen of the Seas, under the command of Captain Elias D. Knight, had run into some difficulty on her maiden voyage from Boston when she fell to leeward while attempting to round St. Roque and lost some 13 days. Later on in the passage, she took a heavy battering while rounding Cape Horn and was forced to put into Valparaiso for repairs. She left that port three and a half days later and experienced fierce head winds most of the way up the Pacific, but she did make it to the Golden Gate from the line in only 22 days with her best day speed of 315 miles.

The Grey Feather was the smallest of the Deep Sea Derby clipper fleet with a capacity of 610 tons, 135 x 30 x 19 feet. She had sailed out around the Horn from New York on November 4, 1852, under the command of Daniel McLaughlan, and arrived through the Golden Gate on March 15, 1853, after a voyage of 126 days.

The Winged Racer was launched from Robert E. Jackson's East Boston Shipyard in November 1852. Her owners, Seccomb & Taylor, immediately sold her to Sampson & Tappan of Boston, owners of the Westward Ho and Nightingale, who immediately put her up for San Francisco.

The Winged Racer was a Pook designed clipper of 1767 44/95 tons, 226 x 42 1/2 x 23 feet, and had a long sharp bow with a figurehead of a flying horse with extended wings. The Winged Racer sailed for New York and immediately took on cargo at the East River wharf.

She sailed in late December under the command of Captain William Homen and had a swift maiden voyage around the Horn, arriving off the bar at San Francisco in 105 days. But the fog was so thick that she had to wait for three days before entering the harbor on March 30, 1853, with a passage of 108 days, and still beat the Jacob Bell past the Golden Gate, winning many a wager for her backers in Boston and New York.

The Jacob Bell had sailed three days before the Winged Racer from New York. Jacob Bell had started work on her in the late summer and had died while this clipper was still in the stocks, so his son, Abraham C. Bell, completed the Jacob Bell, which was launched on November 12, 1852. She was a clipper of 1381 43/95 tons, 215 x 38 1/2 x 22 feet, and said to be a perfect specimen of naval architecture, a faultless model of exquisite symmetry and the finest clipper to ever come out of this yard. The Jacob Bell arrived at San Francisco on April 10th, with a passage of 122 days, much to the anguish of those who had wagered a large sum of money on her against the Winged Racer.

The Golden Eagle was a Medford clipper from the Hayden & Cudworth Shipyard, launched on November 9, 1852. She was 1121 tons, 192 x 36 x 22 feet, with a deadrise of 20 inches, and her figurehead was that of a gilded eagle on the wing.

The Golden Eagle sailed from Boston with Captain Samuel L. Fabens in command on December 3rd, and was making excellent time flying down the south Atlantic past Rio Janeiro, when disaster struck. She ran into high seas, which came crashing down on her bow, and did much damage to her knees, breast hooks, main rail, and topgallant forecastle, and the Golden Eagle was forced to put in to Rio for repairs. A month later, the Golden Eagle resumed her journey and reached the Golden Gate in a total of 110 sailing days.

The Fleetwood was a small medium clipper of only 663 tons built in 1852 in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire shipyard of George Raynes. She was owned by Sewell, Johnson & Co. of Boston and sailed from there in early December for a 130-day passage to San Francisco, arriving there on April 13, 1853, a slow passage compared with other clippers of her size sailing around the same time.

The Flying Childers was a medium clipper launched on November 11, 1852, from the East Boston shipyard of Samuel Hall for J. M. Forbes and Cunningham Brothers of Boston. She was 1125 tons and 195 x 36: 4 x 22: 6; with a carved racehorse for a figurehead. She sailed from Boston on December 18, 1852 with Captain Jeremiah D. White in command and reached the San Francisco Heads on April 7th, and anchored in the harbor three days later with a 113-day passage.

The Golden West

The Golden West was an extreme clipper launched from the East Boston shipyard of Paul Curtis on November 16, 1852, built to order for Glidden & Williams of Boston. She was 1441 tons, 210 x 39 x 23: 4 feet, and her entrance was said to be long and sharp with a figurehead of a gilded eagle leading the way. The Golden West cleared Boston on December 12, 1852, with Captain Samuel R. Curwen in command. The winds deserted her as she approached the equator and she had much trouble crossing the line. The winds were light as well at the Horn and she was able to get around to the Pacific in 14 days. She arrived in San Francisco after a passage of 124 days.

The Red Rover was launched from the Portsmouth, N. H. shipyard of Fernald & Pettigrew in November 1852. She was 1021 tons, 172 x 35 x 23 feet, and owned by R. L. Taylor of New York. She was said to be a very sharp and speedy ship. In December 1852, the Red Rover sailed from New York under the command of Captain W. O. Putnam. She had a stormy passage of 117 days to San Francisco, arriving there on April 19, 1853, after having lost a number of masts, yards, and canvas over the course of the voyage.

The Bald Eagle, 1705 tons, was an extreme clipper launched from Donald McKay's East Boston shipyard on November 25, 1852, built on order for George B. Upton, a prominent Boston merchant. This majestically beautiful extreme clipper was considered to be a "deep sea lady" and considered a classic in the era of the clipper ships.

Marine writer, Duncan McLean, of the Boston Atlas, captured the moment with his account:

THE NEW CLIPPER SHIP BALD EAGLE OF BOSTON

On the keel she is 195 feet long, between perpendiculars on deck 215, and over all 225; her extreme breadth of beam is 41 1/2 feet, and depth 22 1/2, including 8 feet height of between decks. In model she differs widely from any clipper which we have inspected. The rise and from of her floor are designed to obtain the greatest possible buoyancy consistent with stability and weatherly qualities. Her lines, too, have been formed upon the principle that when sailing by the wind, the pressure aloft will incline her, and to overcome the consequent angular resistance, is one of the elements of her model. But whether sailing, inclined to the plane of the horizon, or at right angles to it, her lines have been calculated for both, so that she is expected to float more buoyantly and pass more easily through the water than any other clipper that has yet to be built. At the load displacement line, she is sharper than any other clipper, and her lines, for twenty feet from the cutwater, are almost straight, but aft they swell into the convex, and blend beautifully with her fullness amidships. Her greatest breadth of beam is at the centre of her loadline, and her lines aft are decidedly convex. She is fuller aft than forward, upon the principle that, when passing rapidly through the water, as it closes aft, will actually force her ahead, and leave her without a ripple. Her model above is also designed with special reference to overcoming atmospheric pressure; hence she has little if any flare to the bow. (which is angular in its outline to the rail), low bulwarks, and a flush deck. Her bow is long, very sharp, and rises grandly in its sheer; and the cutwater is just inclined enough to make her a perfect picture forward. She has a large gilded eagle on the wing, for a head, and it forms the best and most beautiful head that we have yet seen upon any clipper. The ends of her catheads are ornamented with gilded carved work; otherwise she is smack-smooth forward.

She has about three feet sheer, and sufficient swell or rounding of sides, to preserve the harmony of her lines, and she rises forward and aft with such easy grace, that even on the line of the planksheer, the eye cannot detect any wavering in its sweep. Her stern is slightly elliptical, inclined aft, and is formed from the line of the planksheer, the moulding of which and the strake below, form its base. It is very light, beautiful in outline and tastefully ornamented.

Command of the Bald Eagle went to Captain Phillip Dumaresq, know by many as the "Prince of Sea Captains," a wealthy man from a prominent Boston family, and former captain of the 1261 ton Surprise, who had also supervised the building of that clipper.

Dumaresq was a superb captain and an accomplished navigator who commanded clippers because that was his true calling, as well as what he liked to do. As a boy, he had gone on a voyage to China to restore his health and he never looked back from that point on, taking command of a ship by the time he was twenty-two years old. Dumaresq was prominent among those captains eager to set the records and reap the laurels from the clipper ship races around the Horn. He was intrigued by the sporting aspects of the competition and was readily most eager to move on to command the newer and larger Bald Eagle, which was much more suited to making the Cape Horn passage.

The Bald Eagle sailed from New York on December 26, 1852, the last clipper to enter the Deep Sea Derby that year, and beat every clipper that sailed around the same time. Dumaresq showed limitless energy over the course of the voyage, never sleeping in his bed, and slept standing on deck with one eye and one ear open at all times and lost 34 pounds by the time the Bald Eagle arrived at San Francisco on April 4th in 107 days, beating the Flying Childers and Jacob Bell, that had both sailed around the same time.

The Bald Eagle arrived just off the Market Street Wharf around 10:30 p.m. on the evening of April 11th, which added to the general excitement of the night life of the city. The little Sag Harbor clipper barque Storm was anchored nearby having arrived the day before after a voyage around the Horn of 110 days.

To the citizenry of San Francisco, the spectacle of so many magnificent clipper ships coming through the Golden Gate was one of awe, but by April it had become almost commonplace and they were by then quite familiar with the name of Donald McKay and his majestic clippers.

The Deep Sea Derby of the fall of 1852 represented a rich sampling of some of the finest clippers of the day racing around the Horn at the most favorable season of the year. Much of the time they were in sight of one another, often going tack for tack slicing on through the seas, each looking for the first opportunity to haul up more sail and fly on past to take the lead again, day after day, through fair winds and foul.

They were all sailing the very crest of the era of the clipper ships that reached its apex with the rounding of the Horn of those fifteen ships. The hundreds of mariners that made the voyages aboard the Deep Sea Derby clipper fleet had taken part in the greatest sailing ship race the world had ever seen. They were witnesses to it and were all too caught up in the general excitement of the moment. Of course, they had no way of knowing that the crowning peak of the era of the clipper ships had come around the Horn as well. And that the economic boom that had brought these magnificent ships into existence and around the Horn in the first place was about to go through some changes and eventually go bust. With glutted markets, falling freight rates, played out mines, and too many clippers rising on the stocks in eastern shipyards. But for the moment, the world stood still to watch these magnificent clipper ships whenever they sailed past in all their stately glory, the likes of which they would never see again.

Next: Black Squall - Sovereign

The Era of the Clipper Ships
Bibliography / Sea Witch / Directory / Maritime Links
Home / McKay Clan / Ship's Store / Introduction / Tradewinds