While San Franciscans were taking notice of all the clippers entering the Golden Gate in what was becoming a common sight, other ships and schooners were racing on to other ports of call.

The clipper races around the Horn were not the only ones going on in the world at that time. For over half a century, coffee traders had been making fast passages to Rio Janeiro for years in swift schooners, brigs, barques, and a small ship or two. Even though the round voyages to Rio of the coffee traders had traditionally never been thought of as a contest or a race against time, the intensity in which the captains drove their ships had picked up; since the record-breaking passage of the W.H.D.C. Wright in 1848 when her captain had found Maury's "Fair way to Rio."

A dispute broke out between Maine and Baltimore in the spring of 1852, that was settled with a race between the Maine barque Black Squall and the tiny Baltimore clipper ship Grey Eagle. The Black Squall sailed from Rio to New York in 26 days. The Grey Eagle sailed from that same port three days later and reached Philadelphia in 23 days, winning the contest and established a new record in the coffee trade.

Tea clippers plied their way along the Eastern Passage around the Cape of Good Hope to China and back, among them, the little clipper barque Mermaid under the command of Captain Forbes, that came sailing home from Canton in 87 days.

That time was bested later on that year by the Atalanta, a beautiful clipper and the pride of Baltimore, and the largest vessel ever built in that city up till then. She was 1289 tons, and 200 x 37 x 21 feet. She was launched in the spring of 1852.

Captain William Williams sailed her to New York on her first passage, where she lost all three topmasts in a squall and reached her destination under jury rig. She soon sailed on her maiden voyage around the Horn on April 14, 1852, with a passage of 142 days to the Golden Gate. From there, she was 40 days to Hong Kong and by that time Captain Williams was at last getting the feel of her for the run home, where he would race against the flower of the clipper fleet.

The Atalanta cleared Canton on December 16, 1852, to chase after the White Squall, which had left the day before. Also in the race were the Victory, a small Newburyport clipper, and the Hornet, on her way home from her first around the world voyage.

The Atalanta survived a mishap when in thick weather she went up on the Roemer Shoals right after she took her pilot on board. But she managed to free herself after nine days of lightering cargo, and got off relatively undamaged after some delay and proceeded on to New York with the best time of the year of 84 days.

The Victory reached New York in 100 days, the White Squall in 103 days, and the Hornet in 113 days from Whampoa.

Around the end of 1852, the Oriental came sailing home from Shanghai against the monsoon in 106 days. She had been gone from her New York home for the past two years and seven months and during that time had sailed over 95,000 miles setting records wherever she sailed, all the while earning tremendous sums for her owners transporting tea from China to the London docks.

After two round tea voyages from London to China and back, the Oriental sailed for Shanghai, this time for a cargo of tea to bring home to New York. She cleared Shanghai on September 1, 1852, and Captain Theodore Palmer sailed on past Anjier on September 29th and on to the Cape of Good Hope in light winds. And then took a series of northwest tacks up the Atlantic past St. Helena, St. Paul, and Bermuda, and home in record time right up to Sandy Hook. Arriving there December 16th, where he at last took in sail, and fired off his signal. The tug Titan soon arrived and pulled the Oriental on through the Narrows to the Lows' wharf in the East River. A queen of the clippers had returned to her home port in remarkable good shape and Captain Theodore Palmer passed on command to Captain Fletcher, who would take the Oriental on her next voyage around the Horn.

By 1852, Mystic, Connecticut had evolved as a clipper ship building center with the launchings of the Alboni, Charles Mallory, and Eliza Mallory, all small clippers. The Alboni was described as an exquisite specimen and admirably proportioned, a clipper of 917 tons old measurement, 182 x 37 x 21 feet, with a figurehead of a dove holding an orange branch in its beak.

The Alboni, named after a celebrated Italian opera singer, was designed and built by Mason C. Hill. She was launched in October 1852, and cleared New York on November 21, 1852, for her maiden voyage around the Horn with Captain Litchfield in command. She entered the Golden Gate 131 days later, after having waited out a dense fog within 300 miles of her destination for seven days. She then sailed for 51 days to Callao for a cargo of guano and returned to New York in 85 days.

The Charles Mallory was a medium clipper built by Charles Mallory in 1851 at Mystic. She was 698 tons register and 155 x 33 x 18 feet. The Charles Mallory sailed from New York on September 15, 1852, under the command of Captain Charles Hull, and reached the Golden Gate 115 days later, after having made an excellent fast run up the Pacific.

She sailed on to Honolulu from there for a cargo of 4500 barrels of whale oil and then proceeded on back around Cape Horn. The Charles Mallory ran ashore on the extreme easterly headland of Brazil at Cape St. Augustine. 3000 barrels of whale oil were salvaged under most difficult conditions. At the end of July, it was deduced that the ship would soon break up, so she was sold as she lay for a pittance by Captain Hull who was reported to be very sick at the time, for the mishap had affected him deeply and he never sailed again.

The Eliza Mallory was a medium clipper under the command of Jack Williams, who took the Eliza Mallory from New York on September 16, 1852, on a midwinter passage around Cape Horn which proved to be a long dreary one.

Mystic would go on to build other clippers in the years to come.

On that same February 12, 1853 date that the Sovereign of the Seas cleared Honolulu, the Sword Fish and Sea Serpent, two old rivals, sailed from New York together for a fierce race around the Horn. As both clippers were driven with unrestrained zeal in their unrelenting quest for victory and the laurels. The lead went back and forth all the way around the Horn as both clippers slashed on through the waves in their desperate efforts to pull ahead. And the race went on right up the Pacific coast to California, where the Sword Fish finally pulled out ahead and arrived at the Golden Gate on May 30th after a 107 day passage, with the Sea Serpent arriving less than 48 hours after her rival.

Other crack clippers departed eastern ports in the early days of 1853. One of the first clippers to clear was the Phantom, a lofty sharp medium clipper of 1174 tons, built at the Medford shipyard of Samuel Lapham. She was launched on December 8, 1852, and Lapham sold her to Crocker & Sturgis of Boston. The Phantom sailed from there on January 6th, with Captain Alvin H. Hallet in command, and had an excellent passage to San Francisco of 105 days.

The Eagle, the Celestial, and the Rattler left New York around that same time with passages of 111 days, 120 days, and 122 days respectively. Another clipper, also named Rattler, sailed from Philadelphia on January 14th and made a 133-day passage.

On January 19th, the Simoon, an extreme clipper of 1436 tons, launched from the shipyard of Jabez Williams on December 4, 1852, sailed on her maiden voyage around the Horn. She was followed three days later by the Typhoon and it was a very close race between these two all the way to the Golden Gate. The Simoon had a 132-day passage, and the Typhoon, 133 days.

Also to sail that January, were the Esther May, Tornado, Alert, Lucknow, Mountain Wave, Carrier Pigeon, Star of the Union, and the Maine clippers Flying Arrow, Golden Racer, Queen of the Pacific, and Wings of the Morning.

C. A. Fletcher, the former commander of the Swallow Tail packet, Independence, took command of the Oriental and she sailed from New York on January 26, 1853, and she took quite a battering on this run around the Horn, but still made it to San Francisco in 100 days.

All the clippers leaving eastern ports that January encountered heavy westerly gales off Cape Horn that took a heavy toll on men, masts, spars, and rigging.

The Stag Hound cleared New York on February 24th under Captain Behm for a 127-day voyage around the Horn.

The Emperess of the Seas

The Empress of the Seas, an extreme clipper of 2197 tons, was launched at Donald McKay's East Boston shipyard on January 14, 1853. Her measurements were 240 x 43 x 27 feet. Donald McKay had begun building her on his own account and had incorporated all his experience and evolving ideas into her in his never ending quest for perfection.

The Empress of the Seas was a strongly built ship and the workmanship superb. The finest seasoned white oak and hard pine ran throughout the ship. Aloft, her rigging and spars were said to be of perfect proportions and no expense was spared in finishing her out. Her ends were long and sharp, but not as pronounced as with other clippers of her day. Juxtaposed to her bow was a life-size female figure in white garments with the left hand grasping a globe extended and the right hand holding the sceptre of the seas reposed by her side.

The Empress of the Seas was sold while half finished on the stocks to Messrs. William Wilson & Sons, merchants of Baltimore for $125,000. Soon after launching, the clipper proceeded to New York for a mixed cargo at the docks of J. S. Oakford, owners of a fleet of San Francisco clippers.

The Empress of the Seas sailed from New York on March 13, 1853, under the command of Captain M. E. Putnam for a 121-day maiden voyage around the Horn.

Star of Empire and Chariot of Fame were medium clippers and the only two McKay clippers built of the same size and model and launched in April and May respectively. Both ships were built for Enoch Train and other partners to serve in the North Atlantic packet trade between Boston and Liverpool. Both ships had greater stowage capacity than extreme clippers, each being 2050 34/95 tons old measurement. Both were beautiful ships designed with comfortably furnished cabins and staterooms for passengers, as well as equipped with the latest mechanical outfits for the handling of cargo.

The figurehead of the Star of Empire was that of the Goddess of Fame with outspread wings, with both hands raised. The right hand held a trumpet and the left held a garland. The Goddess wore a girdle emblazoned with miniatures of distinguished statesmen in white vestments fringed with gold, standing on an ornamented pedestal with carved floral work.

Not much has been historically said of the Chariot of Fame figurehead except for the fact that it was lost in heavy seas in the North Atlantic in late February 1854.

The Sovereign of the Seas

The Sovereign of the Seas arrived in New York on May 6, 1853, after an 82-day record voyage around the Horn from Honolulu, extraordinary time. even though her masts were in such a weakened condition. She had been gone for nine months and earned for Donald McKay a sum of $138,000: $98,000 for the cargo brought around the Horn to San Francisco, $10,000 for the cargo brought to Hawaii, and $30,000 for the cargo of whale oil brought back to New York.

The insurance underwriters were delighted with Captain McKay's conduct over the course of the voyage and upon his return they honored him with a dinner and presented him with a valuable service of silver plate as a token of their appreciation.

Mr. Walter Jones honored Captain McKay with this toast:

The perseverance and skill you displayed in refitting your ship at sea, when dismasted, and continuing your voyage without expense to the underwriters, is worthy of high commendation, and is a guarantee for the future that all a man can do in any emergency will be done by you. Accept, therefore, dear sir, this, a token of our esteem, and long my you live to use it.

To this toast Captain McKay replied:

Mr. Jones and gentlemen-I gratefully accept your generous present, valuable in itself, but more so for the sentiments of approbation with which you have been pleased to associate its presentation. I thank you, too, in behalf of my gallant crew, for the eight hundred dollars which you gave them. In the hour of trial they were more precious than gold, and to their untiring devotion I am indebted for whatever credit I have received. We all endeavored to do our duty, and the only precedence I am entitled to was the result of my position, not, I assure you, on account of extra merit. I shall, therefore, ever regard this token of your approbation, as shared by my crew, whose services will be associated with it in my remembrance while I live.

Freight rates about that time were beginning to fall, but the rivalry between New York and Boston shipowners showed no sign of abating, particularly since the return of the Sovereign of the Seas. The press played up the rivalry between Donald McKay and William Webb, who had then recently launched his latest clipper, the Young America, from his East River shipyard. Her new owners had taken out space in one of the New York newspapers in an effort to drum up freight revenues, where they issued a challenge to the Sovereign of the Seas for a race around the Horn to San Francisco. William Webb responded with a letter to the New York Herald that he would venture $10,000 on the outcome of this race and encouraged Donald McKay to do the same.

New York, May 14, 1853.

To the Editor of the New York Herald:

Dear Sir.-My attention having been called to an article in the Evening Post, of Thursday last, headed 'The Clipper Ship Sovereign of the Seas-A Challenge to the World,' I wish to state in reply that I am ready to bet the sum of ten thousand dollars on the ship Young America, Captain D. S. Babcock, the last ship of my construction, and now loading at the foot of Dover Street, East River, against the ship Sovereign of the Seas.

The trial to be made on the terms proposed, viz., from New York to San Francisco, both vessels loaded and to sail together, or within thirty days of each other.

Yours respectfully,

Wm. H. Webb.

But Donald McKay, upon the Sovereign's' arrival, had already completed the sale of his clipper to Funch & Meinke for $150,000 and the Sovereign of the Seas was about to sail for Liverpool. Her new owners said that they would be only too happy to take Webb up on his offer when the Sovereign of the Seas returned from England.

Her new owners sent the following reply to the New York Herald:

We have received the following relative to the contemplated race between the clipper ships Sovereign of the Seas and Young America.

The owner of the Sovereign of the Seas begs to state, in answer to the letter from Mr. Webb in Monday's Herald, that, though he himself never challenged any ship to sail against the Sovereign of the Seas, he would nevertheless have felt happy to take up the gauntlet, if the present state of the California freight market did not preclude the possibility of layering her on in that direction with any advantage. The Sovereign of the Seas, will have to make, in all probability, an intermediate trip to England, and the owner can only hope that on her return the better feeling for California will enable him to lay her on again for San Francisco-and then, to sail her for the stipulated amount against any clipper Mr. Webb is willing to match against her.

Unfortunately, this race never took place for the Sovereign of the Seas was put up for a run to Australia upon her arrival at Liverpool.

The Sovereign of the Seas made ready to sail for Liverpool and was scheduled to leave on June 18, 1853, with Lauchlan McKay still in command. Donald and Mary McKay had decided to cross the Atlantic in order for him to study the behavior of his clipper upon the sea and to learn what he could from British shipbuilders.

Another reason for the journey was because the Australian emigrant trade was booming and English ship owners were seeking out large American and Canadian clippers and shipbuilders to fill their urgent needs.

Returning to England at that same time were several Englishmen, representatives of British shipping interests including those of James Baines, who had been recent guests of the McKays at East Boston. Donald McKay had cordially invited them to accompany him and Mary to England aboard the Sovereign of the Seas. But with haughty disdain, they said that they were pressed for time and preferred to take a Cunard steamship, the Canada, that was to sail from Boston on the same day that the Sovereign of the Seas was to sail from New York. Nettled over this incident, Donald McKay was determined to beat the Canada across the North Atlantic.

The Sovereign of the Seas sailed from New York on June 18th. Over the course of the entire voyage, Donald McKay devoted nearly all his waking time and his full attention to the sailing qualities of the ship, studying every movement and encouraging his brother Lauchlan to make the fastest voyage possible while he went about his observations. He paid close attention to the hull and how the mighty clipper drew through the water. He stood along the stern railing and watched the wake. Below deck, he keenly observed and listened to the straining timbers and movements of the hull in the sea. On deck, he studied the arrangements of the masts, spars, and sails and how they helped to catch the winds and pull his clipper through the seas, all the while running what he saw through his mind which never ceased calculating his findings.

The Sovereign of the Seas eclipsed all previous records on the New York to Liverpool run with a passage across the Atlantic of 13 days, 22 hours, and 50 minutes from the East River dock to the Mersey dock, with a best day run of 340 miles. The Sovereign of the Seas beat the Canada across the Atlantic much to Donald McKay's satisfaction. Upon arrival, he had a large canvas sign made up and conspicuously spread aloft at the Liverpool dock stating:

"SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS,"

FASTEST SHIP IN THE WORLD-

SAILED NEW YORK TO LIVERPOOL

RECORD TIME-13 DAYS, 22 HOURS.

The Sovereign of the Seas was the first ship in history to make the New York to Liverpool passage in less than 14 days. Donald and Mary McKay waited there below their banner on the Mersey dock for the Canada to arrive and to personally greet the surprised English shipping representatives as they departed the steamship.

As the Sovereign of the Seas lay anchored on the Mersey, she attracted the attention of thousands of English men and women. Among her many admirers were James Baines and Thomas Miller Mackay, the owners of the Black Ball Line of Liverpool fleet of Australian packet ships.

Baines was an enterprising businessman with an uncanny ability to foresee opportunities and take advantage of them with bold initiatives before his rivals were even aware of them. He, of course, had already heard of Donald McKay and was profoundly impressed with the Sovereign of the Seas. So was his partner Thomas Miller Mackay, who had a wonderful eye for ships and he and Donald McKay hit it off rather well. For they had the same last name, although they each spelled it differently, and both were from the same Scottish Clan. Donald McKay's grandfather was a non-commissioned officer of a Scottish regiment as was Thomas Miller Mackay's father.

Baines had taken the name "Black Ball" from the older established New York packet line that was founded in 1816, which caused much anguish and considerable confusion among shipping merchants on both sides of the Atlantic. The New York firm requested Baines to please change the name, which Baines refused to do. It was a shrewd business move on Baines' part and he even went so far as appropriating the house flag and black balls for his fleet that consisted of a black ball on a crimson swallowtail ensign.

At that time, thousands of emigrants were eager to reach the gold fields of Australia. Baines wasted little time in chartering the Sovereign of the Seas for a round voyage to Melbourne.

Upon the Sovereign of the Seas arrival at Liverpool, Donald McKay had ceased to own her. Lauchlan McKay passed on command of the ship to his mate, Henry Warner, an Englishman who had lived in East Boston for many years. Warner had sailed aboard the Sovereign on her maiden voyage and was quite familiar with her sailing qualities.

In the eleven months that he had owned her, the Sovereign of the Seas had earned about $200,000 for Donald McKay.

The following advertisement soon appeared in the Liverpool papers:

The clipper ship, Sovereign of the Seas, Capt. Warner, at Liverpool, for Melbourne, Freight, £7 per ton to the wharf, and return 50s per ton if she does not make a faster passage than any steamer on the berth here, or in London, Freight without warranty, according to agreement.

The steamer Great Britain was up for Melbourne at that same time and this advertisement was taken out to lure the lucrative freight cargo their way, a bold tactic typical of James Baines. The Great Britain also offered to kick back 40s per ton of freight if the steamer did not reach Melbourne in 65 days.

The Sovereign of the Seas sailed for Melbourne on September 7, 1853, heavily loaded down to 23 1/2-feet with a cargo valued at around a million dollars aboard. She reached her destination in 77 days, far ahead of all the ships that had sailed around that same time, including the Great Britain, which then had to make good on their pledge of returning 40s per ton of cargo.

Captain Warner wrote this following account that was printed in the Liverpool Mercury:

I arrived here after a long and tedious passage of 77 days, having experienced only light and contrary winds the greater part of the passage. I have had but two chances. The ship ran in four consecutive days 1,275 miles; and the next run was 3,375 miles in 12 days. These were but moderate chances. I was 31 days to the equator and carried skysails 65 days; set them on leaving Liverpool and never shortened them for 35 days. I crossed the equator in 26° 30', and went to 53° 30 S.., but found no strong winds. I think if we had gone to 58° s. I would have wind enough: but the crew were insufficiently clothed and about one half disabled, together with the first mate. At any rate we have beaten all and every one of the ships that sailed with us, and also the famous English clipper Gauntlet 10 days on the passage, although the Sovereign of the Seas was loaded down 23 1/2 feet.

The Sovereign of the Seas left Melbourne on her return passage on January 24, 1854, carrying over four tons of gold dust to London. On this voyage, the crew aboard the Sovereign was composed of ex-convicts and beach-combers of the unsavory sort, who early on rose in mutiny and rushed aft in a desperate effort to seize Captain Warner, overpower his officers, and take control of the ship and the gold.

Warner grabbed a cutlass and charged back at his attackers opening a lane through them, while the three mates grabbed pistols and cutlasses and followed their captain, helping him to fend off the attackers, till they were overpowered and thrown into irons. The Sovereign of the Seas then proceeded on to London with half the crew in irons.

The underwriters of the Sovereign of the Seas were greatly relieved and complimented Captain Warner for his bold reactions to the mutiny for the clipper and her cargo were insured for over a million dollars.

Upon the Sovereign of the Seas' return to Liverpool, James Baines returned her to her owners and she entered into the Shanghai trade for her next two voyages.

Next: Contest - Brown - Romance of the Seas

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