The Dreadnought

Messrs. Foster & Nickerson lost little time unloading Neptune's Car at the East River pier upon her return from London under the command of Captain Joshua Patten, and delivered her to the loading berth to take on another large valuable mixed cargo for her third run around the Horn.

Despite the recent glut in shipping brought on by the end of the Crimean War in March and the release of many chartered clippers by the French Government, the firm was able to secure another large cargo for their prize clipper. At least for the California passage of her next voyage.

The stormy Atlantic in January and February 1856 claimed a number of fine clippers and packets. Particularly hard hit, was the Red Cross Line for only the Dreadnought was left by spring.

The new Mystic medium clipper Leah, under the command of Captain John Latham, after clearing New York on January 4th on her maiden voyage, disappeared and was lost with all 22 hands, mostly Mystic seamen.

That same January, the Surprise and the Sea Serpent had an outstanding race from China to Sandy Hook. The Surprise was 82 days from Shanghai and the Sea Serpent was 78 days from Hong Kong. Both clippers had identical runs of 68 days from Java Head to Sandy Hook.

One of the most exciting races to get off that January was between the David Brown and the Phantom, a medium clipper with sharp lines, launched three and a half years earlier at Medford, Massachusetts and built by Samuel Lapham.

The David Brown, then under the command of Captain Bradley, cleared New York on January 16th, and the Phantom followed two days later. Other clippers sailed for the Golden Gate soon after. They were: the Alexander, Sultan, Derby, Nabob, Sea Nymph, Lotus, Empress of the Seas, Don Quixote, and Star of Hope.

Both the David Brown and the Phantom were said to be all weather clippers and this race proved it, although each clipper never sighted the other over the course of the passage.

In their race around the Horn, the Phantom gained two days on her rival and arrived through the Golden Gate on April 29th, one day after the David Brown, with a passage of 101 days that bettered the 103 day passage of her rival clipper.

Their close race around the Horn was soon followed by a race across the Pacific to Hong Kong between the two. Again, the Phantom would better her rival by a couple of days, this time leading the David Brown into that British Crown Colony port after departing San Francisco two days behind her.

Other clippers that made a Cape Horn run around that time from eastern ports in 1856 were: the Alexander, Sultan, Derby, Nabob, Sea Nymph, Lotus, Empress of the Seas, Don Quixote, and Star of Hope.

An outstanding run was made around the Horn by the Sweepstakes, a New York Westervelt clipper launched three years earlier. On her third voyage, she cleared New York on February 20th and the heavily-sparred clipper, that carried longer spars and a larger spread of canvas than the Flying Cloud, made a spectacular 93-day passage around the Horn. The Sweepstakes swept through the Golden Gate, good enough for the eighth fastest New York-San Francisco run.

The clippers that chased after her were the White Swallow, Goddess, Storm King, Wizard, Mastiff, Sierra Nevada, Syren, Flying Cloud, Morning Light, Eagle Wing and Young America.

On March 28th, the Sea Witch with 500 Coolies aboard, sank after losing the evening breeze and running up on a reef 12 miles off the Cuban coast. She was 10 years old and had seen better days. John Willis Griffiths' magnificent creation that had ushered in the era of the clipper ships and astonished the world with her record runs from China to New York with precious cargoes of tea, had come to a sad ignominious end.

( * ECS - The final days of the Sea Witch are covered later on in this book. )

In April, the following clippers: Alarm, Mary L. Sutton, Neptune's Favorite, North Wind, Polynesia, Cæur de Lion, Competitor, Eureka, and John Gilpin sailed for the Golden Gate.

Following them in May were: Santa Claus, Sea Serpent, Napier, Onward, Nor'Wester, John E. Thayer, Flying Dutchman, Robin Hood, Thatcher Magoun, Endeavo, and Western Continent.

The Rapid was a Roosevelt & Joyce clipper, launched from their New York yard in December 1852. By 1856, she was under the command of Captain Phineas Windsor, and on May 26th, the clipper, owned by James Bishop & Co., had cleared New York for a passage around Cape Horn to San Francisco.

A series of fierce cold winter gales greeted the Rapid upon her arrival off Cape Horn that took a heavy toll upon the clipper and her 24-man crew for weeks on end.

The following clippers departed New York and Boston to chase after the Rapid, where they, too, ran into stormy seas: the Euterpe, Reindeer, B. F. Hoxie, Black Prince, Norseman, Kate Hooper, Archer, Silver Star, and Fearless.

Only the Euterpe, a large medium clipper built by Horace Merriam at Rockport, Maine in 1854, that departed Sandy Hook on June 2nd ahead of the following clippers, was able to make a spectacular run of it. Under the command of Captain Arey, she crossed the line in 34 days and 62 days out passed Cape Horn. She crossed the line in the Pacific in 83 days, but from there faced light head winds for the rest of the 32-day passage to the Golden Gate, where she arrived 112 days from Sandy Hook. The Euterpe arrived several hours ahead of the Robin Hood and the Thatcher Magoun, with runs of 125 days and 140 days respectively. The Endeavor arrived through the Golden Gate four days later with a 128-day run.

After a well-earned visit to Maine and Massachusetts, Joshua and Mary Ann Patten returned to New York in June 1856, to supervise the loading of the cargo and to make the ship ready for her next run around the Horn. Two other clippers were loading cargo in the East River around that same time; the Romance of the Seas, still under the command of Captain William H. Henry, and the Intrepid. A race was shaping up in the eyes of many and Captain Patten certainly was up for the challenge.

The Intrepid was a medium clipper recently launched from the shipyard of William Webb and built for merchants Bucklin & Crane. Captain E. C. Gardner had commanded past Webb clippers Celestial and Comet, and had a financial interest in the new clipper that was specifically built for the California and China trade.

All three clippers cleared New York on the same day, June 30, 1856, and each captain played his hunches and set very different courses down the Atlantic in the gamble as to just how far east to go in choosing the longitude where to cross the line.

The Romance of the Seas won this part of the race and was 29 days to the line, and 56 days out from New York passed through the Straits of Le Maire. The following day, the Romance was off Cape Horn, where she experienced heavy gales that carried away her figurehead and she sustained other damage as well, including a smashed boat and a broken steering apparatus. Ninety days out, the Romance of the Seas crossed the line in the Pacific. The North Pacific winds proved to be light and baffling. But still, the Romance of the Seas made land off Monterey 20 days later, and from there beat up the California coast to San Francisco, passing through the Golden Gate after a passage of 113 days, and was the winner of the race.

The Intrepid was the loser for she ran into contrary winds on the course her captain plotted as she made her way down the Atlantic. She experienced heavy weather off Cape Horn and was 94 days out before reaching the Pacific, and arrived at San Francisco after a long passage of 146 days.

The Neptune's Car had a 136-day passage around Cape Horn to San Francisco and this story remains one of the most heroic tales of the sea in the history of sail.

Captain Joshua Patten had high hopes of making a record passage around the Horn this time and again he had explicit orders from Messrs. Foster & Nickerson that "under no circumstances was the ship to be taken into any other port than San Francisco."

Mary was less enthusiastic about another race, but knew better than to think that her husband would not run up every possible bit of sail in his effort to beat the rival clippers around the Horn to the Golden Gate. Therefore, she was resigned to give her full support to this endeavor for she was loyal to her husband's wishes and understood his passion to get all the speed he could out of Neptune's Car.

The pilot came aboard that last day of June, and as the tide ran out, the Neptune's Car was towed down the East River as the crowds cheered her on for she was a proud looking clipper, one of the finest of the fleet.

Out past Sandy Hook her pilot departed. Captain Patten, true to his passion, called for a lofty spread of canvas. The swiftly hoisted sails caught the summer trade winds from the east-northeast that sent the Neptune's Car flying down the Atlantic for the line in the company of flying fish and sea birds in the race around Cape Horn for the Golden Gate.

The new First Mate, Mr. Keeler, did not share the convictions of her captain's lust for speed. For soon a pattern of disobedience began on the First Mate's watch and it was said that often "He reefed the courses while his Captain slept" for no good reason and contrary to his captain's orders, and this continued disobedience soon became a source of friction between the two.

The 45th parallel was crossed as the Neptune's Car approached Cape Horn and the cold weather came on, which added to the chill in relations between Captain Patten and his First Mate, who by then had been caught sleeping on his watch several times and reprimanded by his captain. Unbowed and unrepentant, the First Mate became increasingly obstinate, much to the chagrin of Captain Patten, whose patience was wearing thin, as his thoughts and energies weighed heavily upon the approaching task of navigating Neptune's Car around the Horn through increasingly stormy seas. It was unfortunately just a matter of time before the First Mate did something contrary to orders, and this time Captain Patten had had enough of his sullen First Mate's insubordination and deposed him.

Unfortunately, the Second Mate knew little of navigation and a double load of responsibility fell upon Captain Patten, who now had to stay awake night after night, as Neptune's Car drew closer to the Straits of Le Maire under the stars of the Southern Cross. The loss of sleep soon began to take a heavy toll upon the captain, along with the thought of what was ahead, where they would soon encounter the westerly gales that accompanied the Cape Horn Greybeards; giant mile-long waves that came up from Antarctica.

As Neptune's Car passed through the Straits of Le Maire, the fatigue eventually overwhelmed Captain Patten as he increasingly grew delirious and came down with "brain-fever," and was no longer able to command Neptune's Car.

The task of taking Neptune's Car around Cape Horn suddenly fell upon Mary Ann Patten, for she alone, other than the disgraced First Mate, possessed the navigational knowledge to do so. The thought of releasing the First Mate to assume the responsibility of taking command of the ship was out of the question. For her husband, the captain, had relieved him as First Mate and Mary Ann Patten was not about to make him captain no matter how much the disgraced Mate tried to assume command. He had even gone so far as to write the captain's wife a letter warning her of the perils that the Neptune's Car faced on her treacherous passage around the Horn. It was to no avail.

Accounts have it that the First Mate then "sought to excite mutiny among the crew insisting upon carrying the ship into Valparaiso." Perhaps mutiny is too strong a word for what transpired for the First Mate certainly thought that the ship and crew were in great danger and the expedient thing to do would be to make for the nearest port. The crew became increasingly alarmed over their predicament, not at all liking the turn of events, and grew more hostile by the hour, their anguish increasing as the winds and heavy seas pounded against the Neptune's Car. An excited clipper crew bent on fleeing to the nearest port was quite a fearful pack of sailors from all the seaports of the world to be confronted by a nineteen-year-old girl expecting her first child at the time.

But Mary Ann Patten was of a different mind and most akin to her husband's orders to put into no other port than San Francisco. Whatever inner strengths she had she would have to summon now. She was frank with the crew about her husband's helpless condition. Fortunately, she was able to gather the crew around her and convince the crew of her knowledge of navigation and rally the crew to her side. It is not known just what she said to them, but her tenacious spirit and courage must have made quite an impression upon the crew, for to a man they vowed to stand by her and the Neptune's Car, and do whatever it took to take her around Cape Horn.

For the next 18 days, the cold and howling gale force winds battered the Neptune's Car off Cape Horn, as 60-foot Greybeards crashed down on the clipper and the winds tore her sails to shreds, as the wave crests washed over the decks. The masts groaned under the constant strain and the winds bent the yards as well. Each oncoming wave was viewed with dread as the Neptune's Car clawed her way westward, with Mary Ann Patten on deck much of the time over the next 50 days and nights guiding the struggling clipper to the best of her ability. The loyal crew obeyed her every word with every sailor bravely performing his duty going out on the yards in all weather to struggle with the canvas.

The Rapid, that had sailed a month earlier, was also having a rough time of it and had been struggling for weeks off Cape Horn as the bitter dead of winter cold and continuous westerly gales battered her severely and held her back. 10 of her 24 seamen were dead and another 10 were sick or injured. Only four seamen remained fit for duty when Captain Winsor was forced to make the reluctant choice to turn back for Rio to refit. While eastward bound, the Rapid sighted Neptune's Car and ran up her distress signal, but Neptune's Car was sailing under distressed conditions as well and disregarded the Rapid's signal.

When Mary Ann Patten was not on deck she was below in the Captain's cabin with her delirious husband, where she tended him with all the care and skill that she could muster, but the "brain fever" was taking a heavy toll on Joshua Patten. Mary delved into the books of medicine in her desperate quest for treatments to try on her husband in her effort to soothe and restore him. These included shaving his head. Captain Patten rallied for a time and drifted in and out of consciousness.

Mary also spent much time at the writing desk with the charts doing meticulous calculations after taking nautical observations and plotting the course of Neptune's Car around the Horn. She also made frequent log entries and knew exactly where the clipper was at all times, but her husband, unfortunately, seemed to be lost to the world much of the time.

Neptune's Car clawed her way against the westerly winds and waves around Cape Horn into the Pacific and began her run to the north and the line. As the Neptune's Car approached the equator, Captain Patten took a turn for the worse and lost his sight and hearing.

Neptune's Car crossed the line on October 17th at longitude 115, the ideal crossing point for San Francisco bound clippers. Over the next three weeks, the Neptune's Car caught light winds from the Northeast to 30 North, where the winds picked up and swiftly took them to the San Francisco Heads; there, a thick fog bank greeted them and kept the clipper from entering the harbor for several days. The fog eventually lifted and the Neptune's Car approached the Golden Gate.

One San Francisco newspaper account had it that Mary Ann Patten "was warned of the danger she would encounter passing in and was advised to lay off until they could secure a pilot. This she refused to do; presuming upon her acquired knowledge, she took the helm herself and steered the vessel safely into port."

Mary Ann Patten, with a steady hand on the wheel, took the Neptune's Car past Signal Hill into the bay, as the crew broke out in a hearty cheer, and anchored among the fleet of arriving clippers to await her turn at the docks.

Such was Mary Ann Patten's concern for her ailing husband that she did not delay her docking of the Neptune's Car by a single day. The clipper arrived at the docks on November 15, 1856 in fine trim as her crew had made every effort to make her as presentable as possible after her 136-day passage.

The agent for Messrs. Foster & Nickerson soon came aboard along with the consignee and Mary Ann Patten presented them with the manifest. The agent was well pleased with the performance of this heroic young woman and her handling of the Neptune's Car and crew in such trying circumstances.

The disgraced former First Mate, Mr. Keeler, soon disappeared upon arrival through the Golden Gate and never faced up to the charges made against him.

All of San Francisco learned from excited newspaper accounts of Mary Ann Patten's incredible ordeal. A doctor was hurriedly called for and came aboard to examine the ailing Captain Joshua Patten.

The ailing captain was helped ashore by the San Francisco Masons of the Polar Star Lodge, of which Captain Patten was a member, and accompanied by Mary, was taken to a hotel. Where he was looked after in a compassionate way, but his diagnosis of "brain fever" was a troubling one for the medical profession of the day. Still, Mary Ann Patten remained steadfast in her devotion to her husband. While reporters continued to hang around the hotel lobby, most anxious to question the 19-year-old heroine again, and to milk the story for all it was worth.

Marry Ann Patten did not care for all this publicity, but she handled it well under the trying circumstances.

Mary and Joshua Patten remained in San Francisco over the Christmas holidays, but Joshua remained in guarded condition. His doctors were not optimistic about his eventual recovery, but agreed that he could find better treatment in the East.

One of the Masons, Dr. Harris, was departing for New York at that time and it was agreed that the doctor would accompany the Pattens and watch over the captain over the course of the passage home. After saying her heartfelt good-byes to the crew of the Neptune's Car and collecting their personnel belongings from the ship, the Pattens boarded the steamship Golden Gate for Panama.

Where they departed for the railroad passage across the Isthmus to Aspinwall, the terminal on the Atlantic, and continued on with the passage aboard the steamship George Law, bound for New York.

The New York newspapers made as big a heyday of the Pattens' ordeal as the San Francisco newspapers had and the London Daily News did as well as the following account bears out:

One day last month the people in the streets of New York observed a litter, evidently containing a sick person, carried from the shipping to the Battery Hotel. Beside the litter walked a young creature, who, but for her careworn countenance and her being near her confinement, might have been taken for a little school girl. Her story soon became known, and it has presently reached all hearts.

Mary Ann Patten soon departed New York by train for Boston, family, and home with her ailing husband, where it was hopeful that she could obtain the medical attention to bring her husband back to health.

On March 10, 1857, Mary gave birth to a son, Joshua Adams Patten, named after his father.

On March 12, 1857, 3,000 miles away, Neptune's Car, under the command of Captain Bearse, sailed from San Francisco back around the Horn for New York and made a 99-day run.

Unfortunately, Joshua's condition took a turn for the worst and despite Mary's gallant efforts, Joshua, on the advice of his doctors, was eventually taken to the McLean Asylum in Somerville.

The grateful underwriters of the Neptune's Car presented Mary Ann Patten with a thankful letter of praise along with a check for $1,000. The newspapers again picked up on the story pointing out that Mary Ann Patten replied to the underwriters that she was: "seriously embarrassed by the fear that you may have overestimated the value of those services, because I feel that without the services of Mr. Hare, the second officer, a good seaman, and of the hearty cooperation of the crew to aid our endeavors, the ship would not have arrived safely at her destined port."

Newspaper readers, however, soon rallied to the opinion that with such an expensive clipper and cargo, valued at close to $350,000, Mary Ann Patten deserved more. That the skills shown by Mary Ann Patten in bringing this ship around stormy Cape Horn and safely into San Francisco were deserving of a much higher reward in the $5,000 range.

All agreed that the sum bestowed upon her would not last long and this unfortunately was so.

Ministers and orators of the day hailed her as the "Heroine of Cape Horn," and the "Florence Nightingale of the Ocean." Others hailed her as a heroine of Women's Rights, a role that Mary intensely disliked.

Ladies of Boston organized a fundraising benefit and collected $1,399 from donors from all over the United States and Europe to help the impoverished Mary Ann Patten who had in the meantime come down with typhoid fever.

On Sunday morning July 26, 1857, Captain Joshua Patten died and word of his passing swiftly spread among all the ships in Boston Harbor and they all lowered their colors to half-mast in his honor. Joshua Patten's funeral was held at the Old North Church. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, near Boston.

Mary followed him in death less than four years later dying destitute of tuberculosis on March 17, 1861. She was buried alongside her husband.

A year after her death the Neptune's Car was sold to the British.

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