The End of Boom Times

The Red Jacket

The closing days of 1853 signaled the end of the boom times for the building of clipper ships. Over the past ten years approximately 270 ships built upon the clipper model, along with a large number of clipper barques and other vessels, had slid down the ways of the many shipyards along the Atlantic coast.

Of the clipper numbers, 125 of them had been launched in 1853. The majority of these new clippers were larger and sharper. Their carrying capacity was smaller and they were more expensive to build and operate and required larger crews. Fast freight charges were falling almost to the point of ordinary freight as the California market bottomed out. No longer was a premium put on the fast delivery of goods.

Signs of commercial depression were all about as majestic clippers entered the detestable guano trade, and by the fall of 1853, scores of clippers anchored at Callao or at the Chinchas loading guano or waiting their turn to take their place at the chutes.

Other new clippers began their career hauling cotton or lumber; or worse, entering into the coolie, slave, and guano trades. The carefree glorious days of sail were coming to a close.

The transatlantic packet service was coming under heavy assault by the deplorable conditions aboard many of the packets that were engaged in the transport of emigrants to America. This is understandable considering that as many as 700 to 1,000 individuals were often crammed together below deck on a ship that was often smaller than 200 feet in length. Upon stormy seas, the conditions aboard were truly horrendous.

Twenty-eight packet ships arrived at the port of New York over the month of November with a passenger list totaling 13,762 emigrants and 1,141 were lost on the voyages across the Atlantic; appalling statistics that put the packet trade in an unfavorable light.

The rapid development of the steamship was spurred on by none other than John Willis Griffiths and his "seven day steamship" that Griffiths was developing for the Galway run, a shallow, light craft built of wood and iron that Griffiths named the William Morris. Capital was pouring in for the development of a "six day boat" to other designers and steam power was steaming right along and it was only a matter of time before it would soon eclipse the packet fleet.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the P. & O. Steamship Line maintained regular service between London and China and had been in existence for some time. Another British steamship company, the General Screw Steamship Company, started up and built two full rigged clipper ships fitted out with auxiliary steam power and feathering screw propellers.

Certain ship owners in the United States, however, perhaps not having thought through the matter, placed a high value upon the appearance of a clipper but still wanted a carrier with more cargo space and a number of new ships began to appear "outfitted in mongrel fashion with clipper tops and full bottoms." The ships appeared to be clippers above the load line, but below the water their lines revealed that they were hardly better than cotton or lumber droughers.

Ship owners and shipbuilders soon saw the errors of this direction and ship designers began to devote their efforts to a new model and this resulted in the development of a new kind of clipper that combined the elements of an extreme clipper with the carrying capacity of a packet ship and the results that they came up with was that of a medium clipper.

It would take a while for the results of these new experiments to work themselves out, so in the meantime the momentum of the building frenzy continued to send huge new extreme clippers sliding down the ways that had already been designed and paid for even though the more astute shippers realized that the days of the extreme California clippers were numbered.

The Seneca Chief Red Jacket

One such extreme clipper was the Red Jacket, designed by Samuel Harte Pook, and built and launched from George Thomas' shipyard at Rockland, Maine on November 2, 1853. She was a large exquisitely handsome clipper of perfect proportions quite pleasing to the eye that some said "had the graceful appearance of a dainty tea clipper," but much larger measuring out at 251 x 44 x 31 feet and 2305 tons. She had hollow entrance lines and her ends were long and very sharp, but not as pronounced as her great rival, the Lightning.

The Red Jacket was to be sent to Liverpool uncoppered with few interior fittings and all the coppering was to be done upon arrival, along with the decorating of her saloons and cabins by Liverpool artisans to customize her for the Australian emigrant trade. American artisans, however, took great pride in carving the figureheads, taffrail scrolls, and carvings of their ships and such was the case with the Red Jacket.

The Red Jacket's figurehead was a life-size carving of the great Seneca Indian chief Red Jacket of the Wolf Clan presented in a magnificent fashion with beaded buckskins, a red jacket, and a feather head-dress. His Indian name was chief Sagoyewatha (He that keeps them awake). The carving was a carefully crafted likeness of the Indian chief, for Red Jacket had been a scout for British forces at the time of the Revolutionary War and had lived on a reservation near Buffalo, New York until he died in 1830.

He often wore the red jacket of the British soldier and a number of red jackets were presented to him over the years upon many occasions by the grateful British for his years of loyal service.

The Red Jacket was Pook's masterpiece and owned by Boston merchants Seacomb & Taylor. A week after her launching, the Red Jacket was towed to New York to be fitted with her spars and rigging.

The Red Jacket was upstream from the Great Republic a sufficient distance on the night of December 26th and was not in any danger that night of the fire.

Command of the Red Jacket was given to Captain Asa Eldridge, the former captain of the packet ship Roscius of the Collins Line, a superb navigator known around the world. A very indifferent crew was rounded up and the Red Jacket cleared New York on January 11, 1854. They had an amazingly swift voyage across the Atlantic even though there was snow, hail, and rain throughout every day of the voyage accompanied by westerly gales and the Red Jacket arrived off Point Lynas on January 23rd.

A pilot came aboard shortly after noon in stormy weather and guided her up the Mersey River to Liverpool. The Red Jacket had a dock to dock elapsed time of 13 days, one hour and 25 minutes, thus beating the record time of 13 days, 22 hours set by the Sovereign of the Seas the year before. The three best days of the Red Jacket's run were 413, 374 and 371 miles.

The Liverpool newspapers were impressed with the Red Jacket and the following account appeared in the Liverpool Journal on January 28, 1854:

The Red Jacket in general appearance of hull, spars, rigging and deck arrangements is very much after the style of the celebrated Sovereign of the Seas; but she appears to have rather more 'Spring" forward and she certainly has more outside ornament in the shape of a full length figure head, and an elaborate design in gilt work on her stern extending also down each side of the rudder.

The Red Jacket was held in such favorable esteem in Liverpool that Pilkinton & Wilson soon chartered her for a round voyage to Melbourne for the White Star Line. The Red Jacket was immediately fitted out to accommodate a large number of emigrants for the passage to Australia.

Captain Eldridge had no desire to leave the Atlantic New York - Liverpool trade and passed on command of the Red Jacket to a captain of the White Star Line's choosing, Captain Samuel Reid.

The record setting best day's distance of the Red Jacket's maiden voyage across the Atlantic of 413 nautical miles in 24 hours was short-lived. Eight days before the Red Jacket had cleared New York, on January 3, 1854, the Lightning was launched at Donald McKay's shipyard in East Boston and she was soon to follow the Red Jacket across the Atlantic.

America's golden age of sail had peaked for most shipbuilders, but Donald McKay was fortunate, indeed, to have found such a generous benefactor in James Baines & Co. James Baines would keep McKay busy for a time with the building of the Black Ball Quartette of Australian passenger clippers, of which the Lightning was the first.

The Lightning was an extremely sharp clipper built expressly for the Australian trade, and McKay pooled all his energy and attention upon the final preparations of his latest clipper in the stocks.

Her carved figurehead was that of a beautiful young woman with long streaming hair in flowing drapery with her outstretched hand holding a thunderbolt.

James Baines

James Baines had a wonderful eye for ships and for years had admired the McKay packets and clippers that had visited Liverpool and was determined to own a number of McKay clippers for his growing Australian Black Ball fleet, regardless of any ill-feeling that this business decision might stir up among his countrymen, particularly with British shipbuilders. After all, the British had scrapped their archaic Navigation Acts several years earlier in 1849 and Baines was quick to grasp the significance of this.

Baines wanted the largest and fastest sailing ships in the world as well as the least expensive. New England and the booming shipyards of Quebec and St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada were the places to find them. With such a fleet capable of carrying large numbers of emigrants, he knew that he would be able to compete successfully for a lion's share of the booming Australian trade against other London and Liverpool shipping and mercantile interests that Baines felt were much too dependent at that time upon British-built ships. They had grown too complacent for Baines, and his latest actions would certainly stir things up.

British shipping men were aghast when Baines made his move and so were shippers on the other side of the Atlantic. But other Liverpool ship owners quickly followed his lead.

Baines had a solid track record to base this business decision on for he had already successfully operated the Sovereign of the Seas in 1853 on a chartered Australian run. He had a standing offer to kick back 50 shillings per ton to every shipper if the Sovereign of the Seas did not beat every steamer on the passage to Australia. This offer lured much trade his way while never having to kick back so much as a shilling!

Baines was well known in Liverpool shipping circles as "Jimmy" Baines and his rise to success was phenomenal. He was a small man between 5 feet, 3 inches and 5 feet, 4 inches tall, with an energetic personality, reddish hair, "mutton-chop" whiskers, a fair complexion, and sparkling eyes.

Talkative and generous, he brought a youthful enthusiasm to everything he did and once he made a decision he boldly followed it up often getting the jump on his competitors before they knew what was happening. His rise to the top of Liverpool shipping circles was meteoric and the stuff of legends.

A photograph taken of Baines while in his early thirties shows a picture of a young man in fine clothes who was something of a dandy impeccably dressed in the old English style. The following literary portrait is presented here from the writings of Miss C. Fox Smith taken from her book Sailor Town Days.

A nervous, highly-strung fellow, 'hung on strings' as the saying goes; and with a capacity to make either a big success of life or a big failure, but never to take the comfortable, safe middle course. . . . His face suggests the vanity which showed itself in having his finest ship named after himself, and adorned with his own bust by the way of a figurehead . . . a sanguine sort of man whose optimism might lead him to success or disaster.

Baines was described, as an "active and pushing" man by some of those who encountered him on the Exchange or the "Change" as it was known. He was both persuasive and charming. This strategy was necessary in Baines' eyes and obviously successful for it brought business his way. Baines was often seen as his photograph suggests, with heavy pouches under his eyes, a sign that the man had little time for sleep and was burning the candle at both ends.

Baines was generous to a fault and well known for his lavish hospitality whenever he gave one of his huge banquets, or dejéuners, to celebrate the sailing of one of his new Back Ball Liners. These were most festive lavish occasions designed to generate goodwill and bring more business his way and Baines was in his element. He clearly enjoyed the déjeuners that were always attended by the upper crust of Liverpool and the déjeuners were always played up in the newspapers, which created favorable publicity.

Baines also entertained lavishly at home with private dinner parties and was extravagant in his spending habits especially upon his personal pleasures. Upon festive occasions, he was known to drink and could hold his liquor. He enjoyed playing billiards and cards and always used these social occasions to his advantage. Baines was always eager to make more money, but just as quickly he was known to squander it away. It was also known that he had a roving eye for the ladies.

The Growth of Liverpool as a Seaport

Picture from The Passagemakers

Liverpool by the mid-nineteenth century was considered the second seaport of the Kingdom and had entered into the deep-sea trade late in British history. In the late seventeenth century, Liverpool was only a sub-port of Chester primarily engaged in the Irish trade up until the beginning of the eighteenth century when the American, West Indian, and West African trades picked up.

By 1715, the first enclosed dock was constructed along the dangerous swift flowing Mersey River, thus making the area most attractive to shippers as the city became the destination hub of a growing number of systematically laid out canals that reached out great distances to the Lancashire textile and coal towns, the Staffordshire potteries, the Cheshire salt-works, the Birmingham industries, and the Yorkshire wool trade.

From that point on, the Industrial Revolution descended upon Liverpool at a frightening pace. Liverpool was soon a bustling city of industry and trade with mills and factories going up everywhere and numerous smokestacks belching out foul smoky substances, including clouds of hydrochloric acid gas, that took a heavy toll on the Liverpool environment.

Rows of warehouses ran along the Mersey River as the local shippers were quick to capitalize upon the Port of Liverpool's growing status as a shipping hub following the end of the War of 1812 as the American trade, particularly in cotton, increased phenomenally. Other markets opened up as well, including the West African palm oil trade. The East India Company's trade monopoly ended in 1813 and soon Liverpool ships began to trade in Indian and Chinese waters, and the South American trade picked up. Then came the growing call from Australia for merchant shippers to fill her needs with a steady supply of emigrants and goods.

The success of the port was intricately linked to the growing number of efficiently constructed docks built to handle the ever-growing trade along the Mersey River, an often treacherous body of water whose tidal ebbs and flows ran a swift six or seven knots with the highest rise and fall rates in the Kingdom.

Offshore, elusive sandbanks shifted at the mouth of the Mersey River and gales often blew in from the Irish Sea up the Mersey Channel. The bed of the river offered poor anchorage due to the swift flowing tidal currents; hence the need for the protective docks for the Mersey was an unforgiving river.

Often, many vessels would heave-to outside the harbor beyond the Mersey Bar while the contrary winds blew, and when the fair winds came, dozens of ships, coasting brigs, cutters, and schooners along with Mersey sailing flats, would ride the early tide up the Mersey River to the docks. The outgoing tides carried numerous vessels as well and it was a lively scene along the river often captured by maritime artists of the day.

The building of more and larger docks and warehouses to handle the ever-increasing trade and larger ships was greatly spurred on with the appointment of Jesse Hartley, a former stone-mason and bridge-master, as the new dock engineer in 1824. Hartley had demonstrated his capabilities as a builder of roads and bridges of sound quality and would prove himself as a capable artisan with the design, construction, and total transformation over the next thirty-six years of the Liverpool docks.

The 'Old Dock' was closed soon after in 1826 because by then it was considered too old and obsolete. The area was reclaimed in 1834 and a new Customs House, Revenue Office, and Post Office rose on the site.

Hartley's approach was long-term as wall as a pragmatic and practical one and his first big project was the building of Clarence Dock, a self-contained steamship dock facility well away from the area where wooden ships docked because of the fire hazard. Clarence Dock opened in September 1830 to service the coastal and cross-channel steamship trades.

Next came the construction of the Brunswick Dock near the Liverpool shipyards south of the Kings and Queens Docks, which Hartley finished in 1834 as a special timber dock in response to the ever-expanding North American and Baltic timber trades.

The Mersey shipyards at the time were hard pressed to compete with Canadian shipyards that were so much closer to the forests where labor costs were cheaper.

Besides paying higher prices for materials, the Mersey shipyards were also being squeezed at their traditional sites along the Mersey and had little room to expand their shipbuilding operations. Little space existed in the shipyards for the storage of timber and therefore ships could only be built one at a time and this fact added to their expense.

The Mersey shipyards built fine durable ships out of oak, as opposed to "softwood" Canadian ships, but with their higher construction costs most of the shipbuilding business went to the Canadians as well as to shipyards elsewhere in England where vessels fetched a cheaper price.

Port authorities eventually forced all those shipyards along the Mersey River near the Salt House Dock to move away and relocate, and in 1845 Albert Dock was built in their place in the enterprising effort of progress to keep pace with the growing shipping trade.

Around that time Hartley also built Waterloo, Victoria, Trafalger, Coburg, and Toxteth Docks.

Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, opened the Albert Dock in 1845. Over the following years, Salisbury, Collingwood, Stanley, Nelson, and Bramley-Moore Docks were built by 1848. Wellington Dock was built in 1850, Sandon Dock in 1851, Huskisson Dock in 1852, Wapping Dock in 1855, and Canada Dock in 1858.

Many a Black Ball vessel loaded at these docks for their long voyages to Australia and elsewhere.

Water Street was one of the major thoroughfares and ran uphill from the Mersey Docks. At the summit was the commercial center of the town. Off on the myriad of side streets were the shipping offices, chandleries, and public houses. Beyond the commercial section back down toward the river and the docks was a vast growing densely populated area known by all as "sailortown," which was like many other busy seaports of the world. With its streets of pubs, brothels, and lodging houses, along with a wide assortment of small businesses, all competing to capture their share of the booming Liverpool-Australian trade in the years following the gold discoveries.

"Land-sharks" were all too eager to take advantage of sailor Jack when he came ashore for a spree with money in his pocket. Naive emigrants waiting in town for their ships to sail were also prey. Thousands of poor Irish had come over to Liverpool at the time of the Potato Famine and added to the poverty and squalor of the city. A large gulf existed between the rich and the poor of Liverpool.

As the city grew, the more prosperous citizens retreated further up into the hills and for a time Duke Street was considered to be one of the more fashionable areas until the urban pressure eventually forced many of the well-to-do to other enclaves north and south of town and across the river.

The Exchange was the commercial center of Liverpool located at a large flagged open square beyond the Town Hall surrounded by commodity exchange buildings. Brokers and merchants in their top hats and frock coats met daily at 12 o'clock and later on at 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the "Change" to do their business, talk, and take the pulse of what was going on throughout the business community, always on the lookout to quickly capitalize upon an opportunity wherever they could find one.

Near the parish church of St. Nicholas on a point of high ground over George's Dock there was a second gathering place from where the signal flags across the Mersey River at Bidson Hill could be seen and read with a telescope.

When a ship owner sighted his flag, that told him that one of his ships was arriving at the entrance of the Mersey River. By 1827, a chain of semaphore stations had replaced the flags and a new block of special tower offices were built near the church.

James Baines would locate his business there for a number of years after 1858 when an electric telegraph replaced the semaphore stations.

James Baines was a son of the city having been born in Upper Duke Street, Liverpool on October 26, 1823. His mother, Mary, owned a cake and sweet shop at 85 Duke Street that was popular among ship owners of the city. There were four children: William, Mary, James, and John.

William Baines, was a schoolteacher who went into the sugar refining business to support his growing family. His refinery was conveniently located at 6 Jackson Lane, one of the side streets near the Princes Dock and close by the terminus dock where the Liverpool and Leeds canals converged.

William Baines suffered from ill health, said to be "consumption", a common ailment of the day, and died in 1829 just 37 years old. James was five and a half years old at the time. Mary Baines was left a young widow to care for her four children, but her husband left a prosperous business. This was enough to enable the large family to move from above the confectionery shop to a residence at 1 Rathbone Street further away from the docks up the hill. From that point on, the upstairs of the confectionery shop became a first-class boarding house.

Mrs. Baines was a confectionery baker of some repute and in 1836 made one of the elaborate cakes for Princess Victoria's birthday that was presented to the Princess by Lord Sandon. The Princess was most pleased with the cake for soon after Mrs. Baines was appointed confectioner to Her Royal Highness. Mrs. Baines showed a talent and flair for publicity that early on left a strong impression upon her children, particularly young James.

The eldest brother, William, looked after his family's share of the sugar refinery along with the partner, Mr. Rigby, that Mrs. Baines had taken on following her husband's death.

James' younger brother, John, got into the shipping business early and the Australian gold rush years were prosperous ones for him and he became the manager of the New Steam Tug Co. by 1857.

James' older sister, Mary, met her future husband John Grant Morris, a wealthy coal merchant, while he lodged at Mrs. Baines' 85 Duke Street upstairs boarding house. In August 1835 the two were married.

The early life of James Baines is one of mystery, but he was most likely educated at one of the "commercial" schools of Liverpool where the concentration was on practical subjects most fitting to the station of life that he had been born into.

Baines soon began an apprenticeship under the wing of his shipbroker uncle, Richard Baines, as a shipping clerk at 2 Wellington Buildings, Poole Lane, where a number of fine office terraces were constructed in the 1830s for the growing number of firms seeking office space.

As shipping commerce grew over the years, there was more of a trend toward specialization within the different aspects of merchant shipping and the need for shipbrokers grew as essential middlemen.

Many ambitious talented young men began their careers as shipbrokering clerks, for little capital was required for shipbroking and a clerk with a flair for it could rise within the firm and in time go on to found a firm of his own or with partners.

Apprenticeships usually lasted from four to five years. Long hours came with the job and the young junior clerk learned all the different aspects of the shipbroking trade from his uncle, seniors, and colleagues, and swiftly worked his way up in the firm.

Baines certainly spent time down at the docks taking inventory of the weights of landed goods and shipping out cargoes, where he excelled as a freight solicitor. Another position was that of a messenger whose tasks included going for the morning and evening mail. Correspondence by letter in those days before the telegraph was a very important and time consuming activity of the office as was the meticulous copying of invoices and bills of exchange. All transactions had to be recorded into the day-book leather-bound ledgers. The only breaks in the long day were at 12 o'clock and 4 o'clock at the Exchange.

A shipbroker's principle task was to connect a shipper and a cargo that needed transportation with a ship owner in need of a cargo who was willing to transport the goods to the shipper's port of destination. Once negotiated, the shipbroker drew up a legal contract between the two parties, termed the charter party, and for his services the shipbroker took a small commission. The shrewd and prosperous shipbroker would often invest his profits in ship-shares.

Chartering ships was also an option for the shipbroker who would then find cargoes to take on from shippers to fill the holds of chartered ships. They could also negotiate contracts for building new ships. Shipbrokers were constantly trading ship-shares back and forth between one another and the banks. The usual breakup was 64 shares of ownership of each vessel.

Ships were often built and bought on credit and upon acquisition were usually mortgaged to a bank or merchant and the ships became collateral against debts of all kinds. The sums obtained by the shipbrokers from the banks and merchants in this fashion were substantial and the "sharp operator" was always on the lookout for new business opportunities as well as the most advantageous way to make a profit by providing the most efficient service that the technologies of the day could provide.

Above all, shipbrokers had to be most persuasive salesmen or as B. G. Orchard would say: ". . . jolly, brisk little fellows who could almost talk a corpse back to life again," and James Baines certainly fit this description. He had a generous persuasive charm about him along with a gregarious nature that served him well, but when it came to business Baines could be ruthless on occasions. He was, however, a generous and loyal employer to all who served him faithfully in the years to come.

Individuals owned some shipbroking firms while others had two or more partners. Partners were often brought together through contacts at the Exchange to form shipbroking firms with each partner bringing his own expertise and capital to the business venture. Often, a retired captain would join forces with an ambitious young shipping clerk and bring together their joint expertise and capital, perhaps along with other partners, for their mutual benefit and sign a deed of partnership.

This stipulated an extensive agreement among the partners that was expected to be honored by all and stipulating that all the partners would have access to the books and that certain safeguards were set up within the company for the protection of all concerned.

Twice a year there were settlements of accounts and arbitrators settled internal disputes. Partnerships took three months to dissolve.

Next: James Baines

The Era of the Clipper Ships
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