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ECS ~ I recently heard from Diane Khatib from Akron, Ohio, and she sent me this letter and pictures of the Sovereign of the Seas model that her Dad built out of a mahogony table, along with a page from the Illustrated London News concerning the Sovereign's voyage to Liverpool, and share it with you here. ~ Don Ross

Ahoy Don,

I have the shots of my Dad's Sovereign. His ship is 38" in length, rated class B museum quality by Michael Wall of American Marine Model Gallery. http://www.shipmodel.com/
The Sovereign docked at my house today bringing with it great pleasure and pride of my Dad's love of the sea. My Dad's name is Earl F. Sunderland, Jr. (He passed away Dec 10, 2006) he loved sailing and sailed every spring thru fall out of Squantum Yacht Club, in Quincy, Massachusetts. He raced a 19" Flying Scott for many years entering races up and down the coast from Marblehead, Massachusetts to Rhode Island. When the riggors of the Scott were too much for him....he bought a 32" day sailer and took leasurely weekend trips hugging the coast. Unfortunately, the last few years of his life were difficult. He lost his right leg to diabetes and was confined to a wheelchair. His heart was suffering and he needed dialysis 3x a week for his failing kidneys. It was a struggle, but he never, ever complained....he was an inspiration and a truly brave gentleman.
Let me know...if you do get them up on the site...thanks
Here are the professional photos they promised. So glad to have you keeping it all alive.

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From the Illustrated London News 

The "Sovereign of the Seas"

This celebrated American clipper ship arrived in the Mersey on the 2nd inst., from New York, having made the run in a shorter time than was ever previously accomplished by a sailing ship. She came with an extraordiary reputation; having been reported in New York journals as "one of a glorious fleet of a thousand sail" voluntarily engaged in making observations for the wind and current charts: and, taking them for her guide, she made the run in 103 days from New York to San Francisco, both crossing the equator in the Pacific and arriving in port on the day predicted.

She made her last voyage from Honolulu to New York, having a full cargo of oil aboard, in eighty-two days; and, during it, displayed the highest rate of speed ever attained by any vessel on the ocean. Within ten consecutive days,, commencing March 11, she ran as follows-332, 312, 284, 207, 245, 396, 311, 430, 360, and 267 miles:Whole distance in ten days, 3144 miles; making an average of 314 miles a day; and this being short-handed, and with foretop-mast and jury-topgallant-mast disabled.

We have not space further to detail her performances. Among the results-in twenty-two days, with the wind alone as a propelling power, and but half manned, the Sovereign of the Seas accomplished the enormous run of 6,245 miles (one-fourth the distance round the earth), and making the daily average of 283 statute miles and 9-10ths (283.9).

During her recent run from New York, from her position on the Grand Banks on the 25th ult., in lat. 46 20, lon. 50 10, she was135 hours sailing thence to Cape Clear-a distance of 1668 miles; being an average of 296 miles per day, or 12.73 knots per hour.

The Sovereign of the Seas was built by Mr. McKay of Boston, the builder of the celebrated clipper Flying Cloud, and was named after the renowned ship built at Woolwich Dockyard in 1637, of which there is a fine model at Somerset-house. her tonn age corresponded with the year; she was the first vessel built with "flushe-decks," and the largest up to that period belonging to the English Navy. Her keel measured 187 ft. 9 in.; her main breadth of beam was 48 ft. 4 in.; and she had three decks, a poop, and topgallant forecastle. She was pierced for 126 guns.

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The dimensions of the Sovereign of the Seas are:-Length of keel, 245 feet; between perpendiculars on deck, including 8 feet decks, 23 1/2 feet. Registered capacity, 2421 tons. Her rise of floor at 11 feet from the centre of the keel is 20 inches; she has concave waterlines, but her outline on the rail is convex. She has longer and sharper ends than those of any ship or ocean steamer in the world. Her stern is semicircular in outline, and very snug, and her sheer is carried boldly forward, imparting grace and lightness to the bows. Such is the harmony of her proportions, that, viewed at two or three hundred yards distance, she does not appear to be larger than many full modelled vessels of a thousand tons. Her frame, all her hooks and pointers, and nearly all her knees, are of selected seasoned white oak; and her deep frames, ceiling, and flanking, are of hard southern pine. She is strongly bolted in copper, and is, as a whole, the most substantially built vessel that has yet been produced in America.

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All her accommodations are on the upper deck, leaving the hold entirely clear for the storage of cargo. She has two spacious cabins built into a half-poop deck; a large house abaft the foremast for part of her crew; the galley, and other purposes; and a full top-gallant forecastle; the space under which is also fitted for the accommodation of her crew.

Her masts and yards are very stout, and strongly secured. The lower masts, commencing with the fore, are 89, 93, and 82 feet long; and her lower yards, 80, 90, and 70 feet square; the topsail yards, 63, 70, and 56 feet, and the others in proportion; and sher spreads about 12,000 yards of canvas in a single suit. Her bow terminateds with the figure of a sea-god, half man and half fish, with a conch-shell raised to his mouth, as if blowing it.

Mr. McKay, the builder of The Sovereign of the Seas, Is the son of Scottish parents from Perthshire, and was born in Nova Scotia.

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