Donald McKay
1810 – 1880
Photographs of Monument
Jordan Falls Shelburne County Nova Scotia
Located on the south side of Highway 103, about 30m west from the Jordan River bridge
GPS location: 43°48’56″N 65°14’05″W
Photographed on 28 July 2003
Photographed on 28 July 2003
This monument was officially unveiled on 20 August 1966.
Photographed on 28 July 2003
Photographed on 19 August 2003
Mr. McKay, perhaps more than the general run of builders, has the rare faculty of producing a beautiful model, and making the ship built by it an exact copy. Inother words, he makes the ships he builds look just as he likes. Hedelights in his noble profession, and considers labor or expense nothing, compared with success. Itis his ambition to build the best, most beautiful, and swiftest clippers in the world…
Source:
Boston Daily Atlas 17 November 1852
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1852-11-17).html
McKay Clan Page website by “1st-cousin-4-times-removed to Donald McKay”
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/mckay.html
includes a good picture of The Great Republic, launched 4 October 1853
(150th anniversary on 4 October 2003)
The Glory of the Seas a brief overview of Donald McKay’s life
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page72.html
Donald McKay Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_McKay
Donald McKay’s journey to Liverpool Boston Daily Atlas, 18 June 1851
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-06-18).html
Donald McKay: Peacemaker
…That seizure of the Trent on November 8, 1861, created the greatest
excitement in England, where the members of the government were either actively
hostile to the Northern States or coldly indifferent, and threats of war were
freely made. Donald McKay was in London at the time, and on December 6, 1861,
he sent a long communication to the powerful Star and Dial of London, which was
published, copied, and widely commented upon throughout the United Kingdom.
In it he corrected some of the misstatements being bandied about in the English
press, frankly set out the naval strength of the Northern States…
“Donald McKay tells them honestly and well…” — U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page69.html
Sovereign of the Seas extreme clipper ship built in 1852 by Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Sovereign_of_the_Seas(1852).html
James Baines extreme clipper ship built in 1854 by Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/James_Baines(1854).html
Reproduction of a page from the Diary of Alfred Withers
on board the James Baines, Liverpool to Melbourne, 1857
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.9437
Flying Cloud extreme clipper launched in 1851, at the shipyard of Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Flying_Cloud(1851).html
The New Clipper Ship Flying Cloud Boston Daily Atlas, 25 April 1851
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-04-25).html
The Flying Cloud: Voyages Two & Three
…Flying Cloud had sailed all the way around the world on her
first voyage with her main mast in a weakened condition…
On May 14, 1852, Flying Cloud cleared New York for her second run around the Horn…
On April 28, 1853, Flying Cloud departed New York on her third voyage to San Francisco…
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page59.html
Record Voyage of the Flying Cloud
…On January 21, 1854, the steamer Achilles towed the
Flying Cloud down the East River out to Sandy Hook…
Arrived San Francisco on April 20, time 89 days, 8 hours…
On August 7th, 1854, the Flying Cloud encountered storms and foggy weather
and was sailing hard when she struck and ran up on a coral reef with such
force that the jagged coral cut right through Flying Cloud’s keel leaving
a hole through the hull… Captain Creesy continued on with the voyage as
members of the crew manned the pumps 24 hours a day over the entire voyage
half way around the world back to New York, arriving there on November 24th, 1854…
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page60.html
135 years
…clipper ships, big and lean, were the fastest commercial
sailing ships ever built. They could make the 14,500-mile
[23,300km] trip between New York and San Francisco
around South America in less than 100days. The famous
clipper Flying Cloud made the voyage in 89days, eight
hours, a record that stood for 135years until broken
by the racing yacht Thursday’s Child in1989…
“Clipper advertising card exhibit at Bancroft Library”
San Francisco Chronicle, 21 September 2013
The Last Great Sailing Record
Overtaking a Clipper Ship After 135 Years
A 60-foot yacht designed in the anything-goes style of ocean racing is
expected to sail through the Golden Gate Bridge finish line late Saturday
and break what many sailors consider to be the last great sailing record.
If she arrives when expected, Thursday’s Child will have made the
15,000-mile voyage from New York to San Francisco round Cape Horn
in 80 days. That would be nine days faster than the time it took the
229-foot Flying Cloud to sail the same course in1854. As of noon
Pacific time today, Thursday’s Child was 197 miles away
from San Francisco, tacking in very light wind.
Previous attempts to break the record have ended in disappointment
or disaster. Three sailboats in the last six years that tried to better
Flying Cloud’s effort broke up or sank shortly after rounding Cape Horn,
the perilous meeting point of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
at the tip of South America…
“Overtaking a Clipper Ship After 135 Years”
The New York Times, 11 February 1989
The Largest Clipper in the World Boston Daily Atlas, 25 May 1852
The Enoch Train
Mr McKay has now on the stocks, at East Boston, a magnificent clipper ship…
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1852-05-25).html
Launch of the Enoch Train, The Largest Clipper Ship in the World
Boston Daily Atlas, 7 June 1852
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1852-06-07).html
Staffordshire clipper packet ship built in 1851 by Donald McKay, East Boston
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Staffordshire(1851).html
The new clipper packet ship Staffordshire Boston Daily Atlas, 21 July 1851
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-07-21).html
Clipper ship Staffordshire now receiving freight… Boston Daily Atlas, 23 April 1852
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1852-04-23).html
Abstract of the Log of the Staffordshire December 1851
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1852-01-13).html
Loss of the Packet Ship Staffordshire, and One Hundred and Eighty Lives
Boston Semi-Weekly Atlas, 4 January 1854
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BSWA/BSWA(1854-01-04).html
Loss of the ship Staffordshire
Boston Semi-Weekly Atlas, 14 January 1854
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BSWA/BSWA(1854-01-14).html
The Marco Polo
…On December 29th, 1853, the Staffordshire was in the vicinity of
Cape Sable near the Seal Islands (at the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia)
and struck on Blonde Rock several times before she went off in deep water…
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page58.html
Flying Fish extreme clipper ship built in 1851 by Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Flying_Fish(1851).html
Bald Eagle extreme clipper ship built in 1852 by Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Bald_Eagle(1852).html
Bald Eagle extreme clipper built in 1852 by Donald McKay, East Boston
http://www.globalindex.com/clippers/museum/bald_eag.htm
Clipper ship Bald Eagle Boston Daily Atlas, 17 November 1852
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1852-11-17).html
Designed, modelled, draughted and built by Mr. Donald McKay
Empress of the Seas Boston Daily Atlas, 25 January 1853
clipper ship built in 1853 at East Boston, by the celebrated Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1853-01-25).html
Stag Hound extreme clipper ship built in 1850 by Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Staghound(1850).html
Clipper ship Stag Hound, of Boston The U.S. Nautical Magazine, 1855
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Shipbuilding/USNM-2(1855)_p401.html
Letter from a passenger on board the clipper ship Stag Hound Boston Daily Atlas, 10 June 1851
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-06-10).html
Donald McKay extreme clipper launched in 1855 at the shipyard of Donald McKay
http://www.globalindex.com/clippers/museum/donald_m.htm
Champion of the Seas built in 1854 at East Boston by Donald McKay
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Champion_of_the_Seas(1854).html
Clipper Ship by John H. Lienhard
Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and History, University of Houston
Clipper ships were not a specific design, they were a state of mind.
And that state of mind lasted only a decade… (1846-1856)
They were tall and beautiful. Acres of canvas drove them at 14 knots.
For a while those expensive ships paid for themselves on a single voyage…
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi338.htm
…The clipper ship era entered its apotheosis when marine architect
Donald McKay of East Boston designed the first extreme clipper,
StagHound. The ship was designed for a swift east coast “round
the Horn” run to SanFrancisco, then to speed to China and return
around the world. McKay favored CapeCod masters for his vessels,
and he selected Richardson to command StagHound, the highest
compliment that could be paid to this young captain. StagHound
was launched before 1,500people on a cold December day in1850…
…Staffordshire labored to the westward under a double-reefed main
topsail. The watch sighted the distant lights of CapeSable Island
(not Sable Island, as stated in the original article)
to the south of the Nova
Scotia mainland, but the ship’s damaged rudder and fouled gear
made her slow to come about. Just four miles off Cape Sable Island
on the morning of December29, 1853, Staffordshire struck Blonde
Rock, remained suspended, then slipped off to sink bow first. An
icy deck and a snow squall hampered the lowering of boats to save
passengers and crew… Captain Richardson perished with 169others
on that tragic December morning… Alden and 43others were saved…
Books
Donald McKay and the Clipper Ships by Mary Ellen Chase,
181pages with photographs and diagrams, published1959 by
Houghton Mifflin Company, Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Yankee Clippers: the Story of Donald McKay
by Clara Ingram Judson and Yukio Tashiro, a biography of the
Nova Scotia farmer’s son who dreamed of ships as a lad, worked
in the shipyards as a youth, and designed and built more than
ninety ships in the great days of clipper sail
published 1965 by Follett Publishing Company, Chicago
Donald McKay: Designer of Clipper Ships
by John O’Hara Cosgrave II and Clara Ingram Judson
published 1943 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York
Some famous sailing ships and their builder, Donald McKay:
a study of the American sailing packet and clipper eras, with
biographical sketches of America’s foremost designer and master
builder of ships, and a comprehensive history of his many famous ships
by Richard C. McKay (grandson of Donald McKay), 396 pages with
25 b/w illustrations, plus 10 plates in colour with tissue guard,
and 51 pages with 42 b/w plates and 11 plans models, maps, facsimile
letters and telegrams — A comprehensive history of Donald McKay’s
ships, drawn from original sources and family records, from his first,
the trading ship Courier in 1842, to his last marine enterprise,
the refitting of the famous schooner yacht America in 1875.
published 1928 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York
third printing in June 1931 (of 1928 edition)
reprinted 1969 by 7 C’s Press, Riverside, Connecticut
reprinted 1988 by Easton Press, Norwalk, Connecticut
Donald McKay and His Famous Sailing Ships by Richard C. McKay,
512 pages with 58 illustrations, plans, and maps
ISBN 048628820X
published 1995 (reprint of the 1928 edition) by Dover Publications Inc.
“This rare and valuable study, written by McKay’s descendent who had
access to important family records, reveals McKay’s extraordinary
accomplishments as it recreates the great era of the American sailing
packet and clipper ship. In the end, steamships replaced McKay’s
masterworks, but never eclipsed the magnificent sailing tradition
whose climax they represented.”
