Glory of the Seas (clipper)
Glory of the Seas was a clipper ship launched in 1869. She was the last merchant sailing vessel built by Donald McKay.[1][3][4]
 Glory of the Seas | |
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | Glory of the Seas |
| Owner: | Donald McKay (original) |
| Builder: | Donald McKay of East Boston, MA |
| Launched: | November 1869 |
| Fate: | Burned for her metal May 13, 1923 |
| Notes: | The last merchant sailing vessel built by McKay[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Medium clipper |
| Tons burthen: | 2102 tons |
| Length: | 250 feet (76.2 m) |
| Beam: | 44 feet (13.4 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 28.5 feet (8.7 m) |
| Sail plan: | Double topsails, single topgallants and royals, and main skysail[2] ; all sails totaled "about 8000 yards of cotton duck"[1] |
Her voyages
On her maiden voyage, Glory of the Seas sailed from New York in February 1870 under the command of Captain John Geit. She anchored at San Francisco on June 13 after a passage of 120 days. From there she sailed to Liverpool, England, under Captain William Chatfield. McKay then sold Glory to J. Henry Sears of Boston, who replaced Captain Chatfield with Josia Nickerson Knowles.
Details of her time between 1870 and 1885 are incomplete, but she "ran between New York and British ports and San Francisco almost exclusively" during those years.[1] She did make a fast voyage from New York to San Francisco between October 13, 1873 and mid-January, 1874 (see the table and note). In 1875 she set the record of 35 days for a passage from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. According to McKay,[1] until 1885 under Captain McLaughlin Glory carried general cargo from New York to San Francisco and wheat from there to Britain, and was nearly wrecked in a storm when arriving in Britain in 1880. The Bruzelius timetable[2] (below) differs and does not mention the 1880 event. Both agree that she was laid up at San Francisco between December 1882 and February 1885.
After 1885 Glory of the Seas spent the rest of her long life on the Pacific coast, for a time sailing between San Francisco and Puget Sound and occasionally to Alaska.[1] In March 1906 she was sold in San Francisco for conversion to a barge but was repaired after the April earthquake and "put under sail again".[2] Under new owners in 1911, she was again stripped of her masts and converted to a floating fish cannery and then to a floating cold storage plant. On May 13, 1923, she was beached near Seattle and burned to recover her iron and copper.
Glory's known voyages are tabulated below. Entries are from Bruzelius unless noted otherwise; disagreements or ambiguities are individually cited. City names are as they were at the time.
| Origin | Depart | Destination | Arrive | Days | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | February 13[2] or 14[1], 1870 | San Francisco | June 13, 1870 | 120 (see note)[notes 1] | John Geit |
| San Francisco | July 30, 1870 | Liverpool[1] or Queenstown, Ireland[2] | 112 | William Chatfield | |
| St. Johns (see note)[notes 2] | May 13, 1871 | Liverpool | 21 | William Chatfield (?) | |
| Cardiff, Wales | August 19, 1871 | San Francisco | December 16, 1871 | 120 | Josiah Nickerson Knowles |
| San Francisco | February 7, 1872 | Liverpool | May 28, 1872 | 112 | Knowles (?) |
| Liverpool | July 27, 1872 | San Francisco | November 25, 1872 | 119 | Knowles (?) |
| San Francisco | January 15, 1873 | Liverpool | May 23, 1873 | 128 | Knowles (?) |
| New York | October 13, 1873 | San Francisco | January 16[2] or 18[1], 1874 | 96[2] or 94[1] (see note)[notes 3] | Knowles (?) |
| San Francisco | February 26, 1874 | Liverpool | June 23, 1874 | 117 | Knowles (?) |
| Liverpool | August 13, 1874 | San Francisco | December 22, 1874 | 131 | Knowles (?) |
| San Francisco | March 14, 1875 | Sydney, Australia | April 19, 1875 | 35 | Knowles (?) |
| Sydney | June 4, 1875 | San Francisco | July 26, 1875 | 53 | Knowles (?) |
| San Francisco | October 7, 1875 | Liverpool | February 17, 1876 | 133 | Knowles (?) |
| Liverpool | May 2, 1876 | San Francisco | August 23, 1876 | 114 | Knowles (?) or Daniel S. McLaughlin[2] (see note)[notes 4] |
| San Francisco | October 24, 1876 | Liverpool | February 3, 1877 | 103 | McLaughlin |
| Liverpool | April 2, 1877 | San Francisco | August 23, 1877 | 144 | McLaughlin |
| San Francisco | November 9, 1877 | Liverpool | February 24, 1878 | 107 | McLaughlin |
| Liverpool | April 27, 1878 | Oakland, California | September 29, 1878 | 153 | McLaughlin |
| San Francisco | 1879 | Queenstown (for orders), then Le Havre, France | McLaughlin | ||
| New York | 1880 | San Francisco | McLaughlin | ||
| San Francisco | May 29, 1880 | Queenstown | September 28, 1880 | 120 | McLaughlin |
| Cardiff | December 27, 1880 | San Francisco | May 3, 1881 | 129 | McLaughlin |
| San Francisco | July 11, 1881 | Le Havre via Valparaíso, Chile | February 17, 1882 | 220 | McLaughlin |
| New York | July 2, 1882 | San Francisco | November 7, 1882 | 128 | McLaughlin |
| Laid up, San Francisco | December 1882 | February 1885 | |||
| San Francisco | February 22, 1885 | Liverpool | June 19, 1885 | 119 | Joshua S. Freeman |
| Liverpool | 1885 | San Pedro, California | 121 | Freeman (?) |
Artifacts
The figurehead of Glory of the Seas is a partially-clad female figure. It is pictured in a book, The Clipper Ships, which notes that it is in the collection of a private New York City club, India House.[5] The builder's half-model, four prints or paintings, and several relics are held by the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.[6]
Notes
- February 13 to June 13 is 120 days, so the McKay date is wrong.
- Bruzelius does not specify which of the many cities named St. Johns, but the one in Newfoundland is likely.
- Neither passage length matches the stated arrival date. January 16 is 95 days out and January 18 is 97.
- McKay states that McLaughlin began as captain in 1879.
References
- McKay, Richard C. (1928). Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 322–327, 374, 376.
- Lars Bruzelius (June 30, 1997). "Glory of the Seas". Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- Clark, Arthur H. (1910). The Clipper Ship Era. II. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 258, 369.
- Howe, Octavius T.; Matthews, Frederick C. (1926). America Clipper Ships 1833-1858. I, II. Marine Research Society. pp. 84, 714, 737.
- Whipple, A.B.C. (1980). The Clipper Ships. Time-Life Books. pp. 62.
- "Glory of the Seas". Mariner's Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Retrieved July 22, 2019.