Monday, December 5, 2011
Dreadnought
The Dreadnought is probably our favorite clipper- it is, after all, our most local one! Built in Newburyport in 1853 by Currier & Townsend, 212'×41'6"×26'6" and tonnage 1414 tons OM and 2337 NM. She was medium-sized but a very hardy ship. However, she sunk in 1869 on Cape Penas, off Tierra del Fuego.
The History of Clipper Ships
The clipper ship's short reign started in the late 1840s and ended in the late 1850s. In that time clipper ships were the best means of fast travel. There were three very famous clipper ships- the Rainbow, noticed as the first extreme clipper ship of her time, the Sea Witch, an even faster clipper made by the same person, J.W. Griffiths, and the Dreadnought, built in Newburyport by Currier and Townsend. An extreme clipper is a clipper ship that is designed to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed.
Friday, December 2, 2011
John Willis Griffiths
John Willis Griffiths was considered a genius as a naval architect, although somewhat eccentric in his zeal to improve American naval architecture. Besides leading the clipper ship era, first with Rainbow and then with Sea Witch, he also designed many successful steam ships and war vessels. He had many patents to his name as he experimented with shipbuilding procedures, and he wrote of his theories with great exuberance. He was proud of Sea Witch and confessed "It will be entirely proper to add, that the model of the Sea Witch had more influence upon the subsequent configuration of fast vessels, than any other ship ever built in the United States" while writing in The Monthly Nautical Magazine for August 185.
Smith and Dimon, builders of the Sea Witch, penned a letter two years after her construction. "Having known Mr. John W. Griffiths for many years, a number of which has been in our employ, during which time he has obtained celebrity for honesty and industry. It affords us pleasure to testify to his ability and moral worth. We have no hesitation recommending him as a "Marine and Naval Architect" of the first order. A gentleman who has reached an eminence in the line of his profession rarely attained, and whose skill in this branch of Mechanism we believe to be unsurpassed."
His colleague and shipbuilding rival wrote from East Boston in 1859: "In this testimonial I am happy to state what I believe all the Commerical World knows, that you are a Master of your profession, have no Superior in it - a Scientific and practical Ship builder - & an illustrious Citizen..." It was signed by Donald McKay.
Smith and Dimon, builders of the Sea Witch, penned a letter two years after her construction. "Having known Mr. John W. Griffiths for many years, a number of which has been in our employ, during which time he has obtained celebrity for honesty and industry. It affords us pleasure to testify to his ability and moral worth. We have no hesitation recommending him as a "Marine and Naval Architect" of the first order. A gentleman who has reached an eminence in the line of his profession rarely attained, and whose skill in this branch of Mechanism we believe to be unsurpassed."
His colleague and shipbuilding rival wrote from East Boston in 1859: "In this testimonial I am happy to state what I believe all the Commerical World knows, that you are a Master of your profession, have no Superior in it - a Scientific and practical Ship builder - & an illustrious Citizen..." It was signed by Donald McKay.
The Rainbow!
The Rainbow ship built of wood in 1845 at the shipyard of Smith & Dimon, New York, for Howland & Aspinwall, New York. Dimensions: 159'x31'10"x18'4" and 757 tons in old measurement. She is known to be the first extreme clipper ship because she was the first clipper ship built based upon the ideas of John W. Griffiths with a design intended to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed. She was made in 1845.
She was built to a new model at the initiative of the American naval architect J.W. Griffiths, who is said to have based his design on the owner's previous ship- the 'Ann McKim'.
She was built to a new model at the initiative of the American naval architect J.W. Griffiths, who is said to have based his design on the owner's previous ship- the 'Ann McKim'.
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| (Model of Rainbow) |
The Rainbow Clipper Ship Poem
The Rainbow was one’s home and one’s mother.
She rocked men to sleep at night and jolted them awake for their watch. She was the only fortress against the cruel and boundless sea.She was the source of one’s torment and loneliness and the vessel of hopes and fortunes.
She was one’s life for the two to three years aboard. 159 feet long. 31 feet, 10 inches wide. and shared with 35 other men, and sometimes the captain’s wife.
It was best to keep busy.
Raise the sails... Furl the sails... Repair the rigging...(source- http://www.inch.com/~penney/museum_site/story/s03-ship.htm however, changed slightly)
Clipper Ship Info and History
Beginning in the late 1840's American shipbuilders, started to build a new kind of merchant vessel - the Clipper ship. Several qualities set the clipper ship apart from others sailing ships. A clipper was technically a sailing ship with three masts on which sat a large expanse of square sails. It was designed to carry a small, highly profitable cargo over long distances at high speeds.
The clipper's masts, which could reach as high as a twenty story building, carried more amounts and kinds of sails than any other ship that had been built by that time. This cloud of sails controlled by a complicated web of rigging that rose above a sharp bow and a sleek narrow hull. The long lines of the ship combined with the enormous driving power of the sails allowed the ships to "clip" along at speeds that earlier generations of sailors never dreamed of, and later generations never matched.
Sailing 150 miles a day was considered a good day's run only a few years earlier, but clippers traveled approximately 250 miles a day. The best of the clippers could cover more than 400 miles a day. Speed was important to clipper captains because speed meant a big profits for the owners and captains.
Thousands of people were eager to get to the California gold fields and would pay premium prices to get there by the fastest clipper ship. Once there, the miners would pay top dollar for the goods and supplies they needed from back east. The ships that brought the goods to California first could earn a fortune for the owners. Tea from China brought a good price in New York and London, but it had to be delivered before it lost its taste. Some enterprising merchants made their fortunes by shipping ice from the ponds and rivers of New England to the tropics where it was a rare and valuable luxury, but they had to get it there before it melted.
People of the late 1800's wanted a faster way of traveling from country to country, as well as from coast to coast. Clippers provided this opportunity and often challenged other clipper ships to races to see who could hold the title of "the fastest ship". The clipper ship was built for speed, not volume, as were the other merchant ships of the era.
There are many stories and poems about clipper ship voyages. Some have the subject of romance, danger, or mystery. Some just tell about the ships themselves.
The clipper's masts, which could reach as high as a twenty story building, carried more amounts and kinds of sails than any other ship that had been built by that time. This cloud of sails controlled by a complicated web of rigging that rose above a sharp bow and a sleek narrow hull. The long lines of the ship combined with the enormous driving power of the sails allowed the ships to "clip" along at speeds that earlier generations of sailors never dreamed of, and later generations never matched.
Sailing 150 miles a day was considered a good day's run only a few years earlier, but clippers traveled approximately 250 miles a day. The best of the clippers could cover more than 400 miles a day. Speed was important to clipper captains because speed meant a big profits for the owners and captains.
Thousands of people were eager to get to the California gold fields and would pay premium prices to get there by the fastest clipper ship. Once there, the miners would pay top dollar for the goods and supplies they needed from back east. The ships that brought the goods to California first could earn a fortune for the owners. Tea from China brought a good price in New York and London, but it had to be delivered before it lost its taste. Some enterprising merchants made their fortunes by shipping ice from the ponds and rivers of New England to the tropics where it was a rare and valuable luxury, but they had to get it there before it melted.
People of the late 1800's wanted a faster way of traveling from country to country, as well as from coast to coast. Clippers provided this opportunity and often challenged other clipper ships to races to see who could hold the title of "the fastest ship". The clipper ship was built for speed, not volume, as were the other merchant ships of the era.
There are many stories and poems about clipper ship voyages. Some have the subject of romance, danger, or mystery. Some just tell about the ships themselves.
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