Flying Cloud (clipper)
"The Clipper Ship Flying Cloud off the Needles, Isle of Wight", by James E. Buttersworth, 1859-60
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Owner: | Grinnell, Minturn & Co, New York |
| Builder: | Donald McKay of East Boston, Massachusetts |
| Cost: | $90,000 |
| Launched: | 1851 |
 United Kingdom
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| Owner: | James Baines & Co., Black Ball Line, Liverpool |
| Acquired: | 1862 |
| Owner: | Harry Smith Edwards, South Shields, England |
| Acquired: | 19 April 1871 |
| Out of service: | 1875 |
| Fate: | Went aground, Beacon Island Bar, Saint John, New Brunswick, 1874; burned for iron and copper fastenings |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Clipper |
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| Notes: | US and UK measurements differ as measuring systems had slightly different rules. |
Flying Cloud was a clipper ship that set the world's sailing record for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco, 89 days 8 hours. The ship held this record for over 100 years, from 1854 to 1989.
Flying Cloud was the most famous of the clippers built by Donald McKay. She was known for her extremely close race with Hornet in 1853; for having a woman navigator, Eleanor Creesy, wife of Josiah Perkins Creesy who skippered Flying Cloud on two record-setting voyages from New York to San Francisco; and for sailing in the Australia and timber trades.
Flying Cloud is popularly called an extreme clipper, as are many of Donald McKay's ships, but as her dead rise was less than 40" she was not. Donald McKay built many fast clipper ships but only one, Stag Hound was an extreme clipper, even if others may have been advertised as such. It was popular to advertise clippers as "extreme" because of the popular conception of speed.
Flying Cloud was built in East Boston, Massachusetts, and intended for Enoch Train of Boston, who paid $50,000 for her construction. While still under construction, she was purchased by Grinnell, Minturn & Co., of New York, for $90,000, which represented a huge profit for Train & Co.
A reporter for the Boston Daily Atlas of 25 April 1851 wrote, "If great length [235 ft.], sharpness of ends, with proportionate breadth [41 ft.] and depth, conduce to speed, the Flying Cloud must be uncommonly swift, for in all these she is great. Her length on the keel is 208 feet, on deck 225, and over all, from the knightheads to the taffrail, 235— extreme breadth of beam 41 feet, depth of hold 21½, including 7 feet 8 inches height of between-decks, sea-rise at half floor 20 inches, rounding of sides 6 inches, and sheer about 3 feet."
Within six weeks of launch Flying Cloud sailed from New York and made San Francisco 'round Cape Horn in 89 days, 21 hours under the command of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy. In July, during the trip, she ran the following nautical mileage, 284, 374 and 334 for 992 nautical miles total over the three consecutive days. In 1853 she beat her own record by 13 hours, a record that stood until 1989 when the breakthrough-designed sailboat Thursday's Child completed the passage in 80 days, 20 hours. The record was once again broken in 2008 by the French racing yacht Gitana 13, with a time of 43 days and 38 minutes.
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Wikipedia