Glory of the Seas
History
United States
NameGlory of the Seas
OwnerDonald McKay (original)
BuilderDonald McKay of East Boston, MA
LaunchedNovember 1869
FateBurned for her metal May 13, 1923
NotesThe last merchant sailing vessel built by McKay[1]
General characteristics
Class and typeMedium clipper
Tons burthen2102 tons
Length250 feet (76.2 m)
Beam44 feet (13.4 m)
Depth of hold28.5 feet (8.7 m)
Sail planDouble topsails, single topgallants and royals, and main skysail[2] ; all sails totaled "about 8000 yards of cotton duck"[1]

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]

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.

Glory of the Seas in Boston. McKay appears at the center of the photograph wearing a top hat.

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 of the Seas' 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.

OriginDepartDestinationArriveDaysCaptain
New YorkFebruary 13[2] or 14[1], 1870San FranciscoJune 13, 1870120 [lower-alpha 1]John Geit[lower-alpha 2]
San FranciscoJuly 30[2] or August 4,[6] 1870Queenstown, Ireland[2][8] (for orders), then London[9][10]November 24, 1870 (Queenstown)[8]112William Chatfield[lower-alpha 2]
Saint John, New Brunswick[11]May 14, 1871[lower-alpha 3]LiverpoolJune 8, 1871[13]25Sears[11][13]
Cardiff, WalesAugust 19, 1871San FranciscoDecember 16, 1871120Josiah Nickerson Knowles
San FranciscoFebruary 7, 1872LiverpoolMay 28, 1872112Knowles
LiverpoolJuly 27, 1872San FranciscoNovember 25, 1872119Knowles
San FranciscoJanuary 15, 1873LiverpoolMay 23, 1873128Knowles
New YorkOctober 13, 1873San FranciscoJanuary 16[2] or 18[1], 187496[2] or 94[1] [lower-alpha 4]Knowles
San FranciscoFebruary 26, 1874LiverpoolJune 23, 1874117Knowles
LiverpoolAugust 13, 1874San FranciscoDecember 22, 1874131Knowles
San FranciscoMarch 14, 1875Sydney, AustraliaApril 19, 187535Knowles
SydneyJune 4, 1875San FranciscoJuly 26, 187553Knowles
San FranciscoOctober 7, 1875LiverpoolFebruary 17, 1876133Knowles
LiverpoolMay 2, 1876San FranciscoAugust 23, 1876114Knowles[14][15]
San FranciscoOctober 24, 1876LiverpoolFebruary 3, 1877103Daniel S. McLaughlin[16][lower-alpha 5]
LiverpoolApril 2, 1877San FranciscoAugust 23, 1877144McLaughlin
San FranciscoNovember 9, 1877LiverpoolFebruary 24, 1878107McLaughlin
LiverpoolApril 27, 1878Oakland, CaliforniaSeptember 29, 1878153McLaughlin
San Francisco1879Queenstown (for orders), then Le Havre, FranceMcLaughlin
New York1880San FranciscoMcLaughlin
San FranciscoMay 29, 1880QueenstownSeptember 28, 1880120McLaughlin
CardiffDecember 27, 1880San FranciscoMay 3, 1881129McLaughlin
San FranciscoJuly 11, 1881Le Havre via Valparaíso, ChileFebruary 17, 1882220McLaughlin
New YorkJuly 2, 1882San FranciscoNovember 7, 1882128McLaughlin
Laid up, San FranciscoDecember 1882February 1885
San FranciscoFebruary 22, 1885LiverpoolJune 19, 1885119Joshua S. Freeman
Liverpool1885San Pedro, California121Freeman (?)

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.[17] The builder's half-model, four prints or paintings, and several relics are held by the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.[18]

Notes

    1. ↑ February 13 to June 13 is 120 days, so the McKay date is wrong.
    2. 1 2 Shipping papers list the master as "McKay" for this New York-San Francisco voyage, and for the next one as far as Queenstown, then changes to Chatfield [5][6][7]
    3. ↑ She initially departed on May 13, but struck on the bar; after refloating she was towed in and surveyed, then sailing on the following day.[12]
    4. ↑ Neither passage length matches the stated arrival date. January 16 is 95 days out and January 18 is 97.
    5. ↑ McKay wrongly states that McLaughlin began as captain in 1879.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 McKay, Richard C. (1928). Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 322–327, 374, 376.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Lars Bruzelius (June 30, 1997). "Glory of the Seas". Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
    3. ↑ Clark, Arthur H. (1910). The Clipper Ship Era. Vol. II. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 258, 369.
    4. ↑ Howe, Octavius T.; Matthews, Frederick C. (1926). America Clipper Ships 1833-1858. Vol. I, II. Marine Research Society. pp. 84, 714, 737.
    5. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. No. 10141. London. 24 February 1870. p. 3. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    6. 1 2 "Shipping Intelligence". Lloyd's List. No. 17579. London. 20 August 1870. p. 5. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    7. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Lloyd's List. No. 17664. London. 28 November 1870. p. 4. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    8. 1 2 "Shipping Intelligence". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. No. 10376. London. 25 November 1870. p. 3. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    9. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. No. 10378. London. 28 November 1870. p. 3. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    10. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Lloyd's List. No. 17674. London. 9 December 1870. p. 3. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    11. 1 2 "Shipping Intelligence". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. No. 10535. London. 31 May 1871. p. 8. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    12. ↑ "Casualties etc". Lloyd's List. No. 17818. London. 27 May 1871. p. 9. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    13. 1 2 "Shipping Intelligence". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. No. 10543. London. 9 June 1871. p. 7. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    14. ↑ "Prize Cattle for San Francisco". Daily Post. No. 6490. Liverpool. 1 May 1876. p. 5. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required.
    15. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Lloyd's List. No. 19351. London. 2 May 1876. p. 4. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    16. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Lloyd's List. No. 19513. London. 7 November 1876. p. 13. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive (subscription required).
    17. ↑ Whipple, A.B.C. (1980). The Clipper Ships. Time-Life Books. pp. 62.
    18. ↑ "Glory of the Seas". Mariner's Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Retrieved July 22, 2019.

    Further reading

    • Mjelde, Michael Jay (1970). Glory of the Seas (1st ed.). Middletown, CT: Marine Historical Association/Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0819540164.(2nd edition (2000). Palo Alto, CA: Glencannon Press. ISBN 978-1889901183)
    • Mjelde, Michael Jay (1979). "The Medium Clipper Ship "Glory of the Seas"". Nautical Research Journal. Washington DC. 25: 111–118.
    • Mjelde, Michael Jay (1997). Clipper ship captain : Daniel McLaughlin and the Glory of the Seas. Palo Alto, CA: Glencannon Press. ISBN 978-1889901046.

    See also

    List of clipper ships

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