Romance of the Sea (clipper)

Last updated
History
US flag 31 stars.svgUnited States
NameRomance of the Sea (see note) [notes 1]
OwnerGeorge B. Upton
Builder Donald McKay of East Boston, MA
LaunchedOctober 23, 1853
FateUnknown; sailed from Hong Kong December 31, 1862 and was not heard from again
General characteristics
Class & type Extreme clipper
Tons burthen1782 tons
Length240 feet (73.2 m)
Beam36.5 feet (11.1 m)
Draft29.5 feet (9.0 m)
Sail planDouble topsails; fore and mizzen royals; main skysail [1]

Romance of the Sea was a clipper ship launched in 1853. [1] [2] [3] [4] She was "the last extreme clipper ship built by Donald McKay for the California trade". [3] Her original figurehead was "a small female figure, intended to represent Romance, with the name of [Sir Walter] Scott on one side, and [James Fenimore] Cooper on the other - the greatest romancers of the century". [4] She lost that figurehead during a storm on her third voyage. Some time later it was replaced by "a full-length figure of an ancient navigator, with head bent forward and right hand raised to shade his eyes as he searched for the land beyond the horizon." [5]

Contents

In her nine-year life, Romance of the Sea made six round-trip voyages from North Atlantic ports before being lost during her seventh voyage.

Her voyages

The Romance of the Sea's voyages are listed here. Sources disagree on some items; disagreements or ambiguities are individually cited. City names are as they were at the time.

VoyageOriginDepartDestinationArriveDaysCaptain
1BostonDecember 16, 1853San FranciscoMarch 23, 185496Philip Dumaresq
1San FranciscoMarch 31, 1854Hong KongMay 16, 185445Philip Dumaresq
1Hong KongMay 9, 1854 [3] Deal, England [1] [3] or London [2] September 21, 1854 [3] 102 [3] or 103 [1] [2] Philip Dumaresq
2DealHong Kong99William H. Henry
2ShanghaiNovember 1, 1855DealMarch 7, 1856126William H. Henry
2DealBostonAugust 15, 1856William H. Henry
3New YorkJuly 3, 1856San FranciscoOctober 24, 1856113William H. Henry
3San FranciscoNovember 17, 1856ShanghaiDecember 22, 1856113William H. Henry
3ShanghaiFebruary 16, 1857New YorkMay 27, 1857100William H. Henry
4New YorkJuly 3, 1857 Batavia, Dutch East Indies September 28, 185788Eben Caldwell
4See note [notes 2] Eben Caldwell (see note) [notes 3]
4ShanghaiMarch 20 [1] or 21 [2] , 1859New YorkJune 22, 185994
5New YorkAugust 11, 1859Hong KongDecember 6, 1859109
5ManilaJune 23, 1860BostonOctober 10, 1860109
6BostonDecember 28, 1860San FranciscoApril 13, 1861105Ashman J. Clough
6San FranciscoMay 12, 1861 Queenstown, Ireland August 13, 186193Ashman J. Clough
6LiverpoolSeptember 29, 1861BostonOctober 27, 186134Ashman J. Clough
7New YorkFebruary 7, 1862San FranciscoMay 24, 1862106
7San FranciscoJune 7, 1862Hong KongJuly 24, 186246
7Hong Kong (see note) [notes 4] December 31, 1862San FranciscoLost during voyage

Artifacts

Notes

  1. ↑ A contemporary account (McLean) calls the ship Romance of the Sea, and that name is on the original half-hull model. However, since the early 1900s references have called the vessel Romance of the Seas.
  2. ↑ Romance spent from late 1857 to early 1859 trading among Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Shanghai.
  3. ↑ A privately-printed family history, Caldwells & Clipper Ships, states that Captain Caldwell fell ill at Hong Kong and left the ship there.
  4. ↑ Between July and December 1862, Romance sailed to Bangkok and back; the exact dates are not known

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Howe, Octavius T.; Matthews, Frederick C. (1926). America Clipper Ships 1833-1858. Vol. II. Marine Research Society. pp. 530–535.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cutler, Carl C. (1967). Greyhounds of the Sea. United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–287, 356, 371, 431.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 McKay, Richard C. (1928). Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 249–254, 370, 376.
  4. 1 2 Duncan McLean (Lars Bruzelius, transcriber) (November 8, 1853). "The New Clipper Ship Romance of the Sea, of Boston". The Boston Daily Atlas. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  5. ↑ Heatter, Basil (1969). Eighty Days to Hong Kong: The Story of the Clipper Ship. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 124. ISBN   978-0374319809.
  6. ↑ "Half-hull working model: Romance of the Seas". Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  7. ↑ Forbes, Allan; Eastman, Ralph M. (1948). Yankee Ship Sailing Cards. State Street Trust Company. p. 47.

See also

List of clipper ships

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.