File:Sovereign of the Seas (ship, 1852) - The clipper ship era - 1843-1869 (1910) Page 218 (14782539785).jpg

Identifier: clippershiperaep00clar (find matches)
Title: The clipper ship era : an epitome of famous American and British clipper ships, their owners, builders, commanders, and crews 1843-1869
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Clark, Arthur Hamilton, 1841-1922
Subjects: Clipper ships
Publisher: New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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r disabled condition, of 29 days. Shewent thence to San Francisco in 17 days, which isthe record for the month of November, and hertotal run from New York to San Francisco was103 days. Had the Sovereign of the Seas not been dis-masted, it is reasonable to suppose that she wouldhave equalled the fastest run from 50° S. to theequator in the month of October, which is 19 days,made by the Ocean Telegraph in 1855. This wouldhave reduced her passage to 93 days; still, as itstands, her passage of 103 days has never beenequalled by a vessel sailing from New Y^ork forSan Francisco in the month of August. CaptainMcKay received much credit for rerigging his shipat sea and not putting into Valparaiso, and waspresented with a very beautiful silver dinner serviceby the New York Board of Marine Underwriters. This was the only passage made by the Sovereignof the Seas between New York and San Francisco.She carried on this voyage 2950 tons of cargo, andher freight amounted to ;81,000; a portion of the
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The ** Sovereign of the Seas 219 cargo, consisting of flour, sold in San Franciscoat ;44 per barrel. She cleared from San Francisco in ballast forHonolulu, and there loaded a cargo, or rather sev-eral cargoes, of sperm oil which had been landedby American whale-ships in the Pacific, and sailedfor New York, February 13, 1853. She had lightand variable winds to the equator, her days runsranging from 89 to 302 miles, and she made thisstretch from Honolulu in 8 days. On February27th, she was off the Navigator or Samoan Islands,and one cannot help thinking of the delight it wouldhave given Robert Louis Stevenson if he could havelooked upon this giant clipper flying southwardunder her w^hite cloud of canvas, and with whatmagic words he would have made her nameimmortal. On ^March 4th, the Sovereign of the Seas sprungher foretopmast, and although it was fished on the(jth, it was a source of anxiety for the remainderof the passage, and Captain McKay, mindful of hisrecent experience in these se

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