LAST OF THE CLIPPERS

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11661, 27 October 1923, Page 13

LAST OF THE CLIPPERS

GLORY OF THE SEAS,

The old American clipper. Glory of the-<Sea<», was recently hauled up on the beach at Seattle <L\S.A.i, and burnt, this being the cheapest way of getting out of the hull the copper rivets, which were the only things of value left about her. Her timbers, unlike the oak and teak of which British wooden ships were built, had long become entirely worthless through the action of water and decay. She was quite a remarkable ship in herself, having made in 1875 a fine passage of 35 days from 'Frisco to Sydney. But what makes her passing specially notable (writes C. Fox Smith in the “Daily Mail”), is the fact that it writes “linis* to one of the most interesting chapters in the history of shipping. A FAMOUS BUILD HR.

She was the last ship ever built by the famous builder, Donald Mackay. whose clippers, both in the China tea trade and in the Australian emigrant trade, were among the finest creations of their kind the world lias ever known. Mackav’s ships bore the indefinable stamp *of genius. No two were ever quite alike, and none was ever a complete failure. Among the masterpieces turned out bj hie Boston yard may be mentioned th*« Staghound, hi* first clipper the Flying Cloud, which sailed on one occasion nearly 430 miles in 24 hours; the monster Great Republic, whose career was as unlucky as that of most "great*' ships; and the four magnificent ships built for the Liverpool Blackball Line, renowned in sea song and story. These four vessels, James Baines. Lightning. Champion of the Seas, and Donald Mackay, stand in a class by themselves. They were especially designed to carry a‘full complement of passengers to the Australian goldfields during the “rush” of the eighteen-fifties, and they combined strength, si*e and speed in a remarkable degree. The China tea clippers were their equals in speed, but they were mere yachts in size beside the* Blackbailers. and the Blaekwnll frigates, for all their seaworthy qualities, were never built for speed like the Marker cracks. CURIOUS FACT.

It is a curious fact that a very great proportion of Mackay’s shipe came to an end through fire. Staghound was burnt at sea when carrying a cargo of coal; Flying Cloud met a similar fate when loading lumber at St. John, New Brunswick; Great Republic was badly damaged by fire at the beginning of her career; James Baines was burnt in HuskisMin dock, Liverpool; Lightning in harbour at Geelong, and Donald Mackav survived a long time as n coai hulk at Madeira, only to meet a fiery doom a few years ago, her fine figurehead of » Highlander in the Mackay tartan being thf only relic of her which survived.