The Clippers : 273 



per, the Stag Hound, had made an eleven months' voyage which had 

 brought the following results: it had paid for the building cost; it 

 had paid for the operating cost and had returned an $80,000 profit. 

 The case of the Sovereign of the Seas is one that illustrates McKay's 

 aggressive independence. He wanted a free hand in building an un- 

 usually large and novel vessel. He was now employing relatively flat 

 floors and a full clipper bow. In this case he was striving for an in- 

 creased carrying capacity and also expressing his belief that increase 

 in water-line length would bring an increase in speed, so he length- 

 ened her midship section and the ratio of her length to breadth was 

 in itself a novelty. 



Lauchlan McKay was placed in command of his brother's ship 

 and her first cruise to California and the Hawaiian Islands proved 

 both her speed and her economic value. It was on March 17, 1853, 

 while in the South Pacific running for Cape Horn, that she estab- 

 lished several world's records. For a number of hours she was logged 

 at nineteen knots, a speed of about twenty-two land miles per hour. 

 It was also at this time that she was the first vessel to travel more 

 than 400 miles in a twenty-four-hour period. Laing has shown that 

 there have been only thirteen occasions in world history when a sail- 

 ing vessel has traveled more than 400 miles in a twenty-four-hour 

 run. All of these records have been established by clipper ships built 

 in New England. Twelve of them were established by vessels that 

 Donald McKay designed and built. S. H. Pook, with the Redjac\et 

 at 413 miles, is the only other designer to hold such a record. 



Flying Cloud, Great Republic, Donald McKay and Sovereign of 

 the Seas bettered the mark on two occasions; the Lightning on three 

 and the James Baines four times. The greatest day's sailing of all was 

 recorded for McKay's ship the Lightning that covered 436 miles in 

 a single day's sailing. This record was not beaten by any steam vessel 

 for a period of twenty-five years. 



In 1853 McKay felt that his position was sufficiently secure and his 

 ideas of design sufficiently stabilized so that he could undertake a 

 great venture. He designed and built the Great Republic. Her ton- 

 nage when completed was 4,555; she was 335 feet long, had a 53-foot 

 beam and a depth of 38 feet. She had four decks with eight-foot 

 headroom between each deck; she carried four masts with full rig 

 on the first three, the height of the foremast was 200 feet from 

 deck to trucks. The fact that it required over 16,000 square yards 

 of canvas to provide sails for this vessel gives some idea of her 

 lordly proportions. She carried a crew of 100 men and 30 boys and 



