274 • The Atlantic 



even this much crew would have been unable to handle her enor- 

 mous yards and her great area of canvas, so McKay had installed on 

 her the first steam winches to assist in raising the yards and trim- 

 ming sail and in the handUng of cargo. 



The Great Republic was successfully launched and partly loaded 

 with a cargo in Boston and then proceeded to New York to pick up 

 the remainder of her cargo. Again Lauchlan McKay was in com- 

 mand. She attracted so much interest that a modest charge was made 

 to those that wished to inspect her and she had so many visitors that 

 a handsome return was realized, all of which was devoted to sea- 

 men's charities. In the meantime McKay personally carried the entire 

 cost of the building of the vessel and of her operation. 



When she was ready to sail, but still at her berth in New York, a 

 fire broke out in the city. The wind that was blowing at the time 

 carried sparks from the burning buildings ashore to the new ship; 

 she caught fire and during a single night burned to the water line. 

 The vessel was insured and McKay recovered a part of his invest- 

 ment, but nonetheless it represented to him both a financial loss and 

 the defeat of a great plan. When McKay came from Boston to in- 

 spect the remains, many of his friends and advisers urged him to 

 rebuild the vessel, but this seemed against his better judgment. The 

 vessel was bought and raised by the Lows and N. B. Palmer was put 

 in charge of her reconstruction. As she was rebuilt one deck was 

 eliminated and the rig of her sails considerably cut down. Even so, 

 in the rebuilt state her tonnage was 3,357 and she was still a noble 

 vessel and a fast one. Even in her altered form she was one of the 

 few vessels that turned in a run of over 400 miles a day. There seems 

 little doubt that if she had sailed the high seas as McKay designed 

 and built her she would have been the fastest as well as the greatest 

 sailing vessel of all time. It is difficult to contemplate the story of 

 the Great Republic without a feeling of loss and regret that this 

 supreme expression of man's ability to use the winds in the interests 

 of commerce and human intercourse never had a chance to fulfill its 

 usefulness. 



The loss of the Great Republic might well have terminated the 

 career of an ordinary man, but it only stimulated Donald McKay to 

 renewed activity. He returned to his Boston yard and crowded into 

 the next few years the building of more ships with a larger aggre- 

 gate tonnage (17,313 tons) than at any other period during his career. 

 By this time the fame of the American clipper services had spread 

 to all the parts of the world. Among other things a ship operator 



