| |
| Career (United States) | 
|
|---|---|
| Name: | Red Jacket |
| Owner: | Seccomb & Taylor, Boston |
| Builder: | George Thomas, Rockland, ME |
| Launched: | 1853[1] |
| Career (United Kingdom) | 
|
| Owner: | Pilkington & Wilson, for the White Star Line |
| Acquired: | 1854 |
| Notes: | In the immigrant trade; became an Australian and Indian coastal freighter, 1861. |
| Owner: | Wilson & Chambers, Liverpool, 1868 |
| Notes: | Entered the Transatlantic Quebec timber trade" in 1872. Collided with the Eliza Walker in 1878, which sank; her crew was rescued.[1] |
| Career (Portugal) | 
|
| Owner: | Blandy Brothers, Madeira Islands |
| Acquired: | 1883 |
| Fate: | Driven ashore in a gale, 1885. |
| Notes: | Hulked, became a coal barge in the Cape Verde Islands. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Extreme clipper, designed by Samuel Hartt Pook |
| Tons burthen: | 2305 tons |
| Length: | 251 ft. 2 in., or 260 ft. |
| Beam: | 44 ft. |
| Draft: | 31 ft.,[1] or 26 ft. |
Red Jacket was a clipper ship, one of the largest and fastest ever built. She was also the first ship of the White Star Line company. She was named after Sagoyewatha, a famous Seneca Indian chief, called "Red Jacket" by settlers. She was designed by Samuel Hartt Pook, built by George Thomas in Rockland, Maine, and launched in 1853.
Like many other fast clippers it is claimed that she is an extreme clipper, but this is technically incorrect. Extreme clippers were some of the clippers built in the period 1850 to 1852 only, and had at least a 40" dead rise at half floor. Being known as an extreme clipper was to be known as fast, and it became popular to call all fast clippers "extreme".
Voyages[]
On her first voyage, Red Jacket set the speed record for sailing ships crossing the Atlantic by traveling from New York to Liverpool in 13 days, 1 hour, 25 minutes, dock to dock.
She left Rockland under tow, and was rigged in New York. Her captain was a veteran packet ship commander, Asa Eldridge of Yarmouth, Massachusetts,[2] and she had a crew of 65. On the passage to Liverpool, she averaged 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h), with sustained bursts of 17 knots (31.5 km/h).
A Collins Line steamer arriving in Liverpool (which had left New York two days before Red Jacket) reported that Red Jacket was just astern. As she entered the harbor, tugs tried to get lines aboard the clipper but she was traveling too fast. Thousands, alerted by the Collins Liner, watched as Eldridge shortened sail and backed the vessel into its berth.
At Liverpool she had her bottom coppered and cabins fitted out for the Australian immigrant trade.
Red Jacket was purchased by Pilkington & Wilcox and other Liverpool investors with registry changing on April 24, 1854. (Most secondary sources say that the vessel was bought by the British a year later, copying a mistake made by earlier historians.) She was then chartered by the White Star Line for a run to Melbourne, Australia. Under Captain Samuel Reid (who owned 1/16 of her), she reached in Melbourne in 69 days. Only one clipper, James Baines, ever made the run faster.
Red Jacket served in the immigrant trade until 1861, when she became an Australian and Indian coastal freighter.
Fate of the ship[]
In 1872 Red Jacket joined clippers Marco Polo and Donald McKay, which "ended their days in the Quebec lumber trade,"[3] and became a lumber carrier from Quebec to London. In 1883 she was sold to Blandy Brothers, a Portuguese shipping company in the Madeira Islands as a coaling hulk. She was driven ashore in a gale in 1885.
References[]
- ^ a b c Bruzelius, Lars (2001-02-23). "Sailing Ships: Red Jacket (1853)". Red Jacket. The Maritime History Virtual Archives. http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Red_Jacket%281853%29.html. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
- ^ "Captain Bangs Hallet House Museum". The Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, PO Box 11, Yarmouth Port, MA 02675. 2001–2003. http://www.hsoy.org/historic/hallethouse.htm. Retrieved February 24, 2013. "The Red Jacket’s first commander was a Yarmouth captain, Asa Eldredge."
- ^ Clark, A H (1912), "Fate of the Clipper Ships", The clipper ship era; An epitome of famous American and British clipper ships, their owners, builders, commanders and crews, 1843–1869, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, p. 346, http://books.google.com/books?id=HVYuAAAAYAAJ&dq=the%20clipper%20ship%20era%20rainbow&lr&num=100&as_brr=4&pg=PA346#v=onepage&q=red%20jacket&f=false
- Fuller, Benjamin A. G. (Autumn 2003), "Red Jacket, Champion of the Seas", Maine Boats Homes and Harbors (76)
- "The Extreme Clipper Ship Red Jacket". The Sail, Power and Steam Museum, Rockland, Maine.. http://www.sailpowersteammuseum.org/Extreme%20Clipper%20Red%20Jacket.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
Further reading[]
Cornell, Edward (1856 May 20-1856 Aug 13.). Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne for H.M. Royal Mail Clipper Red Jacket, Captain O'Halloran. Manuscript. http://books.google.com/books?id=GUmwNwAACAAJ&dq=%22red+jacket%22+clipper&lr=&cd=5.
External links[]
Images and models[]
- Poster advertising Red Jacket
- Painting of Red Jacket by Percy A. Sandborne
- Red Jacket Currier and Ives print
- Red Jacket in the ice off Cape Horn Currier and Ives print, with less color, Springfield Museum
- Red Jacket ship model
- "Clipper Ship Red Jacket" watercolor by David J. Kennedy
Template:White Star Line ships Template:Clipper ships
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