Donald McKay, who designed the Clipper Ships you see replicas of displayed in the great room at Thinkers Lodge in paintings, hooked rugs, prints, and a model ship, was born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia on September 4, 1810. Donald McKay was the cousin of Cyrus Eaton’s grandfather on his mother’s side. Donald’s father, Hugh, was a farmer, and his grandfather, a British Officer, emigrated to Nova Scotia after the American Revolution. His mother was Ann McPherson of Nova Scotia. Ann McPherson’s brother Evan McPherson was Cyrus’s great grandfather.
After immigrating to the States in 1826 at the age of 16, he apprenticed as a ship carpenter in New York City for $1.25 a day and lived in a boarding house. Joined by his brother, he worked a harsh seventy hours a week as an apprentice to a master shipbuilder for four and one-half years. Due to his skill and diligence, he was released from his apprenticeship early. He married a shipbuilder’s daughter, Albenia Martha Boole, who became his teacher with her marine architectural skills. Donald McKay, along with his mentor, John Willis Griffiths, revolutionized the science of merchant ship design and building and dramatically changed the form of the hull and the sparring of the ships. They introduced round bows and a narrow stern. His first commission to finish a ship was in Wiscasset, Maine. By that time, he had saved enough money to form a partnership in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and build packet ships. In 1844 when he was 34, he was selected to build a ship to cross the Atlantic, so he built a shipyard in East Boston, and become his own master where he could construct ships of his own design.
His ships sailed between the US and Britain, Boston and San Francisco, New York and Rio de Janeiro, Great Britain and Australia. For nineteen years, he built clipper ships, starting with the Stag Hound in 1850 and finishing with the Glory of the Seas, launched in 1869. His shipbuilding yard designed, built, and launched many of the fastest clipper ships ever constructed. The Flying Cloud, Sovereign of the Seas, Lightning, and the Great Republic were best known. The Flying Cloud was over 2000 tons and sold for a record $90,000. In 1851 Duncan McLean described this remarkable ship.
“If great length, sharpness of ends, with proportionate breadth and depth, conduce to speed, the Flying Cloud must be uncommonly swift, for in all these she is great. Her length on the keel is 208 feet, on deck 225, and over all, from the knight heads to the taffrail, 235—extreme breadth of beam 41 feet, depth of hold 21½, including 7 feet 8 inches height of between-decks, dead-rise at half floor 20 inches, rounding of sides 6 inches, and sheer about 3 feet.”
These graceful sailing ships were primarily used for the New York to San Francisco run during the California Gold Rush as well as to transport cargo on the trans-Atlantic routes. They were designed to sail long distances at high speed. Dedicated to excellence, McKay supervised every aspect of the construction from “the laying of the keel to the final outfitting.”
In 1852, the Flying Cloud was designed by Donald McKay and built in Boston. She was considered one of the finest and swiftest clipper ships ever built. Launched in 1851, she completed the voyage from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn in 28 days and 21 hours, at one stage covering 374 miles in twenty-four hours. In 1871 Flying Cloud ran aground off St. John’s, Newfoundland, and was condemned, burnt and her fittings sold for scrap. The Sovereign of the Seas, 2400 tons, made 430 geographical miles in twenty-four consecutive hours and 3144 miles in ten consecutive days.
In 1857, a world-wide financial crisis began due in part to declining international trade, and many businesses failed. In order to survive, McKay resorted to building less spectacular ships. His studies in Britain led him to believe that “the day of armored steamship was at hand.” He tried to convince the American “government to replace their outmoded naval sailing vessels.”
After the Civil War commenced, McKay devoted himself to building steamships for the US navy. He retooled his shipyard and only had minimal success. He closed his shipyard in 1869. The model of a paddle-wheel steamer he built was exhibited in July, 1853. Donald Mckay believed it could cross the ocean in six days. He built some U.S. Gunboats, including the Nauset and the gunboat Ashuelot, [Native American word meaning "A collection of many waters."] for service in the Civil War. The last boat of his construction was the U.S. Sloop-of-War Adams, in 1874 (from Celebrateboston.com/biography/Donald-mckay.htm). McKay retired in 1877 due to ill health. He died on September 20, 1880, at his country home in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and he is buried in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Information from McKay, Richard C. (2013-02-13). Donald McKay and His Famous Sailing Ships (Dover Maritime) Dover Publications and Celebrateboston.com
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a frequent visitor of McKay’s shipbuilding yard and wrote the following poem to commemorate the launching of the Flying Cloud. Below is the first and last stanzas
The Building of the Ship by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Build me straight, O worthy Master! Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel, That shall laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!"
The merchant's word Delighted the Master heard; For his heart was in his work, and the heart Giveth grace unto every Art. A quiet smile played round his lips, As the eddies and dimples of the tide Play round the bows of ships, That steadily at anchor ride. And with a voice that was full of glee, He answered, "Erelong we will launch A vessel as goodly, and strong, and stanch, As ever weathered a wintry sea!" And first with nicest skill and art, Perfect and finished in every part, A little model the Master wrought, Which should be to the larger plan What the child is to the man, Its counterpart in miniature; That with a hand more swift and sure The greater labor might be brought To answer to his inward thought. And as he labored, his mind ran o'er The various ships that were built of yore, And above them all, and strangest of all Towered the Great Harry, crank and tall, Whose picture was hanging on the wall, With bows and stern raised high in air, And balconies hanging here and there, And signal lanterns and flags afloat, And eight round towers, like those that frown From some old castle, looking down Upon the drawbridge and the moat. And he said with a smile, "Our ship, I wis, Shall be of another form than this!" It was of another form, indeed; Built for freight, and yet for speed, A beautiful and gallant craft; Broad in the beam, that the stress of the blast, Pressing down upon sail and mast, Might not the sharp bows overwhelm; Broad in the beam, but sloping aft With graceful curve and slow degrees, That she might be docile to the helm, And that the currents of parted seas, Closing behind, with mighty force, Might aid and not impede her course.
Last Stanza Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O UNION, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 'T is of the wave and not the rock; 'T is but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee,--are all with thee!