american 44-gun FRIGATE CONSTITUTION – 1797

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One of the first six frigates authorized by an Act of Congress in 1794, the Constitution was a 44-gun warship designed to out-gun and out-sail any opposing ship in her class and size. She never lost a battle, and once fought and captured two enemy ships at the same time during the conflict with England from 1812 to 1815. She is pictured here leaving Boston Harbor in 1804 after repairs in the Mediterranean altered slightly her original appearance. She is still afloat today in Boston Harbor as the oldest commissioned warship in the world, restored to her appearance in the War of 1812.

american clipper ship great republic – 1853

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The Great Republic was the largest wooden merchant ship in the United States for decades, and is shown here, as originally designed and built by Donald McKay, being towed out of Boston Harbor to load for her maiden voyage in New York. She was the first four-masted bark (ship-rigged with square sails on the fore, main, and mizzen masts, but four-and-aft rigged on the fourth, or spanker mast). She burned in a dock fire the night before departure from New York, was scuttled, raised, and rebuilt, and though cut down somewhat in size still proved to be one of the fastest sailing ships on record.

american clipper ship great republic (rebuilt) – 1855

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The Great Republic is shown here in San Francisco (about 1860) as she appeared after having been rebuilt and re-rigged following the disastrous fire which nearly destroyed the ship prior to her maiden voyage. The length of her hull remained the same as the original, as were her sharp clipper lines, but the flush deck design of the original was cut down to a normal ship’s appearance, and the height of her masts and the length of her yards were shortened. In spite of these modifications, she proved to be a very successful and very fast ship. At some point between 1860 and 1862 the distinctive fourth mast was removed, rendering her a three-masted ship, and no longer the world’s first four-masted bark.

american CLIPPER SHIP LIGHTNING – 1854

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The clipper ship Lightning was the first of four ships commissioned from the East Boston builder Donald McKay by James Baines, a British ship owner and head of a famous shipping firm. She was extremely sharp in hull design, with concave bow lines, and was one of the fastest sailing ships in existence in the mid-19th century.

american clipper ship sovereign of the seas – 1852

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This is the celebrated Sovereign of the Seas that was launched in 1852 by Donald McKay in East Boston, and for which a speed of 22 knots was claimed. Certainly she was the first ship under sail to exceed 400 nautical miles in one 24 hour run. She was lost in 1859. The builder himself as well as many naval architects and maritime historians consider this ship to be his finest achievement in the design of a merchant vessel that coupled unprecedented speed under sail with the needs of a successful cargo carrier.

american whaler CHARLES W. MORGAN – 1841

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The Charles W. Morgan was a three masted, ship-rigged American whaler built in the 1840s. She is shown here, still under her original rig and paint scheme (with false gun ports painted on her sides) arriving in New Bedford in the late 1860s while a more “modern” design for whalers is towing out to sea. It was in 1876 that the Morgan was converted into a barK rig with double topsails, looking very much like the new breed of whaler towing out of port in the distance. She last sailed on a whaling voyage in 1920 and is still afloat today, serving as a symbol for the preservation of the magnificent creatures she once hunted.

british revenue cutter SHAMROCK – 1805

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The Shamrock was originally constructed in 1805 and named the Resolution, but purchased by the Royal Navy and renamed Shamrock and used as a Revenue Cutter in British ports. This is her appearance in 1817.

british medium CLIPPER ship MARCO POLO – 1851

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The requirements of trade and trade routes through the oceans of the world influenced builders in different countries in different ways, and no ship illustrates this better than the celebrated Marco Polo, built in Canada in 1851 and purchased by English owners for commerce and passenger service to Australia. Not as long and fine lined as the later China tea clippers, nor as sharp as the big American clippers of the 50's, she nonetheless had a well-deserved reputation for speed and dependability in the Australian trade. Here she is pictured getting under way in Melbourne Harbor in 1852, after her first passage out.

american clipper ship WITCH OF THE WAVE – 1851

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The extreme clipper ship Witch of the Wave was one of many fine ship designs by East Coast shipwrights in the mid-19th century. She had very fine lines, a hollow entrance, and, since she was designed for the China trade, had painted eyes on her bows in the manner of Chinese junks in the Far Eastern seas where she traveled.

british general cargo carrier COUNTY OF LINLITHGOW – 1887

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The iron-hulled, four-mast full-rigged ship County of Linlithgow was the last of four iron ships built for the R. & J. Craig’s “County Line.” By the 1880s in England iron ship construction was the norm and many ships appeared with four full-rigged masts or three square-rigged masts and one four and aft rigged. The sail area coverage for any given ship length by a four masted vessel was thought to make for greater ease of handling and greater efficiency.

american 32-gun FRIGATE HANCOCK – 1777

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The 32-gun frigate Hancock was one of several independent designs for fast and effective men-of-war during the American Revolution. She is shown here standing out to sea in 1777.

american 44-gun FRIGATE PRESIDENT – 1800

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The 44-gun frigate President was the last of the 44's authorized by an Act of Congress in 1794 to be completed, not being finished and launched until 1800. She was built in New York, as the construction of all these initial ships was awarded to different builders in different cities. These constructors naturally effected differences in appearance and other details as they saw fit although all the ships were built from the same master plans. The President is shown here at the outset of the War of 1812. As she was captured by the British when trying to escape a blockade of New York, we have very detailed plans prepared by the Royal Navy, and thus have an excellent idea of the general appearance of the American 44's during that war.

american CLIPPER ship STAG HOUND – 1850

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The first extreme clipper designed and built by the East Boston builder Donald McKay, the Stag Hound attracted attention both in Boston and in New York where she loaded for her maiden voyage in 1850. McKay went on to build even more successful extreme clippers such as the Flying Cloud, the Sovereign of the Seas, the Great Republic, the Lightning, and the James Baines, and never repeated himself, always preferring to improve upon each ship he built.