Canadian-born Donald Kay started shipbuilding in 1840. He built seven ships in partnership with others, then moved to Boston to start his own shipyard where he designed and built many successful and record-breaking clipper ships. The 29th ship built at the Boston yard was the Great Republic which was launched in October of 1853. At 335 feet long, it was the largest clipper ship ever made. After testing, it sailed to New York City to be laded for a trip to Liverpool. After it was loaded, a fire broke out at a nearby bakery which spread to the docks and set fire to a number of boats including the Great Republic, which burned to the waterline and was considered a total loss. It was said that Donald MacKay never really got over it.
The sunken hulk was bought by Captain Nathaniel Palmer who had it rebuilt at the shipyard A.A. Low and Bros. The ship was built up in a different plan than the original, 3 decks instead of 4 and 42 sails instead of the original 50, on shorter masts. The ship then had a good career till in 1872 a hurricane off Bermuda damaged it badly enough that it was abandoned at sea and lost.
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| Richard C. MacKay, Donald MacKay and His Famous Sailing Ships, Dover Publications, 1995 |
Now we know where the trees went. I wonder if that's board-feet or linear feet of some common planking dimension? Either way it's a lot.
ReplyDeleteI suspect board feet. Enormous amount of wood and they were built by the hundreds.
ReplyDeleteShip building denuded England of most of her oak trees.
ReplyDeleteEngland, then the east coast of North America then, the west coast.
ReplyDelete