Witch of the Wave-clipper 1851

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Witch of the Wave-clipper 1851

Post by Anatol » Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:12 pm

Witch of the Wave was a long-lived extreme clipper in the California trade, with a sailing life of over 34 years. She held the record passage from Calcutta to Boston. The Witch of the Wave registered 1494 tons, and measured: length 202 feet, breadth 40 feet, depth 21 feet, with 40 inches dead-rise at half floor. Her mainmast was 90 feet and her mainyard 81 feet in length. Though built at Portsmouth, she was owned by Captain John Bertram and Alfred Peabody, of Salem, and was the pride of that ancient seaport. It was usual in those days for owners to entertain on board their ships when favorable opportunity offered, so the trip of the Witch of the Wave from Portsmouth to Salem to obtain her register was made an occasion of festivity. Her figurehead was a young woman in a flowing white gossamer dress, with gold. One arm was extended, and she stood atop the crest of a wave in bare feet. The stern ornament was a seashell with a child, being drawn by dolphins. Both decorations were designed by John W. Mason, of Boston.The cabins and staterooms featured luxurious finish work, "the wainscot of the main cabin being of rosewood, birdseye maple, satin and zebra wood, exquisitely polished, with cornices and mouldings of white and gold." Witch of the Wave set the record for the passage from Sand Heads, Calcutta, to Boston—81 days, in 1853. During this passage, Witch of the Wave also tied a record set by the clipper Typhoon—37 days from Calcutta to the Cape of Good Hope. On January 23, 1853, Witch of the Wave put into Singapore, just nine days out from Hong Kong. She had sustained damage to her rudder as the result of a collision with the barque Spartan. On August 16, 1853, Witch of the Wave left Boston bound for San Francisco as a participant in a race with six other ships. She sailed the voyage under Capt. Lewis F. Miller and arrived in San Francisco after 117 days, beating the Raven, the Comet, and the Trade Wind. Six clippers in all arrived in San Francisco within 30 hours of Witch of the Wave, the other two being Mandarin and Hurricane. In 1855, Witch of the Wave was renamed the Electra by new owners in Amsterdam. She was still listed in Amsterdam in 1871, with Van Eeghen & Co. as owners. The design stamp is made after painting of Christopher Blossom.
Somalia 2014;5000,0;SG?
Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Clip ... Chapter_10. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: Witch of the Wave-clipper 1851

Post by aukepalmhof » Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:54 pm

1855 Bought by Van Eeghen, Amsterdam for US$43,000 and renamed ELECTRA.
1875 Sold to Reiger & Co, Amsterdam not renamed.
1876 Barque rigged.
1882 Sold to Norway, and renamed RUTH.
Fate unknown.

Source: De Clippers by Anno Teenstra.

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