The clipper packet “Dreadnought”of 1853

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Anatol
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

The clipper packet “Dreadnought”of 1853

Post by Anatol » Tue Feb 07, 2017 11:02 pm

The career of the clipper “Dreadnought” is a stirring chronicle of romance and recklessness on the Atlantic. The well-known packet ship Dreadnought also came out in 1853. She was built by Currier & Townsend at Newburyport, and was 1413 tons register; length 210 feet, breadth 40 feet, depth 26 feet. This ship was owned by Governor E. D. Morgan, Francis B. Cutting, David Ogden, and others, of New York, who subscribed to build her for Captain Samuel Samuels. He superintended her construction and under his able command she made some remarkably quick voyages between New York and Liverpool, sailing in David Ogden's Red Cross Line, with the Victory, Racer, and Highflyer. Captain Samuels commanded the Dreadnought for ten years, and during that time she made from seventy to eighty passages across the Atlantic, and must have had ample opportunity to make fast voyages and day's runs. She sailed from New York, May 4, 1855, and arrived at Liverpool May 20th; passage recorded as 15 days 12 hours. Distance sailed from Sandy Hook to the Northwest Lightship, 3018 miles; passage 13 days 8 hours, mean time.It was during this passage that the Dreadnought is supposed to have made the run from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in 9 days 17 hours, but an analysis of the abstract log shows that 9 days 21 hours after discharging her pilot to the eastward of Sandy Hook she was not within 400 miles of Queenstown.How this mythical tale originated, is difficult to imagine, but it has been passed along from one scribe to another these many years, until at last it has reached the dignity of an "historical fact," having recently been embalmed in an encyclopedia. Curiously enough, Captain Samuels appears to be almost the only person who has written about the Dreadnought who does not refer to this fable. In his memoirs, he makes no mention of it.The best passage to the westward made by the Dreadnought was in 1854, when she ran from the Rock Light, Liverpool, to Sandy Hook in 19 days. While it cannot be said that the Dreadnought ever made the fastest passage of a sailing vessel between New York and Liverpool, as the records in this respect are held by the Red Jacket, Captain Asa Eldridge, from Sandy Hook to the Rock Light, in 13 days 1 hour, in 1854, and by the Andrew Jackson, Captain John Williams, from Rock Light to Sandy Hook in 15 days, in 1860, still the uniform speed of the Dreadnought's many voyages entitles her to a high place among the celebrated packet ships of the past. Twice in one year she was forced into Fayal, in the Azores, for repairs. It is small wonder that sailors called her the “Wild Boat of the Atlantic”, or the “Flying Dutchman”.
The Dreadnought was a strikingly handsome and well-designed, though by no means a sharp ship. Her masts, yards, sails, ironwork, blocks, and standing and running rigging were of the best material and were always carefully looked after. She was a ship that would stand almost any amount of driving in heavy weather, and her fast passages were in a measure due to this excellent quality, though mainly to the unceasing vigilance and splendid seamanship of her commander. She was wrecked in 1869 while under the command of Captain P. N. Mayhew; her crew were rescued after being adrift fourteen days in the boats, but the noble old packet ship went to pieces among the rugged cliffs and crags and roaring breakers of Cape Horn. . For more details about the Dreadnought see: http://www.shippingwondersoftheworld.co ... ought.html.
The design stamp is made after painting of Frank Vining Smith:Packet Ship ‘Dreadnought,’
Uganda2016;2000s. Source:https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Clip ... Chapter_15.
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Anatol
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Re: The clipper packet “Dreadnought”of 1853

Post by Anatol » Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:09 pm

DREADNOUGHT (1853-1869), 1,400 tons, length 200ft, beam 39f t, depth 26ft. Of wood construction, she was designed designed by Currier & Townshend at Newburyport, Massachusetts. She was built for hard driving in the Atlantic packet trade and under Captain Samuels earned the nickname "the Wild Boat of the Atlantic". She sailed in the Atlantic packet trade for ten years. In 1864, with steamships taking over the North Atlantic trade, the ship was put into the Cape Horn trade to San Francisco. In 1869, the ship left New York bound for San Francisco. While making for the Straits of La Maireth the ship got close to the rocky coast of Tierra del Fuego. The wind dropped, the ship lost way and the swell drew her onto the rocks.
The design stamp is made after painting of Jack Spurling.
Is.Canouan of St.Vincent 2020;(8x3)$
Source: http://www.spurlingandrouxwatercolours.com/mpab.html
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