Glory of the Seas

A medium clipper ship built in 1869 by Donald McKay, East Boston, on speculation. Dimensions 240'2"×44'1"×28'3", and tonnage 2103 register tons. Rigged with double topsails, single topgallant sails, royal sails, and a main skysail.

This was the last clipper ship built by Donald McKay. The builder's halfmodel is preserved at The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA, USA.

1869 October 21: Launched at Donald McKay's Yard, East Boston.
1870 February 13 - June 13: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 120 days, beating the extreme clipper Sea Serpent (1850) which sailed three days earlier by 15 days. The command of the ship was given to Captain John Giet, who had been the master of the extreme clipper Whirlwind in the late 1850s.
1870 May 18: Taken over by Charles E. Brigham of Gay, Manson and Co., as trustee of Donald McKay's assets in behalf of his creditors, whom he owed close to a quarter of million dollars. The new managers replaced Captain Giet with Captain William Chatfield.
1870 July 30 -: Sailed from San Francisco to Queenstown in 112 days.
1871 April: Sold to a syndicate of creditors for $ 90.000, which assigned Joseph Henry Sears, Boston, as managing owner.
1871 May 13 -: Sailed from St Johns for Liverpool but grounded on a sandbar and had to be towed free. She arrived at Liverpool after 21 days. Captain Josiah Nickerson Knowles now assumed command of the ship.
1871 August 19 - December 16: Sailed from Cardiff to San Francisco in 120 days.
1872 February 7 - May 28: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 112 days.
1872 July 27 - November 25: Sailed from Liverpool to San Francisco in 119 days.
1873 January 15 - May 23: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 128 days.
1873 October 13 - January 16: Sailed from New York with a cargo valued $47.303 to San Francisco in 96 days. Altough not a record for the passage, no ship had sailed it faster after this date.
1874 February 26 - June 23: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 117 days.
1874 August 13 - December 22: Sailed from Liverpool with a cargo of 2100 tons of coal to San Francisco in 131 days.
1875 March 14 - April 19: Sailed from San Francisco to Sydney in 35 days.
1875 June 4 - July 26: Sailed from Sydney with a cargo of coal to San Francisco in 53 days.
1875 October 7 - February 17: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 133 days.
1876 May 2 - August 23: Sailed from Liverpool with a cargo of coal to San Francisco in 114 days.
1876: Captain Daniel S. McLaughlin.
1876 October 24 - February 3: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 103 days.
1877 April 2 - August 23: Sailed from Liverpool to San Francisco in 144 days.
1877 November 9 - February 24: Sailed from San Francisco with cargo of a total value of $242.665, the most valuable cargo in her career, and arrived in Liverpool after 107 days.
1878 April 27 - September 29: Sailed from Liverpool with coal to Oakland, CA, in 153 days.
1879: Sailed from San Francisco to Queenstown for orders in 111 days and proceeded to Le Havre to discharge the cargo.
1880: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 118 days.
1880 May 29 - September 28: Sailed from San Francisco to Queenstown in 120 days.
1880 December 27 - May 3: Sailed from Cardiff to San Francisco in 129 days.
1881 July 11 - February 17: Sailed from San Francisco to Le Havre via Valparaiso in 220 days.
1882 July 2 - November 7: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 128 days.
1882 December - 1885 February: Laid up at Goat Island, San Francisco.
1885 February 2: The new master of the ship, Captain Joshua S. Freeman, bought 1/8 share in the ship.
1885 February 22 - June 19: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 119 days.
1885: Sailed from Liverpool to San Pedro in 121 days.
1902 November: Captain John Pinding.
1906 March: Sold to John Barneson, San Francisco, for $8550, who intended to use the ship as a barge.
1906 May: Repaired and put under sail again after the San Francisco earthquake and Captain Henry Gillespie was transferred from the Two Brothers to take command of the Glory of the Seas.
1911 April 25: Sold at auction in Victoria, BC, to the Tongass Trading Co. of Ketchikan and Seattle for $4.050 which company intended to use the ship as a floating salmon cannery.
1923 May 13: Burned for her metal at Brace Point, West Seattle.

The figurehead of the ship is preserved at the India House, New York.

References:

Clipper ships, general references.
Hall, Henry: Report on the Ship-Building Industry of the United States.
1884. 4to, vi, 276 pp, ill., 4 plates.
McKay, Richard: Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay.
G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1928. 8vo, xxvii, 395 pp, 62 plates.
Mjelde, Michael Jay: Glory of the Seas.
Published for The Marine Historical Assoc. by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, 1970. 4to, x, 303 pp, ill.
Mjelde, Michael Jay: The Medium Clipper Ship Glory of the Seas.
Nautical Research Journal vol. 25, Washington, 1979. pp 111-118, ill.

Updated 1997-06-30 by Lars Bruzelius.

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