View source for Flying Cloud (clipper)

{{Short description|Clipper}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin |infobox caption=''Flying Cloud''}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image               = File:Flying Cloud by Jacobsen.webp
| Ship caption             = 1917 oil-on-canvas painting of ''Flying Cloud'' by [[Antonio Jacobsen]], based on an 1851 lithograph
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1851}}
| Ship name                =
| Ship owner               = [[Grinnell, Minturn & Co]], New York
| Ship ordered             =
| Ship builder             = [[Donald McKay]] of [[East Boston, Massachusetts]]
| Ship original cost       =  $90,000
| Ship laid down           =
| Ship launched            = 1851
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name                =
| Ship owner               = [[James Baines & Co.]], [[Black Ball Line (Liverpool)|Black Ball Line]], [[Liverpool]]
| Ship ordered             =
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| Ship original cost       = 
| Ship laid down           =
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| Ship acquired            = 1862
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship owner               = Harry Smith Edwards, [[South Shields]], England
| Ship ordered             =
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| Ship original cost       = 
| Ship laid down           =
| Ship launched            =
| Ship acquired            = 19 April 1871
| Ship commissioned        =
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| Ship out of service      = 1875
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| Ship fate                = Went ashore, [[Beacon Island Bar]], [[Saint John, New Brunswick|Saint John]], [[New Brunswick]], 1874; burned for iron and copper fastenings
| Ship notes               =
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Header caption           =
| Ship type= [[Clipper]]
| Ship tonnage        =*1,782 tons (US)
* {{NRT |1098}} (UK)<ref name="MacGregor">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date= 1983|title=The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833-1875 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |page=75 |isbn=0-85177-256-0}}</ref>
| Ship length              =*{{Convert|225|ft|abbr=on}} [[Length overall#LOD|LOD]] (US)
* {{Convert|221.1|ft|abbr=on}} Register Length (UK)<ref name=MacGregor/>
| Ship beam          =*{{convert|41|ft|8| in|abbr=on}} (US)
* {{convert|40.2|ft|abbr=on}} (UK)<ref name=MacGregor/>
| Ship draught             =
| Ship draft          =
| Ship depth          =*{{convert|21|ft|6 |in|abbr=on}}(US)
* {{convert|21.8|ft|abbr=on}} (UK)<ref name=MacGregor/>
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| Ship notes               = US and UK measurements differ as measuring systems had slightly different rules.
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|}

'''''Flying Cloud''''' was a [[clipper]] [[Full-rigged ship|ship]] that set the world's sailing record for the fastest passage between [[New York City|New York]] and [[San Francisco]], 89 days 8 hours. The ship held this record for over 130 years, from 1854 to 1989.

''Flying Cloud'' was the most famous of the clippers built by [[Donald McKay]]. She was known for her extremely close race with ''[[Hornet (clipper)|Hornet]]'' in 1853; for having a woman navigator, [[Eleanor Creesy]], wife of Josiah Perkins Creesy who skippered ''Flying Cloud'' on two record-setting voyages from New York to San Francisco; and for sailing in the [[Australia]] and timber trades.

==Construction==
[[File:Flyingcloudlines.jpg|thumb|left|Lines of ''Flying Cloud'']]
''Flying Cloud'' was built in [[East Boston, Massachusetts]], and intended for [[Enoch Train]] of [[Boston]], who paid $50,000 for her construction. While still under construction, she was purchased by [[Grinnell, Minturn & Co]]., of New York, for $90,000, (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=90000|start_year=1851}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) which represented a huge profit for Train & Co.<ref name="MYC">"The Clipper ''Flying Cloud''", ''Era of the Clipper Ships'' (mirrored [http://www.myc.org/Boats/club/flying_cloud.htm here] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817003233/http://www.myc.org/Boats/club/flying_cloud.htm |date=17 August 2011 }}.</ref>

A reporter for the Boston ''Daily Atlas'' of 25 April 1851 wrote, "If great length [235 ft.], sharpness of ends, with proportionate breadth [41 ft.] and depth, conduce to speed, the ''Flying Cloud'' must be uncommonly swift, for in all these she is great. Her length on the [[keel]] is 208 feet, on deck 225, and over all, from the knightheads to the [[taffrail]], 235— extreme breadth of [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] 41 feet, depth of hold 21½, including 7 feet 8 inches height of between-decks, sea-rise at half-floor 20 inches, rounding of sides 6 inches, and sheer about 3 feet."<ref>{{Cite web
| last = The Maritime Heritage Project
| author2=D. Blethen Adams Levy
| title = Clipper Ships in San Francisco
| publisher = The Maritime Heritage Project
| year = 2008
| url = http://www.maritimeheritage.org/ships/clippers.html#f
| access-date =10 November 2010}}
</ref> ''Flying Cloud'' is often called an [[extreme clipper]], as are many of Donald McKay's ships, even though her deadrise was only 30 inches.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Knoblock, Glenn A.|title=The American clipper ship, 1845-1920 : a comprehensive history, with a listing of builders and their ships|date=15 January 2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-7112-6|pages=19–20|publisher=McFarland }}</ref>

==Record voyage to San Francisco during Gold Rush==
[[File:Buttersworth - flying cloud.jpg|thumb|left|"The Clipper Ship ''Flying Cloud'' off the Needles, Isle of Wight 1859–1860"; painting by [[James E. Buttersworth]]]]

Within six weeks of her 1851 launch ''Flying Cloud'' sailed from New York, rounded [[Cape Horn]] and made San Francisco in 89 days, 21 hours under the command of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy. In July, during the trip, she ran 284, 374 and 334 nautical miles, a total of 992 nautical miles over the three consecutive days.<ref name="shaw"/> In 1854 she beat her own fastest by 13 hours, setting a record that stood until 1989 when a contemporary 60&nbsp;ft racing [[sloop]], ''Thursday's Child'', completed the passage in 80 days, 20 hours.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Fisher
| first = Lawrence M.
| title = Thursday's Child Sails In, Sets Mark
| newspaper = The New York Times
| location = New York edition
| pages = C2
| date = 13 February 1989
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/11/sports/overtaking-a-clipper-ship-after-135-years.html?pagewanted=1
| access-date =3 March 2010}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
|last1=Schreibman
|first1=Jack
|title=Yacht Beats 135-year New York-San Francisco Record
|url=https://apnews.com/article/388b68c0e88c0522e5f816e812ba9dd3
|website=AP News
|publisher=Associated Press
|access-date=13 September 2022
|date=13 February 1989}}</ref>

In the early days of the [[California Gold Rush]], it took more than 200 days for a ship to travel from New York to San Francisco, a voyage of more than 16,000 miles, but clipper ships quickly cut that time in half. ''[[Surprise (clipper)|Surprise]]'' had set a record of 91 days, 21 hours on 19 March 1851, but ''Flying Cloud'' caused a sensation later that year, cutting a week off the record, and beating the three month barrier.<ref name="MYC" /> Three years later, in 1854, she sailed the passage faster yet, setting a record that lasted for 135 years.

[[File:FLYING CLOUD Clipper ship sailing card.jpg|thumb|[[Clipper|Clipper ships]] were in great demand during the [[California Gold Rush]], this card for the fifth voyage to San Francisco]]

===''Flying Cloud'' vs. ''Andrew Jackson''===
In newspaper accounts of the day, the clipper ''[[Andrew Jackson (clipper)|Andrew Jackson]]'' was acclaimed as holding the record passage to San Francisco. After careful scrutiny of the logbooks, Cutler concludes that a case can be made for either ''Flying Cloud'' or ''Andrew Jackson'' holding the record.

''Andrew Jackson'' holds the record for fastest passage pilot-to-pilot, arriving at the San Francisco pilot grounds in 89 days and 4 hours. Because ''Andrew Jackson'' spent all night between the [[Farallon Islands]] and the [[Golden Gate]] awaiting a harbor pilot, some will consider this figure as the appropriate indicator of fastest sailing performance around [[Cape Horn]].

However, ''Flying Cloud'' holds the record time for a completed voyage from New York to San Francisco, 89 days 8 hours anchor-to-anchor.<ref name = "cutler">
{{Cite book
| last1 = Cutler
| first1 = Carl C.
| title = Greyhounds of the Sea  
| publisher = United States Naval Institute
| year = 1960
| location = Annapolis, Maryland
| pages = 360–368
}}
</ref>

==Woman navigator==
''Flying Cloud'''s achievement was remarkable under any terms. But, writes David W. Shaw,<ref name="shaw">{{Cite book
  | last = Shaw
  | first = David W.
  | title = Flying Cloud: the true story of America's most famous clipper ship and the woman who guided her
  | publisher = William Morrow
  | edition = 1st
  | year = 2000
  | location = New York
  | isbn = 0-688-16793-4
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/flyingcloudtrues00shaw
  }}</ref> it was all the more unusual because her navigator was a woman, [[Eleanor Creesy]], who had been studying oceanic currents, weather phenomena, and astronomy since her girlhood in [[Marblehead, Massachusetts]]. She was one of the first navigators to exploit the insights of [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]], most notably the course recommended in his ''Sailing Directions''. With her husband, ship captain Josiah Perkins Creesy, she logged many thousands of miles on the ocean, traveling around the world carrying passengers and goods. In the wake of their record-setting transit from New York to California, Eleanor and Josiah became instant celebrities. But their fame was short-lived and their story quickly forgotten. Josiah died in 1871 and Eleanor lived far from the sea until her death in 1900.

==Race with clipper ''Hornet'' in 1853==
''[[Hornet (clipper)|Hornet]]'' had a two-day head start on ''Flying Cloud'' in their famous 1853 race. She left New York for San Francisco, 26 April 1853, with ''Flying Cloud'' departing two days later.

After the roughly 15,000-mile voyage around [[Cape Horn]], both ships arrived in San Francisco harbor 106 days later at almost the same time, with ''Hornet'' sailing in just 45 minutes ahead of the ''Flying Cloud''.<ref name = "bruzelius">
{{Cite web
  | last = Bruzelius
  | first = Lars
  | title = Clipper Ships: "Hornet" (1851)
  | work = Hornet
  | publisher = The Maritime History Virtual Archives
  | date = 2 January 1996
  | url = http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Hornet%281851%29.html
  | access-date =7 June 2010}}
</ref>{{Self-published source|date=June 2020}}

==British clipper to Australia and New Zealand, New Brunswick timber trade==
[[File:Flyingcloudclipper2.jpg|thumb|Depiction of ''Flying Cloud'' with a fuller sail configuration than in the Jacobsen painting above]]
In 1862, ''Flying Cloud'' was sold to the [[Black Ball Line (Liverpool)|Black Ball Line]], Liverpool, sailing under British colors without change of name, and was soon traveling between the mother country and Australia and New Zealand. Her latter years were spent in the log trade between Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], Canada.

==Loss of the ship==
On 19 June 1874, ''Flying Cloud'' went ashore on the Beacon Island bar, Saint John, New Brunswick. After she was refloated, it was discovered that her back was broken. The following June she was burned for the scrap metal value of her copper and iron fastenings.{{r|MacGregor|p=75}}
<ref>{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=David R. |title=British & American clippers: a comparison of their design, construction and performance in the 1850s |date=1993 |publisher=Conway Maritime |location=London |isbn=0-85177-588-8}}</ref>{{rp|61}}

==Ballad==
A well-known ballad about a ship named ''Flying Cloud'' tells the story of an Irishman who was pressed into sailing on the ship on a slaving voyage from Baltimore via Bermuda to West Africa, which led to another voyage as a pirate ship that resulted in the execution of the crew at Newgate. However, these events are nothing to do with the actual history of the clipper ship.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=537325|title=The Riddle of ''The Flying Cloud''|last=Beck|first=Horace P.|journal=The Journal of American Folklore |year=1953 |volume=66|issue=260 |pages=123–133|doi=10.2307/537325 }}</ref><ref>Laws K28. No historical basis known. Horace P. Beck, 'The Riddle of "The Flying Cloud", ''Journal of American Folklore'', 66 (1953), pp. 123-33, is a thorough study of the ballad.</ref>

==Novels and books==
* {{Cite book
  | last1 = Lyon
  | first1 = Margaret
  | last2 = Reynolds
  | first2 = Flora Elizabeth
  | title = The Flying Cloud, and her first passengers
  | publisher = Mills College
  | year = 1992
  | location = Oakland, California
  | oclc = 27204043}}
* {{Cite book
  | last = Shaw
  | first = David W.
  | title = Flying Cloud: the true story of America's most famous clipper ship and the woman who guided her
  | publisher = William Morrow
  | edition = 1st
  | year = 2000
  | location = New York
  | isbn = 0-688-16793-4
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/flyingcloudtrues00shaw
  }}
* {{Cite book
  | last = Sperry
  | first = Armstrong
  | author-link = Armstrong Sperry
  | title = All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud
  | publisher = Paw Prints
  | year = 2007
  | isbn = 978-1-4352-0042-5}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Flying Cloud (ship, 1851)|Flying Cloud}}
* [http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2007-04-17-voa1.cfm Voice of America broadcast about the ''Flying Cloud''], voice and text transcript
* [http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page24web4.html First Voyage of the ''Flying Cloud''], Era of the Clipper Ships.com
* [http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA%281853-06-29%29.html Abstract Log of ''Flying Cloud'', Capt. Cressey, from New York for San Francisco], ''Boston Daily Atlas'', 29 June 1853
* [http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Flying_Cloud%281851%29.html History of the ''Flying Cloud''], The Maritime History Virtual Archives
* [http://mobius.mysticseaport.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=181230&t=objects Model of clipper ''Flying Cloud''], Mystic Seaport Museum
* [http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=546 Model of ''Flying Cloud'' Clipper Ship], Smithsonian
* [http://www.lunacommons.org/luna/servlet/detail/MOAC~100~1~60706~45290:Clipper-ship--Flying-Cloud- Currier & Ives print of ''Flying Cloud''], Museums and the Online Archive of California
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=f1dhAAAAIAAJ&dq=clipper+syren&pg=PA570 ''A Famous California Passage''], yarn by Capt. R.F. Coffin about a voyage aboard ''Flying Cloud''

{{Clipper ships}}
{{1874 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:California clippers]]
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]
[[Category:Ships built in Boston]]
[[Category:Ships designed by Donald McKay]]
[[Category:California Gold Rush]]
[[Category:Lumber ships]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the New Brunswick coast]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Australia]]
[[Category:Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1874]]
[[Category:1851 ships]]