This is a fine vessel, of about 500 tons, admirably adapted to any trade suitable for her size: She is of large capacity, compared with her register, but is at the same time of an excellent model for sailing. Her ends are clipperly in their form, and her water-lines slightly concave; and, although she has only 8 inches dead rise at half floor, yet, as her stem is almost upright, her floor long, and her keel deep, she is expected to hold as good a wind as most of the sharp-bottomed clippers of the same register. The designe of her model was to combine large stowage capacity with good sailing qualities.
She is 125 feet long on the keel, 131 on deck, between perpendiculars, and 140 over all. Her extreme breadth of beam is 29 feet, depth 19 feet, including 7 feet height of between decks, sheer two feet, and swell or rounding of sides 6 inches. She has a narrow waist, defined between the mouldings of the upper wale and the planksheer, and the latter is carried out to the extreme, and forms the lower outline of the headboards. The moulding of the upper wale blends with the navelhoods, and is continued along the trail boards, to the extremes.
Her head is a carved and gilded billett, which grows out of the ornamental work upon the trail boards. The stern is light and graceful, and the run clean and easy. Instead of stern windows she has four circular plate glass air ports, and over these an arch of carved work, in the apex of which is the bust of an antelope. Her name and port of hail are carved into the arch board and painted white. She is painted black outside, from the water to the rail, and dark buff color, with blue waterways, inside.
She has a small topgallant forecastle. and abaft the foremast a house 30 feet long, 12 wide and 6½ high, which contains the galley, quarters for the crew and other useful apartments. Her cabin is under a half poop deck, with a house in front, which contains two state-rooms and the pantry. The cabin contains four staterooms, a water closet and a bread locker, and is most beautifully panelled with satin and zebra woods, set off with rose wood pilasters. There are deck and side lights in the staterooms, and ober the cabin a large oblong square skylight. In light, ventilation, and furniture, the cabin is a neat and perfect as the space would admit.
Her frame is of white oak, most of her planking and ceiling of yellow pine, and she is square fastened throughout. The keel is of rock maple, sided 13 and moulded about 17 inches; the floor timbers are 11 by 14, and she has two depths of keelsons, each 15 inches square. The floor timbers are bolted through the keel with 1½ inch copper, and the navel timbers through the upper keelson, down blunt into the keel with iron of the same size. The ceiling on the floor is 3½: inches thick, and over the floor heads there are two strakes of 7 inches thickness, above these two of 6, and the rest of te ceiling is of 5 inches. The between decks waterways are 14 inches square, and over them are two strakes, each of 8 by 12 inches, and inside of them, let into the beams, a strake of the same substance. This thick work is bolted vertically and horizontally in the most substantial style. The ceiling above the thick work is 5 inches thick.
The upper deck waterways are 12 by 8 inches, with a thick strake inside of them, let into the beams and cross-bolted. Her lower deck beams are 13 by 14 inches, and those under the upper deck 8 by 14. The hanging and lodging knees in the hold are of oak, and those in the between-decks of hackmatack, and all are well fitted and securly bolted. Her cutwater, stem, apron, and dead-wood -- also her sternpost and falsepost, are all of superior white oak, bolted with copper up to the load displacement line, and above there with iron. The main transom is 14 by 16 inches, and the others in proportion; and her wing transoms extend well along the sides, and are closely bolted. She has 6 hooks forward and 5 aft, which span the angles of her ends completely.
Her hold stanchions are of oak, kneed in the wake of the hatchways, and elsewhere strapped with iron and bolted above and below. The stanchions is the between decks are also of oak tunred, secured with rods through their centres in the unual style. The planking of the between decks is of hard pine 3 inches thick, and that of the upper deck clear white pine, of the same substance.
The planking an [sic] her bottom is 3½ inches thick, her wales 5 by 7 inches, and the waist 3½ inches thick. Outside she is square fastened with treenails; and her bilge and butt bolts been driven with the greatest care. Her sides are smooth and beautifully finished. Her planksheer and main rail are each 5 inches thick; her bulwark stanchions are 8 by 6 inches, and her bulwarks are of 2 inches, tastefully tongued, grooved and moulded. The bulwarks are 3 feet 10 inches high, surmounted by a monkey rail of 12 inches, which extends the whole length of the vessel.
Her frame is seasoned with salt; she has air ports below, brass ventilators along the line of her planksheer and in her bitts, and Emerson's patent ventilators forward and aft.
She has a good patent windlass, a beautiful mahogany capstan, brass mounted, two pumps, a patent steering apparaturs, and three substantial boats, two of which stow on a gallows frame over the quarter deck.
In ground tackle and every other detail of ship's furniture, she is most liberally found.
She is a full rigged ship, has a noble set of spars, well proportioned and handsomely finished. Messrs. Blanchard & Caldwell made her spars, and she was rigged by Messrs. Carnes & Chessman. Her ornamental work, which is infinely superios to most of the gandy stuff now in vofue, was exected by Messrs. Gleason & Sons.
She was built at Medford by Mr. J.O. Curtis, and is owned by Wm. Licoln, Esq., and Capt. Tully Crosby, who commands her, and under whose superintendence she was built and equipped. Capt. Crosby is well knwon as one of our most experienced and successful shipmasters. He has now a good beautiful ship, and one that must dail fast and work like a pilot boat. Good luck to him and her. She is now loading for New Orleans, at Constitution wharf, and after performing a coasting voyage, will be put in the Cuba trade, for which she was originally designed.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
Sjöhistoriska Samfundet | The Maritime History Virtual Archives | The Boston Daily Atlas | Search.
Copyright © 1997 Lars Bruzelius.