Mr McKay has now on the stocks, at East Boston, a magnificent clipper ship, which will register about 2300 tons. She is not only the largest merchant ship, but the sharpest and longest known at the present day, either building or afloat. Her ends are sharper than those of the Collins steamers, but she has great surface of floor, which is carried forward and aft, almost to the extremes, and will render her both buoyant and weatherly. In outline she is a perfect beauty. Her sheer is easy and graceful, and rises boldly forward and aft; her stern curvilinear, formed from the line of the planksheer, and her sides are as true in their sweep and swell as if she had been cast in a mould. Her lines are concave, but as they ascend forward, above the load-displacement line, become convex, to correspond with her outline on the rail. She is 240 feet long on the keel, and 265 feet over all; her extreme breadth of beam is 43½ feet, and depth 23 feet 3 inches, including 8 feet height of between decks. Her upper deck is without break, and on it are all her accommodations for officers and crew. She has a topgallant forecastle, a large house abaft the foremast, and a trunk cabin, built into a half poop 75 feet long, thus leaving all the space below for the stowage of cargo.
Her frame is of seasoned white oak, and her back bone, including the moulding of her floor timbers, is sided 18 inches, and 11 feet 8 inches through, from the top of the keelson to the base of the keel. Beside the midship keelsons, she has two tiers of sister keelsons, one over the other, on each side. These combined, are sided 15 inches and moulded 30, and her keel and keelsons fastenings are of 1½ inch copper and iron. The floor ceiling is 5 inches thick, and on the bilge, commencing inside of the floor heads, she has 6 strakes of 15 inches square, and those above are graduated to 10 inches thickness, the substance up to the deck. She has also a stringer of 15 inches square, upon which the lower ends of her hanging knees rest; and all her knees, hooks, &c., in the hold are of oak. Her between decks waterways are 16 inches square, the strake inside of them 12 by 14, and that over them 11 by 16; the ceiling above is 6 inches thick, and the clamp 7 inches. The garboards are 8 inches thick, the next strake 6, graduated to 5 inches, the substance of her bottom planking. She has 25 wales of 6 by 7 inches, and is planked up smooth to the planksheer. She is square bolted throughout; and all her thick work extends forward and aft, and is scarphed. Her ends are almost filled with massive hooks and pointers, and neither expense nor labor have been spared to make her strong and durable.
Her lower masts and bowsprit are made, and are very stout. In diameter, the masts, commensing with the fore, are 41, 42, and 36 inches at the deck, and only 2 inches smaller at the truss-bands, and are in length 89, 92, and 78 feet, including 16, 17, and 15 feet length of heads. Her fore and main topmasts are 48 and 55 feet long, with 11 feet heads, and 19½ and 20 inches in diameter, and will be fitted with gins aloft for the ties, instead of sheave-holes. The topgallant ties also will work through gins, thus preserving the strength of the respective masts, unaffected by holes. Her lower yards, commencing with the fore, are, in diameters, 23½, 24, and 20 inches, and in length, 80, 90, and 70 feet, and are single spars, not scarphed. Her rigging, and all her outfits aloft, when completed, will be as perfect as skill and money can make them. These brief details will give some idea of her strength and outfits; but the beauty of her model must be seen to be appreciated. Mr. McKay says that he designed her to be the fastest ship in the world, and he feels confident that, if properly managed, she will answer his most sanguine expectations. He built her on his own account, and, we understand, has had several offers for her, but whether he has disposed of her or not, we do not know. She has been named the Enoch Train, a merited compliment to one of our most enterprising merchants -- a gentleman who has done much for the shipping interests of Boston. We advise every body to pay her a visit she is on the stocks, and examine the style of her construction. In two or three weeks she will be ready for launching, and she is already advertised to load in Messrs. Glidden & Co.'s line of California packets.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
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