The New Clipper Ship Climax.

In the outline of her model this beautiful vessel bears a strong resemblance to our most approved pilot boats. Her bow has the same easy rake and graceful rise, and her sides, in their sweep and swell, as well as the run, are equally true. She is 180 feet long on deck, has 36 feet breadth of beam, 22 feet 9 inches depth of hold, including 7 feet 10 inches height of between decks, and registers 1051 tons. Her frame is of seasoned white oak, also her hooks, and all the knees and stanchions in the hold; but the between-decks knees are of hacmatack, her scantling and deck frames of hard pine, and her upper deck of white pine. She is square fastened throughout, butt and bilge bolted with copper, and is sheathed with yellow metal. Her dead rise at half floor is 17 inches, swell of sides about 4 inches, and sheer 26 inches. For a head she has a gilded eagle on the wing, and her stern, which is nearly oval below and semi-elliptical above, in the wake of the monkey rail, is spanned by an arch of gilded carved work. Outside she is painted black, and inside buff color relieved with white.

Like most of the other clippers, she has a small topgallant forecastle, a large house amidships, for the accommodation of the crew, the galley, &c., and a cabin under a half poop deck, with a house in front. The house forms a spacious ante-room, and contains staterooms for the officers, and the pantry, and has an after stair case, which leads to the poop. It also contains a lounge, where the captain, when at sea, we suppose, will sleep with one eye and one ear open; for it is not fashionable with clipper captain to turn in, but to be always on hand, night and day. In the program of physical science, some means may yet be discovered which will enable them, like good horses, to sleep standing up.

The cabin contains 7 state-rooms, and other apartments, and is beautiful wainscotted with mahogany, satin, and rosewood, relieved with pilaster, cornices, and flowered gilding. It is beautifully furnished, and contains all that can conduce to the comfort of its occupants.

Upon the poop deck she is steered by a common gun tackle purchase, brought to a wheel, and the rudder head is braced from the taffrail with diagonal iron braces, which terminates in an iron pintle, fitted into a socket in the centre of the rudder head. The object of this is to make the rudder swing fair upon its hinges.

She has very heavy ground tackle, a strong and powerful windlass, Crane's self-acting chain stoppers, Perley's patent capstans, patent pumps, and all the other improvement of the day.

She is very strongly built. Her keel is of rock maple, sided 16 and moulded 26 inches, the floor timbers in the throats are 16½ by 11 and 12 inches, and she has three depths of midship keelsons, two of which are 16 inches square, and the upper one 14 inches square, the whole bolted with copper and iron, the copper bolts driven through and rivetted. Her ceiling on the floor is 4 inches thick, and on the bilge, commencing below the first futtocks, there are six strakes of 12 inches thickness, which above are graduated to 8 inches, and continue that substance to the deck; and all are scarphed and square fastened. The between-decks waterways are 15 inches square, and the strake inside of them is 10 by 12, and the two strakes over them are of the same size. The ceiling above is 5 inches thick, and her upper deck waterways are 12 by 14 inches, with two thick strakes inside of them.

Her garboards are 7 inches thick, and the other strakes are graduated to 4½ inches, the substance of the planking on her bottom. The wales are 5½ by 7 inches, and her planksheer and main rail are each 6 inches thick. She has 8 hooks forward and 5 aft, which completely span the angles of her ends and make her very strong. The lower deck beams are 15 inches square, and those under the upper deck are 9 by 15, all secured with very stout knees and stanchions. In a word, she is a very strongly built vessel, and remarkably well finished.

She is a full rigged ship, with double topsail yards, somewhat after the plan of Capt. Forbes, but different in the details. The following are the dimensions of her masts and yards.

The bowsprit is 25 feet outboard, jibboom 18 feet outside of the cap, flying jibboom 14, and end 6 feet, and the oper spars in proportion.

Her topmasts are fidded before the lower mastheads, and the lower yards are slung and trussed in the usual style; but the lower to†sail yards are trussed to the fore part of the caps, and are supported below by an iron crane, which branches from a socket, secured by an iron screw band, around the heels of the topmasts. These yards are therefore stationary, and their sails in size are the same as close reefed topsails of the old rig. The upper topsails have one reef in each, and the yards lower down on the cap, close to the lower topsail yards, but still being abaft them, suffuciently clear for reefing or furling. The upper topsail is straight on the foot, and is laced to a jackstay along the yard below it, so that when both topsails are set, they leave no space for the wind to escape between them, an objection we have frequently heard urged against Forbes's rig; but an objection hardly worthy of reply, when the manifold advantages of the rig, as a whole, are considered. The upper topsails, we have said, have only a single reef in each, but the sails require neither reef tackles, clewlines, not buntlines, for when the yards are down, the sails will be becalmed before the lower topsails, and can consequently be reefed or furled with ease, and the foot lacing used for gaskets. We could easily fill half a column in pointing out the advantages of this rig, but any sailor can appreciate them, better than we can enumerate them. Two yards on the foremast have a span between them, to which asingle brace purchase is applied, which works both yards. The same is the case with the corresponding yards on the mizzen-mast; but those on the mainmast, owing to the differences of the angles of loading, have separate braces. Her topmast studdingsails hoist to the upper topsail yards, and consequently are as deep as both topsails. She has skysail yards rigged aloft, fore and aft, and looks uncommonly taunt. Her masts, however, are well secured, and altogether aloft she looks beautifully. She was rigged agreeably to the designs of her commander, Capt. Howes, who also superintended her construction. Messrs. Hayden & Cudworth built her, and she is unquestionably the best and most beautiful vessel of her class, they have yet produced.

She is owned by Messrs. Howes & Crowell, of this city, and has just been loaded in Winsor's line of California clippers, and will sail in a few days for San Francisco. She lies at the end of Commercial wharf, and we advise all our ship owners to call and see her.

Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.

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Copyright © 1997 Lars Bruzelius.