Nearly all clippers are beautiful, although it cannot be so generally stated that nearly all of them are good, for many of them have damaged ttheir cargoes; but we may safely report that the Don Quixote is as good as she is unquestionable beautiful. Here frame is of seasoned white oak, and she is diagonally crossbraced with iron from the gunwales to the first futtocks, fore and aft. These braces are 4 inches wide, 3/8ths [?] of an inch thick, are let into the timbers and ceiling, and bolted through every timber. Where they intersect, or cross one another, between the frames, thay are rivitted together. Her hooks, pointers, transoms, and transom knees are of oak, and her scantling and deck-frames are of hard pine. The lodging and hanging knees are of hacmatack and oak, and the stanchions are also of oak. She has not yet been measured by the Custom House officials, but will probably register about 1450 tons. Her length on the keel is 192 feet; between perpendiculars on deck, 210 and over all, 225 deck; extreme breadth of beam, 33½ feet; breadth at the gunwales, 37; and depth, 23½ feet, including 8 feet height of between decks. Her ends are quite sharp, and her lines are slightly concave below, but become gradually convex along the upperworks, to correspond with her outline on the rail. The bow is very sharp, rakes boldly forward, and rises as it rakes into an easy and graceful spring. A sprig of gilded carved work on each side of the cutwater, below the bowsprit, is her only ornament forward, for she has neither head nor trail boards, nor if she had them, would they impartany additional beauty to the bow. Her sheer is between 4 and 5 feet, but is so fairly curved her whole length, that it does not seem more than 3 feet. She has what is termed a square stern, although it swells between the arch-board and the rail, and between the quarters. It is light and neatly formed, and is chastely ornamented with gilded branches. The run is clean, but is fuller on the load line than most clippers of her capacity. This, of course, is designed to buoy her aft, when she is going fast through the water. She is sheathed with yellow metal up to 21 feet, and is painted black outside. Inside she is painted white, except the moulding of the main rail, which is covered with yellow metal.
She has an open topgallant forecastle, a house amidships, abaft the the foremast, and a cabin house aft, built into a half poop deck. The cabin is 12 feet, fore and aft, by 20 feet across, and the after part has a passage amidships, which forms a vestibule to the state-rooms on each side. She has only three state-rooms, and two other useful apartments in the after part of the cabin. The cabin door is amidships, protected by a passage which extends across, with a door on each side, and this same passage protects the entrances to the mates' rooms and the pantry. The cabin is beautifully wainscotted with mahogany and rosewood, and though not flashy, looks finely, and is tastefully furnished.
The house amidships contains the galley, a sail room, store rooms, quarters for the petty officers, and snug berths for the boys. The men, or salt beef squires, have a spacious forecastle below, the entrance to which is protected by companion.
As already stated, her frame is of white oak. The keel is of rock maple, sided 16 inches, and moulded 2 feet forward, and 18 inches aft. The floor timbers are 13 and 12 by 17, and she has three depths of keelsons, each 16 inches square, bolted with copper and iron. When the frames were raised, and inch copper bolt was driven through every floor timber and the keel; and after the first keelson was laid, another copper bolt of 1 3/8th inch was driven through it, the floor timbers and the keel, and both bolts were riveted. The 2d and 3d keelsons wre bolted through the navel timbers, into the keel, with 1 3/8ths inch iron, driven within 2 inches of the base of the keel. Her stem, apron and cutwater are very stout, and all are bolted with copper up to 22 feet draught, and above there with iron. The sternpost and false post are bolted in the same style, and she has two stern knees. The first binds the sternpost and keel together, and is scarphed in with the lower keelson; and the second is placed over all the keelsons, and is bolted to them and to the sternpost. She has 10 transoms, the main one of which is 18 inches square, and is well secured with transoms knees to the sides.
The floor ceiling is 4½ inches thick, and over the floor heads are 3 strakes of 12 by 15 inches, then 3 of 10 by 11, and all the rest of the ceiling above, is 8 inches thick, all scarphed and square bolted. She has 4 pairs of pointers forward, two of them 35 feet long on each side, and the others 25 and 20 feet, crossing the cants diagonally, and fayed to the beams or knees. These pointers vary in size from 14 to 10 inches square, and are bolted at intervals of not more than 8 inches. The stern is secured in the same style, with three pairs of pointers. The lower deck beams are 16 inches square amidships, and those under the upper deck are 10 by 16 inches. The hanging and lodging knees connected with both, are very stout and closely bolted. The hold stanchions are kneed in the wake of the tanks, and hatchways, and elsewhere are morticed into the beams and keelsons and bolted. The between decks aterways are 16 inches square, with 2 strakes of 10 by 11 over them, and one of 12 by 14 inside of them, let over the beams, bolted through them, and through the waterways. The other thick work is bolted vertically and horizontally, in the strongest style; and the ceiling above is 6 inches thick, square bolted. Her ends between decks are secured with heavy hooks, alternately bolted from both sidess. The upper deck waterways are 12 by 14 inches, and have two thick strakes inside of them, which overlap the beams, and both decks are if white pine 3½ inches thick.
Her garboards are 8 by 11 inches, the next strake 12 by 7, the third 12 by 5, flushed out to 1½ inches, the substance of her bottom planking, thus giving her a slightly concave floor. Her wales are 5½ by 6 inches, and she is planked flush to the covering board, which is 6 inches thick. Her garboards are fastened with copper and locust treenails, and outside as well as inside, she is square fastened, and butt and bilge bolted with copper. The main rail is 6 inches thick, surmounted by a monkey rail of 14 inches, which makes the whole height of the bulwarks above the deck 4 feet 10 inches. She is well fitted out in every particular. She has a patent windlass, two capstans, Reed's steering apparatus, the best of the kind now in use, which has an iron yoke brace on the after part of the rudder head, to keep the rudder pintles on their centres. This brace, or yoke, was fitted by Mr. B.F. Delano. She also has Litchfield's patent pumps, goose-necked ventilators along her planksheer, and plenty of good boats.
She is snugly rigged, and has an excellent set of spars. Her mainmast is 84 feet long, the main yard is 80 feet square, and the others in like proportions; and she will spread about 9000 yards of canvas in a single suit of sails. Her lower masts are white, the yards, tops, crosstrees and caps are black, and her studdingsail booms are bright, with black ends.
This fine vessel was built at Medford, by Mr. Lapham, and is owned by John E. Lodge, Esq., of this city, who has the credit of being the first in this vicinity to diagonally cross-brace ships' frames with iron. Capt. Nott, one of the best of sailors, superintended her construction and equipment, and now commands her. He is one of the few who commanded clippers that elevation has not spolied. We have been often amused at the silly vanity of some of our clipper captains, after returning from a successful voyage; but Nott is the same plain, unpretending gentleman that we have always known him during the past twelve years. He now commands as fine a ship of her size as any belonging to the United States, or elsewhere; and we have no doubt he will make her give a fine account of herself. She now lies at the south side of Lewis wharf, and is loading with despatch in Glidden & Williams' line of San Francisco clippers. Call and see her.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
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