Climax

A clipper ship built in 1853 by Hayden & Cudworth, Medford, MA. Dimensions 180'×36'×22'9" and tonnage 1051 15/95 tons. The figurehead was a guilded eagle on the wing.

The Climax was the first ship to be equipped with Captain Howes' patented double topsails. This enabled her reduce the size of the crew to about half, or 14 men and two boys.

1853: Launched at the shipyard of Hayden & Cudworth, Medford, MA, for Howes and Crowell, Boston.
1853 March 28 - July 21: Sailed from Boston to San Francisco in 115 days under command of Captain William F. Howes. The freight for the 1785 tons of cargo was $56.000. She sailed the day after the clipper ship the Competitor and overtook her before the Line and had a lead of six days when she got into the Pacific but was overhauled the latter and finally arrived to San Francisco in the same number of days.
1853: Sailed from San Francisco to Callo in 60 days.
1853/54: Sailed from Callao to Hampton Roads in 66 days, 16½ hours with a cargo of guano.
1854 November 8: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 132 days under command of Captain Benjamin Freeman.
1855 March 28: Left the Chincha Islands with a cargo of guano for Callao to get clearance. The following day a leak was discovered and when she arrived to Callao she had eight feet of water in the hold. She eventually sank at 21 fathoms when the pumps were choked by the guano cargo.
1855: Sold to Antonio Teryy, Callao, for $13.000 and was renamed Antonio Terry.
1865: Sold to Hong Kong owners for $19.000.

References:

Clipper ships, general references.
McLean, Duncan: The New Clipper Climax.
The Boston Daily Atlas, March 26, 1853.

Updated 1997-08-13 by Lars Bruzelius

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