Donald McKay

A medium clipper launched in 1855, at the shipyard of Donald McKay, East Boston, for the Black Ball Line of Liverpool. Dimensions: 266'×46'3"×29'5" and tonnage: 2604 RT, 2486 GRT, and 1616 NRT.

She was equipped with Howes patent double topsails.

1855 January: Launched at the shipyard of Donald McKay, East Boston, for the Black Ball Line of Liverpool.
1855 February 21 - March 10: Sailed from Boston to Liverpool in 17 days under command of Captain Henry Warner late of the clipper Sovereign of the Seas. During the trans-Atlantic passage a 421 miles 24-hour run was recorded and Cape Clear off the south coast of Ireland was sighted after 12 days.
1855 June 6 - August 21: Sailed from Liverpool to Port Phillip, Melbourne, in 81 days.
1855 October 3 - December 28: Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 86 days.
1857 July 8 - September 29: Sailed from Liverpool to Port Phillip, Melbourne, in 83 days.
1857: Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 87 days with a cargo of 1500 casks of tallow, 2600 bales of wool, 8521 bags and 961 casks of copper ore.
1864 March 12/13: Collided with the barque Albina in the English Channel.
1866: Sold to Thomas Harrison, Liverpool, and chartered back to the Black Ball Line until 1868 after which time she was employed in general trading.
1867: Sailed from Liverpool to Hobson's Bay in 84 days.
1874: Sold J.S. de Wolf, Liverpool, for £ 8750 but was almost immediately resold to Captain William Williams of London.
1878 November: Took in a cargo of case oil in Philadelphia which was the largest ever loaded before.
1879: Sold to the sailmaking firm of Bertus Bartling & Co, Bremerhaven, who kept her on the Bremen - New York run.
1886: Her last owner came to be Carl Brewer, Bremerhaven, and she was used as a coal hulk in Madeira.
1888: Burned and was subsequently broken up.

The figurehead of the Donald McKay, which pictures a Highlander in the McKay tartan, is preserved at the Mystic Seaport Museum, CT, USA.

Select Bibliography:

Clipper ships, general references.
McLean, Duncan: The New Clipper Donald McKay. The Boston Daily Atlas, Vol. XXIV, February 6, 1855.
Reprinted in Nautical Research Journal Vol. 26 [1980], pp 94-96.
Stammers, Michael K.: The Passage Makers. Teredo Books, Brighton, 1978.

Updated 1997-03-21 by Lars Bruzelius.

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