Sierra Nevada

A royal-yard rigged wooden clipper ship built in 1854 by Toby & Littlefield, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Her dimensions were 222'2"×44'4"×19'4" and tonnage: 1942 ton (old measurements), 1616 ton (British), 1061 under deck tonnage.

1854 May 25: Launched at the shipyard of Toby & Littlefield, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for Glidden & Williams, Boston. The commander on the first voyage, which was Boston - Callao in 97 days, was Captain Penhallow. [Howe & Matthews have September 29 as launch date]
1855: Ran foul of the Jane Leach and lost her figurehead.
1855: Stuck on the dock sill at Wellington Dock, Liverpool, which broke her back. Sold for $ 9000.
1856: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 128 days. After that San Francisco - Callao in 53 days and then Callao - Hampton Roads in 69 days. The last voyage for the year was Boston - San Francisco, 140 days.
1858: Sailed from New York to Melbourne in 105 days under command of Captain Blaney.
Melbourne - Hong Kong, 53 days.
Anjer - New York, 79 days.
Captain James G. Foster, Boston - San Francisco, 97 days.
San Francisco - New York, 98 days.
1861: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 114 days.
San Francisco - New York, 101 days.
New York - San Francisco, 105 days, under command of Captain Horton.
San Francisco - Callao, 52 days.
Callao - London, 80 days.
1862 April 29: Missed stays while beating out of the Golden Gates, San Francisco, and went ashore at Fort Point. Repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard costed $22.000. When ready for sea she dragged her anchors and drifted on to the clipper ship Phantom and caused damages to the rigging for $3000.
1862 October 12 - December 31: Sailed from Callao to London in 80 days with a cargo of guano.
1863 March: Sold to Mackay & Baines, London, for £ 10.750 and was renamed Royal Dane.
1866 August 18: Sold to J.P. Foulkes, London.
1866-1870: On charter to the Black Ball Line.
1875 [?]: Sold to John Harris, London.
1877: Wrecked on the coast of Chile on voyage from Callao to Liverpool with a cargo of guano.

Updated 1997-04-26 by Lars Bruzelius

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