Young America

A three-masted wooden extreme clipper ship built in 1853 by William H. Webb, New York, for George B. Daniels, New York, at a total cost of $ 140.000. Dimensions 243'×43'2"×26'9" and tonnage: 1961; 1439 tons (old measurement) / 1380 (new measurement).

Originally rigged with three skysails and was later re-rigged with double top-sails. The sail-plan in William Webb's Plans of Wooden Vessels, 1870, also shows a main moonsail.

There is a builder's half model of the ship in the Smithsonian Institute [USNM 160135] and the plans have been published in the already mentioned Plans of Wooden Vessels.

1853 April 30: Launched at the shipyard of W.H. Webb, New York, for George B. Daniels, New York. Her first master was Captain David S. Babcock late of the clipper Swordfish.
1853 June 10 - September 29: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 110 days [Lubbock has 111 days]. The gross earnings for this trip was $86.400.
1853: Sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu in 12 days.
1854 January 1 - April 7: Sailed from Honolulu to New York in 96 days.
1854 July 2 - October 20: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 111 days [Lubbock has 110 days].
1854 November 18 - December 30: Sailed from San Francisco to Hong Kong in 42 days.
1855 September 21 - December 31: Sailed from Manila to New York in 101 days.
1856 March 29 - July 14: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 107 days.
1856 August 5 - September 18: Sailed from San Francisco to Hong Kong in 44 days.
1857 March 1 - April 11: Sailed from Hong Kong to Melbourne via Guichon with 800 Chinese coolies.
1857 July 31 - October 30: Sailed from Rangoon to Falmouth f.o. in 91 days.
1858 April 18 - June 20/29: Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in 71 days under Captain D.S. Babcock with 289 passengers. [Lubbock has June 20 and 63 days.]
1858 September 24: Sailed from Singapore and passed Anjer on October 5, Cape of Good Hope on October 30 and arrived in New York in December.
1859-18__: In command of Captain Nathaniel Brown, Jr.
1859 March 18: Was dismasted on voyage from New York to San Francisco and put into Rio de Janeiro for repairs.
1859 May 15: Sailed from Rio de Janeiro to San Francisco where she arrived on July 24, 175 days out from New York.
1859: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 100 days.
1860: Sold to Abram Bell's Sons.
1860-1863: In command of Captain Carlisle.
1860: Sailed from New York to Liverpool in 14 days.
1860: Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in 69 days [Lubbock has 79 days]. During the voyage she sailed 360 miles in one day.
1860: Sailed from Melbourne to Callao in 49 days.
1860 November 8 - February 2: Sailed from Callao to Liverpool in 86 days.
1861 March 27 - April 26: Sailed from Liverpool to New York in 30 days.
1861 November 1 - February 2: Sailed from Glasgow to Oamaru in 93 days.
1862 April 4: Sailed from Callao for Antwerp.
1862 October 30: Put into Plymouth, Great Britain, for repairs after having been dismasted in a tornado in 9°N, 32°W.
1863 February 17 - March 21: Sailed from Antwerp to New York in 32 days.
1863-1864: In command of Captain Jones.
1863 May 28 - September 22: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 117 days.
1863 November 3 - March 8: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool in 125 days.
1864 April 15 - May 14: Sailed from Liverpool to New York in 29 days.
1864-1874: In command of Captain George Comming.
1865 April 16 - July 25: Sailed from Manila to New York with a cargo of sugar and hemp in 100 days. After a slow passage of 32 days from Manila to the Java Heads, the distance to the Cape of Good Hope was covered in 23 days. The last leg to New York took 45 days.
c1865: Sold to Robert L. Taylor.
1868 December 3: Dismasted in a pampero off Rio de la Plata, but was re-fitted at sea instead of putting into Montevideo and continued the voyage to San Francisco under jury rig where she arrived on February 17. She was subsequently repaired for $ 18.000.
1870 March 15 — June 6: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 83 days, which is considered the record for a loaded sailing ship.
1870 October 2: Stranded on a reef near Cape St Roque on the Brazilian Coast, but was able to get off without serious damage after having jettisoned part of the cargo.
c1870: Sold to George Howes & Co., New York and San Francisco.
1872 October 12 — 1873 January 20: Sailed from Liverpool to San Francisco in 99 days. This is the record for the passage.
1875 July 9 - October 29: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 112 days.
1875 December 21 - March 28: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 97 days. During the voyage she made four consecutive 24-hour runs of 365, 358, 360, and 340 miles or 1423 miles all together.
1876 May 16 - September 18: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 125 days.
1876 July 17 - July 23: Sailed from 50°S in the Atlantic to 50°S in the Pacific in six days.
1876 October 20 - January 27: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 99 days.
1877: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 92 days.
1880: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 102½ days.
1880: The fleet of George Howes & Co. was taken over by John Rosenfield, San Francisco.
1883 August: Put into Rio de Janeiro for repairs on voyage San Francisco tp New York.
1883 October 6: Arrived in New York from San Francisco via Rio de Janeiro where she had put in for repairs. Under command of Captain Charles Matthews.
1883: Sold in New York to Austman of Buccari, Austria, for USD 13.500 and was renamed Miroslav [JMRQ]. Put into the trans-Atlantic case oil trade.
1886 February 17: Passed the Delaware Breakwater outward bound from Philadelphia for Fiume under command of Captain Vlassich and was never heard of again. The cargo consisted of 407.306 gallons of crude oil in 9700 barrels at a total value of $26.965.
1886 May 27: It was reported in the press that: Anxiety is felt as to the safety of the Austrian ship Miroslav. Later, in June the ship was officially posted missing.

Pictures:

N. Currier lithograph after an original oil [?] painting by James E. Butterworth.
An oil painting by an un-named artist reproduced in Whipple's The Clipper Ships, Time-Life Books, 1981, pp 8-9.
Photograph. At pier in New York, 1870s. [Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA]
Photograph. At the North Point Dock, San Francisco. [San Francisco Maritime Museum]
Oil painting by Antonio Jacobsen, 1892.

Updated 1998-08-20 by Lars Bruzelius

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