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Red Jacket (clipper)

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For steamships named Red Jacket, see SS Red Jacket.
History
United States
NameRed Jacket
OwnerSeccomb & Taylor, Boston
Ordered30 December 1852
BuilderGeorge Thomas, Rockland, ME
Cost50,000$
Laid down6 March 1853
Launched2 Nov 1853[1]: 511 
Acquired3 November 1853
In service3 November 1853 - 28 July 1855
Out of service28 July 1853
RenamedRed Clipper
FateSold as scrap after running aground
Notesmade 2 meters longer.
United Kingdom
NameRed Clipper
OwnerPilkington & Wilson
OperatorWhite Star Line
Acquired1855
In service1 August 1854 - 9 January 1864
Out of service9 January 1864
RenamedRed Sea
FateSold
NotesIn the immigrant trade; became an Australian and Indian coastal freighter, 1861.
NameRed sea
OwnerWilson & Chambers, Liverpool, 1868
Acquired12 January 1865
In service12 January - 4 September 1866
Out of service4 September 1866
RenamedOceano Vermelho
FateSold
Portugal
NameOceano Vermelho
OwnerBlandy Brothers, Madeira Islands
Acquired7 September 1866
In service7 September 1866 - 18 October 1882
Out of service18 October 1882
FateDriven ashore in a gale, 1882.
NotesHulked, became a coal barge in the Cape Verde Islands.
General characteristics
Class and typeClipper, designed by Samuel Hartt Pook
Tons burthen2305 tons
Length251 ft. 2 in.
Beam44 ft.
Depth of hold31 ft.[2]: 116 
Propulsionsails
Sail planfull-rigged ship

Red Jacket was a clipper ship, one of the largest and fastest ever built.[3] She was also the first ship of the White Star Line company.[dubious – discuss] She was named after Sagoyewatha, a famous Seneca Indian chief, called "Red Jacket" by settlers.[4] She was designed by Samuel Hartt Pook, built by George Thomas in Rockland, Maine, and launched in 1853, the last ship to be launched from this yard.[4]

History

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Red Jacket left Rockland under tow, and was rigged in New York. Her captain was a veteran packet ship commander, Asa Eldridge of Yarmouth, Massachusetts,[5] and she had a crew of 65. On the passage to Liverpool, she averaged 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h) for the latter part of the voyage, with sustained bursts of 17 knots (31.5 km/h).

A Collins Line steamer arriving in Liverpool (which had left New York two days before Red Jacket) reported that Red Jacket was just astern. As she entered the harbor, tugs tried to get lines aboard the clipper but she was traveling too fast. Thousands, alerted by the Collins Liner, watched as Eldridge shortened sail and backed the vessel into its berth.[4]

On this voyage, Red Jacket set the speed record for sailing ships making the Transatlantic crossing from New York to Liverpool in 13 days, 1 hour, 25 minutes, dock to dock.[4] The time between Sandy Hook and the Bell Buoy (at the entrance to the Mersey) was 11 days, but the harbour pilot refused to take her on into the port of Liverpool until the next day due to adverse weather conditions, so extending the passage time dock-to-dock.[2]: 115–118 

A few days after the Red Jacket's arrival in Liverpool, the accuracy of the ship's log—and thus the integrity of her captain—was questioned in a letter to The Times of London. The letter came from a highly authoritative source, Lloyd's of London, but was signed only with the author's initials "A.W.J."[6] It prompted a fierce rebuttal the following day from a second correspondent who also did not disclose his name, but was clearly American.[7] Three days later, the final word in this correspondence went to Asa Eldridge himself; The Times printed a letter from him (sent in his own name) in which he patiently explained why the original correspondent was wrong in his interpretation of the ship's log.[8][9]

At Liverpool, the Red Jacket had her bottom coppered and cabins fitted out for the Australian immigrant trade. She was purchased by Pilkington & Wilcox and other Liverpool investors with registry changing on April 24, 1854. (Most secondary sources say that the vessel was bought by the British a year later, copying a mistake made by earlier historians.) She was then chartered by the White Star Line for a run to Melbourne, Victoria. Under Captain Samuel Reid (who owned 1/16 of her), she reached in Melbourne in 69 days.[4] Only one clipper, James Baines, ever made the run faster.[citation needed] On 13 June 1859,[10] whilst on a voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne, she collided with the British merchant ship Elizabeth Walker, which sank. Red Jacket rescued the crew of Elizabeth Walker, which was on a voyage from Buenos Aires, Argentina to London.[11][12]

Red Jacket served in the immigrant trade until 1866, when she was sold to Portugal. In May 1871, she ran aground at Ponta Delgada whilst on a voyage from Lisbon to Boston. She was refloated and completed her voyage.[13]

Fate

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In 1872 Red Jacket became a lumber carrier from Quebec to London, joining the clippers Marco Polo and Donald McKay, which "ended their days" in the transatlantic Quebec timber trade.[14] On 29 January 1878, she put in to Boston in a leaky condition, her crew refusing to proceed. She was recorded as a collier on a voyage from New York to Lisbon.[15][16] In 1882, she dragged her anchors in a heavy gale whilst on a voyage from Lisbon to Casablanca and ran aground near Soria Kedima and was driven ashore on 16 December 1882; the sale of her wreckage fetched just £113. It completely disappeared in 1907.[17]

References

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  1. ^ Howe, Octavius T.; Matthews, Frederick C. (1986). American clipper ships, 1833-1858. New York: Dover. ISBN 0486251160.
  2. ^ a b MacGregor, David R. (1993). British & American clippers: a comparison of their design, construction and performance in the 1850s. London: Conway Maritime. ISBN 0851775888.
  3. ^ "Red Jacket". Retrieved 1 Sep 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Ship Red Jacket". Penobscot Bay History Online. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Captain Bangs Hallet House Museum". The Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, PO Box 11, Yarmouth Port, MA 02675. 2001–2003. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2013. The Red Jacket's first commander was a Yarmouth captain, Asa Eldredge.
  6. ^ "The Clipper Red Jacket". The Times. No. 21649. London. 27 January 1854. p. 5. Retrieved 5 November 2024 – via Gale.
  7. ^ "The Red Jacket". The Times. No. 21650. London. 28 January 1854. p. 9. Retrieved 5 November 2024 – via Gale.
  8. ^ Eldridge, A. (31 January 1854). "To the Editor of The Times". The Times. No. 21652. London. p. 9. Retrieved 5 November 2024 – via Gale.
  9. ^ Miles, Vincent (2015). The Lost Hero of Cape Cod: Captain Asa Eldridge and the Maritime Trade that Shaped America. The Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts.
  10. ^ "Miscellaneous". Daily News. No. 4182. London. 8 October 1859.
  11. ^ "Shipping Intelligence". Daily News. No. 4181. London. 7 October 1859.
  12. ^ "Australia". The Belfast News-Letter. No. 13511 (Second ed.). Belfast. 8 October 1859.
  13. ^ "Shipping". Liverpool Mercury. No. 7271. Liverpool. 13 May 1871.
  14. ^ Clark, A H (1912), "Fate of the Clipper Ships", The clipper ship era; An epitome of famous American and British clipper ships, their owners, builders, commanders and crews, 1843–1869, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, p. 346
  15. ^ "Shipping". Glasgow Herald. No. 11889. Glasgow. 30 January 1878.
  16. ^ "Shipping". Liverpool Mercury. No. 9374. Liverpool. 30 January 1878.
  17. ^ "Wrecks in Funchal Roads". Hampshire Advertiser. No. 4126, Vol.LXII. Southampton. 30 December 1885. p. 2. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  • Fuller, Benjamin A. G. (Autumn 2003), "Red Jacket, Champion of the Seas", Maine Boats Homes and Harbors (76)

Further reading

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Cornell, Edward (1856). Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne for H.M. Royal Mail Clipper Red Jacket, Captain O'Halloran. Manuscript.

Abreu, Maria de Fátima (2021). Memória do Red Jacket - De famoso transatlântico a "pontão" de carvão. Funchal, Portugal: Direção Regional da Cultural / Divisão de Publicações. ISBN 978-972-648-252-9.

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Images and models

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