The Famous Old Clipper Andrew Jackson -- October 7, 2018

San Francisco Call, 13-March-1897

From the 13-March-1897 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper. Click on the image for a larger view. 

Even though Andrew Jackson was not an extreme clipper, she tied the Flying Cloud's record with a passage from New York to San Francisco in 89 days.  

LAST TALE OF AN OLD-TIMER

Carried Miners Here in the 50's and Is Now a Coal Hulk.

An Old Painting of the Andrew Jackson Unearthed by Sam Wheeland.

Was Famous in Her Time and Made Some Runs That Have Never Been Beaten.

The old-timers who came around the Horn in the fifties have a vivid recollection of the old clipper Andrew Jackson. Many a fast trip did she make, and the sailing vessels of to-day would be glad to equal her performances. The last time she entered the Golden Gate was on October 3, 1867. Oa that occasion she had a large passenger list and a full cargo of general merchandise aboard. Since that time she has gone down the scale, and at the present time is doing duty as a coal huik in Boston harbor.

When the Andrew Jackson was last here, the late Mr. Wheeland, of Collins and Wheeland, had a picture of her made. A few days ago his brother was overhauling his effects and discovered the drawing. It was nothing but a roll of mildewed canvas, but as soon as Captain Erskine, the well-known pilot, saw it, he at once recognized the ship. It shows the old clipper hove to, with the pilot-boat Caleb Curtis putting a pilot aboard. The pilot-boat Fannie, which was then "No. 0," is shown in the distance. The Fannie has long since been broken up, and the Caleb Curtis, after being turned into a sealer, was lost, a couple of years ago on the coast of Japan. The pilot who brought her into port is dead and buried, and all that is left as a reminder of the above scene is the old hull now doing duty as a coal barge in Boston harbor.

New York Herald, 06-December-1858

The Famous Fast Yankee Clipper Ship America -- July 7, 2017

San Francisco Call, 07-May-1895

The drawing is from the 07-May-1895 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper. 


SHE FEARS NO RIVAL
The Old Massachusetts Ship America, the Fastest on the Seas.
WINDS EVER FAIR FOR HER
A Voyage of Eighty-eight Days Between San Francisco and Liverpool.
The clipper ship America, Captain Harding, came in from Nanaimo last Friday with 4157 tons of coal, making her usual quick passage.

For twenty years the famous vessel has been slipping her graceful self over the ocean with greater ease and more speed than any other vessel on the seas. She was built in Quincy, Mass., in 1874 and is
of 2054.93 gross tons register, though she will carry twice that number. She is 232:8 feet long, 43:1 feet beam and 19:3 in depth.

Notwithstanding her ample beam amidships, she is very sharp forward, which accounts for her ability to sail in any breeze. Some fifteen years ago she made her remarkable trip from this port to Liverpool in eighty-eight days, beating the usual fast sailing time just twenty-two days.

Nor did she stop her speedy work at that, for she has since sailed it in ninety three days. She is one of the strangely lucky ships, and the winds always blow fair for her. Her hull is one of the most graceful ever shaped. She formerly carried skysails, but her masts were afterward shortened down to royals. When launched she was fitted with "built" lower masts, as all the larger-sparred Eastern vessels are, there being no sticks big enough on the Atlantic seaboard. But the fore and mizzen being old and weak, were replaced on this coast with whole timbers.

After a score of years' service, the America is as sound as when she slid from her New England ways, and twenty more years will probably see her speeding over the seas, a solid Yankee clipper, one of the school of craft that has made the merchant marine of the great Republic famous the world around.