Northern Light (clipper)

Northern Light (clipper)
Northern Light
Career (United States)
Builder: Brigs Brothers, South Boston, Massachusetts
Launched: September 25, 1851
Maiden voyage: November 20, 1851
Out of service: January 2, 1862
Fate: Abandoned at sea
General characteristics
Tonnage: 1,021
Length: 180 ft (55 m)
Beam: 36 ft (11 m)
Draft: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Notes: [1]

The Northern Light was an American clipper ship. In 1853 she sailed from San Francisco, California to Boston, Massachusetts via Cape Horn with Captain Freeman Hatch at the helm in a record-setting 76 days, 6 hours. The record still stands for a single hull vessel. In 1993 the record was soundly broken by a multi-hull sailing vessel Great American II with no cargo. Sailing around Cape Horn (the southernmost tip of South America) is widely regarded as one of the most challenging routes in yachting, due to extreme weather, strong currents, and a historical reputation for mountainous seas and frequent severe storms.

Contents

Construction

The Northern Light was designed by Boston-based naval architect Samuel Hartt Pook and built by the Briggs Brothers in South Boston in 1851.[2][3] The ship was 1,021 tons register and it measured 180 feet (55 m) long, 36 feet (11 m) wide, and 21 feet 6 inches (6.55 m) deep.[1]

1853 voyage

The Northern Light left Boston for San Francisco on October 29, 1852 under the command of Captain Freeman Hatch of Eastham, Massachusetts. The return journey was part of a competition with another clipper, the Contest, bound for New York.[4]

The Contest departed San Francisco for New York on March 12, 1853. The Northern Light sailed for Boston the next day. After 38 days the Northern Light came within sight of the Contest off Cape Horn. The Northern Light crew signaled and overtook its rival.

The Northern Light reached at Boston Light on May 29, after 76 days, 5 hours, arriving in Boston an hour later, two days ahead of the Contest's arrival in New York. It was the shortest run on the 15,000-mile (24,000 km) San Francisco to Boston passage on record.[4][5] It also beat previous around Cape Horn speed records of 84 days and 85 days held by the New York-based Comet and Flying Dutchman respectively. The Boston Post noted the Northern Light carried no cargo during the passage.[6] The San Francisco to Boston sailing record by the Northern Light still stands for a single hull vessel; that feat, accomplished in a time with no electricity, and few navigation aids, no plastics, no synthetic materials for sails or lines, and neither accurate TV and radio weather forecasts nor accurate charts and GPS systems to demonstrate precise location, is a record that can never be broken. Nevertheless, in 1993 the multi-hull 53-foot (16 m) trimaran Great American II broke the record and completed the passage in 69 days, 19 3/4 hours; she had capsizing off San Francisco on an initial attempt.[5]

Later service

The Northern Light made its first transatlantic voyage in 1861, sailing to Le Havre, France, and departed Le Havre bound for New York on December 25. On January 2, 1862, the ship collided with and sank the French brig Nouveau St. Jacques. The Northern Light was abandoned at sea.[7][8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b Clark, 163
  2. ^ Morison, Samuel Eliot (1921). The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 339. OCLC 242077. http://books.google.com/books?id=XnQ53JwFa6wC&pg=PA339&lpg=PA339&dq=%22Northern+Light%22+%22Samuel%22%2B%22Pook%22&source=web&ots=63zdhtnWVG&sig=PzSAxzXaGH5o7h0njxX__qEZz3M&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA339,M1. 
  3. ^ O'Connor, Thomas H. (1994). South Boston, My Home Town. UPNE. pp. 37. ISBN 1555531881. http://books.google.com/books?id=va5WtROmBBcC&pg=PA37&dq=%22Northern+Light%22+%22Briggs%22+OR+%22South+Boston%22. 
  4. ^ a b Clark, 227
  5. ^ a b "Trip Around Cape Horn Sets Sailing Record". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. April 11, 1993. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930411&slug=1695259. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  6. ^ "The Quickest Passage from San Francisco" (PDF). The New York Times. June 1, 1853. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A05E1DA1331E13BBC4953DFB0668388649FDE. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  7. ^ Paine, Lincoln P. (1997). Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 366. ISBN 0395715563. 
  8. ^ La Grange, Helen; Jacques La Grange (1936). Clipper Ships of America and Great Britain, 1833-1869. G. P. Putnam's sons. OCLC 1471826. "On January 2, 1862, she sank the French brig Nouveau St. Jacques..." 
  9. ^ Clark, 342

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Northern Light (clipper ship) — The clipper ship Northern Light was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1851 and was designed by naval architect Samuel Hartt Pook. In 1853 won a bet among captains during a head to head clipper ship race from San Francisco to Boston. In that race …   Wikipedia

  • Northern Light Group — Northern Light Group, LLC Type Search Engine Industry Enterprise Information Portals Founded 1996 Headquarters Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Employees 55 …   Wikipedia

  • Northern Lights — is a common name for the Aurora Borealis (Polar Aurorae) in the Northern Hemisphere. Northern Lights may also refer to: Contents 1 Books, film, television, and radio 2 Music …   Wikipedia

  • List of clipper ships — This transport related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. At the crest of the clipper wave year of 1852, there were 200 clippers rounding Cape Horn. Notable examples of the clipper ship include …   Wikipedia

  • James Baines (clipper) — The James Baines was an extreme passenger clipper ship completely constructed of timber in the 1850s and launched on 25 July 1854 from the East Boston shipyard of the famous ship builder Donald McKay in the USA for the Black Ball Line of James… …   Wikipedia

  • Yankee Clipper Council — Owner …   Wikipedia

  • Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives — This is a list of free and pay wall blocked digital online newspaper archives. Most are scanned from microfilm into pdf, gif or similar graphic formats and many of the graphic archives have been indexed into searchable text databases utilizing… …   Wikipedia

  • List of newspapers in Canada — This list of newspapers in Canada is a list of newspapers printed and distributed in Canada. Contents 1 National English language newspapers 2 Local daily (with a circulation of over 10,000) 2.1 Alberta …   Wikipedia

  • Eastham, Massachusetts — Infobox Settlement official name = Eastham, Massachusetts nickname = motto = imagesize = image caption = First Encounter Beach along Cape Cod Bay in Eastham. image mapsize = 250px map caption = Location in Barnstable County in Massachusetts… …   Wikipedia

  • Samuel Hartt Pook — Infobox Person name = Samuel Hartt Pook image size = caption = birth name = birth date = January 17,1827 birth place = Brooklyn, New York death date = March 30,1901 death place = Washington, D.C. death cause = resting place = resting place… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”