Donald McKay

From Freepedia

Donald McKay (1810–1880) was an American designer and builder of sailing ships.

He was born in Nova Scotia. In 1841, he opened his first yard in Newburyport; he moved to Boston in 1845. McKay designed and built some of the most successful clippers ever built.

McKay's clippers

• Champion of the Seas
• Flying Cloud
• Glory of the Seas
• Great Republic
• Lightning - (March 1854), Clipper, 237.5 ft x 44ft x 23ft, 2,084 tons, built by Donald McKay for James Baines of Liverpool for the Australia trade. Lightning was possibly the last really large extreme clipper to be built in USA. She was a fast ship and achieved many quick passages. Lightning caught fire at around 01:00 on 30 October 1869 at Geelong in Australia when fully loaded and ready to sail with 4,300 bales of wool, 200 tons of copper, 35 casks of wine and some tallow. Unable to control the fire the decision was taken at around mid-day to sink her. The initial attempts were by cannon fire from the shore to try and hole her below the waterline but this was unsuccessful. At about 16:00 some of the crew scuttled her by cutting holes on the waterline and she sank in 27 feet (8 m) of water.
• Sovereign of the Seas, named after HMS Sovereign of the Seas.