Models of

American Sailing Ships

Addison Gallery of American Art Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 508-749-4015

The Addison Gallery is a department of Phillips Academy.

Copyright © 1961, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts.

Copyright © 1994, Revised Color Edition, Addison Gallery of American Art. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of the Addison Gallery of American Art.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 94-78003 ISBN: 1-879886-39-1

Photography: p. 61, courtesy Williamstown Regional Art Conservation Laboratory; other photography provided by lenders; all photography of Addison Gallery models by John Woolf.

The following reproductions appear without renewed permission, as best efforts to locate the copyright holders were unsuccessful: pp. 18, 26, 51, 96.

Design by Sally Abugov

Printed by La Vigne Press

Right: Detail of the model of the Privateer America

The reprinting of this book has been made possible through the generosity of Ralph A. Kimball (PA 1959) and Richard J. Phelps (PA 1946).

 

Models of

American Sailing Ships

With a Descriptive Text By

Robert E. Peabody

 

 

ADDISON GALLERY OF AMERICAN ART
PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS

 

To the Memory of

JAMES C. SAWYER

1872-1944

Treasurer of Phillips Academy 1901-1939

First Curator of the Ship Model Collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art

 

   CONTENTS

SANTA MARIA
HALF MOON
MAYFLOWER
HANNAH
PROVIDENCE
ENTERPRISE
PRIVATEER AMERICA
MONK
CLERMONT
"JAMES MADISON"
ILLINOIS
VICTORINE
ANN MCKIM
CHARLES W. MORGAN
YACHT AMERICA
FLYING CLOUD
DREADNOUGHT
YOUNG AMERICA
THATCHER MAGOUN
LOTTIE WARREN
PURITAN
CORSAIR
SAVANNAH
COLUMBIA

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful acknowledgement is made to those institutions which have furnished illustrations and assistance in research, especially the Peabody Museum [now the Peabody Essex Museum], Salem, Massachusetts, the Marine Historical Association, Mystic, Connecticut, and the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia.

The Addison Gallery also wishes to express its thanks to the many individuals who contributed advice and material, especially M. V. Brewington, Howard I. Chapelle, Commander Ronald R. Moore, and Walter M. Whitehill.

 

A NOTE ON THE COLLECTION

The building of ship models is a difficult and time-consuming art. So is the business of collecting them. This was especially true during the Depression, when the bulk of the models illustrated in this book were commissioned and executed. No one was spared when the market fell. A disappointed artisan wrote to James C. Sawyer, the Treasurer of Phillips Academy and the moving force behind the collection: "I suppose donors are pretty scarce these days (October, 1932), but a new crop of millionaires will probably grow out of the present conditions." As the number of buyers fell off, model prices either fell with them, or else rose sharply. One estimate for a model of Henry Hudson's ship Half Moon was as high as eight thousand dollars, prompting a prospective Wall Street donor to remark: "That probably means sixteen thousand for a full moon." H. Percy Ashley, one of the most prolific and prickly craftsmen to work on the collection, was incredibly distrustful of Wall Street and missed no opportunity to attack the idle rich. He was proud of boasting that any capitalist who came to his workshop to buy his time would be thrown out by, and on to, the seat of his pants. "You could build them a long boat with a barkentine rig and they wouldn't know the difference." But he was a fair man. When a misunderstanding about terms with the Treasurer was resolved to his advantage, he wrote: "You sure are a Square Shooter, and I take off my hat to you, and that is more than I would do for the average millionaire."

Mr. Sawyer was not even an 'average' millionaire, but he was as adept at dealing with rich men as with independent Old Salts. He handled both with a mixture of candor, gentleness, and persistence during a period when money for such a philanthropic project was scarce and work for the model builder even scarcer. His aim was clear:

"We have no ambition to have a large number of models," he wrote to a benefactor of the school, "We did start out with a definite program of examples representing the different eras of merchant and naval ships ... we do not pretend to rival Salem or certain other museums, but the Addison Gallery wishes to impress upon the boys' minds the beauty of the sailing ship and its contribution to the growth and prosperity of this country"

The historical and didactic value of such a collection cannot be contested. To an age which thinks of art almost exclusively in terms of easel painting, however, the inclusion of a ship model collection in an art gallery may seem somewhat strange. But the Addison collection, which contains glass, silver, and furniture, as well as ship models, was designed to represent an older and perhaps broader understanding of art as the expression of skill as well as talent, of beauty in the fashioning of functional objects, as well as in the fashioning of personal vision; in short, as the expression of the artisan as well as the artist. This concept is older than American art, of course, but it is especially that of a culture in whose beginnings practical purpose and austere beauty were often closely linked. The American concern with ships was more than a matter of growth and prosperity; for the building of successful and beautiful ships---and by extension the preservation of their spirit and beauty in models---is an architectural activity. And is not architecture, even marine architecture, the "mother of the arts?"

The collection was assembled with consistency and accuracy as the major considerations. To this end, and in keeping with the advice of many authorities, a uniform scale of one-quarter of an inch to a foot was established. This uniformity of scale, it was felt, would make it possible to understand at a glance the evolution of the sailing ship during four centuries of American history. It was also agreed that the models were to be "built-up" whenever possible and, therefore, all of the larger models and the majority of the smaller ones are completely planked, that is, built up from the keel to the deck as would be a full-sized vessel, instead of being shaped out of a solid piece of wood. The success of the various artisans commissioned in fulfilling these requirements is illustrated by the photographs which follow.

The amazing care and detail lavished on many of the models can only be appreciated fully when the models are out of their glass cases and the admirer is equipped with a flashlight. For instance, the model of the Dreadnought has mahogany seats and brass cuspidors in the smoking room, and a plaque over the main entrance aft bearing the name of the ship and the builders. Bunks are made up with red flannel blankets in the luxury cabins. In the galley of the Ann McKim, a coffee pot is waiting on a tiny stove. The model engine of the Clermont, "Fulton's Folly," which alone cost five hundred dollars, can surprise present-day sceptics by getting up a full head of steam. A real course is laid out on the miniature charts of J. P. Morgan's yacht, the Corsair.

The number of personal links between the models and their donors increase the historical interest of the vessels.

The Corsair, third of that name, was the gift of Junius S. Morgan, the owner's son. The yacht was turned over to the United States Navy at the beginning of the first World War and won two chevrons for its escort work. The Mayflower was given by Adolph Wigren, a colleague of Thomas Cochran, who helped assemble the ship model collection, in honor of the latter's pilgrim ancestors. A further connection was the close friendship between Mr. Cochran and the Treasurer, who were classmates at Andover and at Yale. This friendship was in large measure responsible for the benefactions which Thomas Cochran bestowed upon Phillips Academy.

The Thatcher Magoun was the gift of the grandson of the great shipbuilder for whom she was named. In addition to the model, the collection also contains the terse log of Captain Peterson, as well as the somewhat incongruous neoclassical gold medal and citation which he received from Napoleon III for his heroism on the high seas. The whole dramatic story has already been told in a monograph published by the Addison Gallery. [FOOTNOTE: *Hollis French, The Thatcher Magoun, "An American Clipper Ship, Her Owners, Captains, and Model." (Cambridge, The Riverside Press, 1936).]

The Lottie Warren was given by Mrs. Moncrieff M. Cochran in memory of her father, Dr. William Davis, who sailed on that clipper ship when she carried a cargo of 1300 pounds of ice from Wenham Lake to Calcutta. The model of the Young America was given by Mrs. A. H. Savage in memory of her father, Thomas Cochran, who sailed in her around Cape Horn to San Francisco with a cargo of railroad iron. Evidently, the voyages of the fathers were visited upon the children.

However, the ties of memory were occasionally more immediate. Captain H. Percy Ashley refused to negotiate when his price for making the model of the Clermont was challenged, but he compensated for the high fee in his own characteristic way by donating an additional model. "So you better accept, for I will send it anyhow without a bill and Phillips Academy's check will not be acceptable or wanted for the celebrated Hudson River Sloop Victorine." The fact that Captain Ashley knew this type of vessel so well from his own boyhood on the Hudson made his gift even more appropriate.

The quest for historical accuracy often required as much as two years of research before the actual construction of a model began. The problems varied from commission to commission. No actual plans exist for the Santa Maria, the Half Moon, or the Mayflower. The model maker in each case had to sift all the evidence from a multitude of sources in order to approximate the type of vessel. For later subjects original lines were usually available: in some cases the actual records of the builders could be consulted, and for the Flying Cloud and the Lottie Warren, eye-witness evidence on deck fittings and the like could be obtained from men who had actually sailed on the ships. Care was taken over the most seemingly insignificant detail: several letters were exchanged about the yellow of the copper plating on the the Thatcher Magoun. Mr. Sawyer's doubts were finally assuaged when contemporary marine records verified the color to be that of an alloy in use during the mid-nineteenth century. Photostats of the original specifications of the Ann McKim were obtained from the grandson of one of the builders, Williamson and Kennard of Baltimore, and care was also taken to give the tiny female figurehead the stylish ringlets of the 1830's. Walter A. Simonds, who built the models of the Ann McKim, Dreadnought, and Young America, came East from California to supervise the unpacking of his masterpieces, and several other model builders journeyed to Andover to tighten rigging, provide a missing row of scuppers on a tender, or replace a rusty cannon-ball.

However, this search for realism had its limits. A model could be too accurate, too slick, too 'yachty.' This difficulty came up in connection with the proposed model of the Flying Cloud, which was to have billowing sails and plunge romantically through a painted glass sea, a feat made possible by sawing the hull of the model in half. The experts quickly took sides, not of the model, of course, but of the controversy. Those opposed to this treatment of the model condemned it because it was theatrical and therefore out of keeping with the simplicity of the rest of the collection. Less conservative spirits, secretly delighted by the dash of the clipper, argued that it would appeal to the boys of Phillips Academy and get them interested in the other models. But there was no real question of accuracy versus theatricality here, since the firm that was building the model had already constructed another model in a different scale and had the benefit of the original plans and the approval and advice of a man who had actually sailed on the great ship.

Perhaps the most definitive exchange of letters about authenticity took place between James Sawyer and Captain Ashley over the famous yacht America, and once more, the bottom was the basic issue. Mr. Sawyer suggested that perhaps the coppering job on the hull was a bit sloppy, and might be replaced with copper colored paint. Captain Ashley replied with his usual fire. After threatening to take his model back and refund the check he had received 'in full,' he went on to explain: "The America was heavily built and some authorities claim very hurriedly constructed, including deck fittings and painting. She was built to go to sea and stay to sea regardless of wind and weather. The original yacht was coppered hurriedly and the hull must be sheathed accordingly. Under no consideration will I consider making the changes you recommend?'

No changes were made.

Half again as many as the two dozen models presently in the collection were considered for it and, in certain instances, actually commissioned. The case of the packet ship, Montezuma, is particularly intriguing. The model was commissioned in September 1929, after a whaler and two other vessels had been discussed by the committee of experts with the craftsman who finally undertook the work. Reports of progress were good and delivery by May 1931, the date of the Gallery's opening, was assured. But the Montezuma did not put in an appearance for the occasion. In fact, last mention of her was made on January 4th, 1939. This was to be the eighth and evidently the permanent postponement. During these ten years the model maker also accepted and refused a commission to make the Young America at least nine times and proposed doing no less than twelve other vessels, including the Constitution and the Monitor. He finally explained: "I find that I am more interested in developing methods for making models than I am in making finished models." As can happen, the artist was overwhelmed by problems of technique and the Montezuma never reached home port.

In these bits and pieces of correspondence we can see that curious phenomenon which invariably accompanies every project designed to add something to our understanding of the past: the project acquires a history of its own. Donors, model-makers, advising experts who once came together for an undertaking that was only a part of the life of each man, and in most cases, a very unimportant part, have been permanently linked together, willy nilly. Time has maintained and cemented the once casual connection between them, no matter how disproportionately it has dealt with them as individuals. Although no one would venture to say that the historians of the future will value J. Pierpont Morgan primarily because he once owned a yacht of which someone made a model, in the small but serious world of craftsmen and collectors who care about the preservation of ships and the sailing past, his memory is guaranteed---but no more than that of the irascible Captain Ashley, who had such definite ideas about millionaires.

John Ratté
---Editor

 

THE COLLECTION

All models are built to the uniform scale

1/4 inch = 1 foot.

 

Model of the Santa Maria type

SANTA MARIA

The Flagship of Christopher Columbus

Built in Spain about 1480

Length 81 ft.; Beam 27 ft.;
Depth 13-1/2 ft.; Tonnage 200 tons

The Santa Maria was a Spanish merchant ship chartered by Columbus and used as his flagship on his first voyage to America. No plans, pictures, or actual data remain of the original ship, but this model, as well as many other models of that famous vessel, has been reconstructed from information culled from Columbus' journals as well as from data which is available on ships of that time. The Santa Maria left Palosk, Spain, August 3, 1492, and on October 12, 1492, arrived off San Salvador in the Bahamas. Columbus then cruised along the coast of Cuba and Haiti until Christmas Eve, when he unfortunately ran the Santa Maria onto a coral reef off the coast of Haiti and she became a total loss. Columbus returned to Spain with the news of his discoveries in the Nina, a much smaller ship of no more than forty tons.

Model by R. C. ANDERSON
Gift of WILLIAM COCHRAN

Reconstruction of the Santa Maria type built for the Ibero-American Exposition in Seville in 1928.

Stern of model

 

 

Model of the Half Moon

HALF MOON

Henry Hudson's Ship

Built in Holland about 1600

Length 80 ft.; Beam 18 ft.;
Depth 10 ft.; Tonnage 80 tons

The Half Moon, or to give her actual Dutch name Halve Maen, was owned by the Dutch East India Company of Amsterdam. Desiring to find some route from Holland to the East Indies other than the well known route around Africa, the company dispatched the Half Moon from Amsterdam in April, 1609 under the command of Henry Hudson, an English captain. Hudson, after attempting to proceed towards the Arctic, turned west towards America and eventually discovered the Hudson River which gave Holland her claim to settle the region which is now New York. No data or particulars remain of the Half Moon other than that she was a "yacht of 40 last burden" and, therefore, this model has been made from the best contemporary information on vessels of this type.

Model by A. H. BAAY from plans by G. C. E. CRONE
Gift of ADOLPH G. WIGREN

Lookout in the Crow's Nest of the model.
New lands were first sighted from aloft.

Detail of the model

 

 

Model of the Mayflower

MAYFLOWER

The Pilgrim Ship

Built in England about 1600

Length 90 ft.; Beam 26 ft.;
Draft 11-1/2 ft.; Tonnage 180 tons

The Mayflower was the famous ship which brought the Pilgrim Fathers to New England. No plans or any authentic data regarding her have come down to us other than Governor Bradford's statement that she was "burden about 9 score." She was evidently a typical English ocean going merchant ship of the time and was chartered by the Pilgrims for the voyage to America. The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, England, September 6, 1620, with about one hundred and thirty persons aboard, and sixty-five days later reached Cape Cod. In the spring of 1621, she made the return trip in thirty-one days. The Mayflower is known to have made two more voyages to America, in 1629 to Salem, and in 1630 to Salem as one of Governor Winthrop's fleet.

Model by L. A. PRITCHARD from plans by R. C. ANDERSON
Gift of ADOLPH G. WIGREN

Reproduction of the Mayflower type which crossed the Atlantic in 1958 and is now incorporated among the exhibits at Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts.

Stern of the model.
Lack of records has been a spur to the imagination of model-maker and shipwright alike. Note the difference in the detail of construction and decoration between model and full-sized vessel.

 

 

HANNAH

The First Ship of the United States Navy

Built about 1770

Length 52 ft.; Beam 15 ft.,
Tonnage 70 tons

Detail of the model

The Hannah is typical of the fishing vessels which went to the Grand Banks from Marblehead or Gloucester from 1750 to 1850. In 1775 when Washington was besieging the British forces in Boston, he wished to prevent supplies from reaching them by sea. He commissioned Col. John Glover of Marblehead to acquire several vessels, arm them, man them with men from his army, and send them out to blockade the port of Boston. The first vessel Glover fitted out was his brother's schooner Hannah, and she was followed by several others. This little fleet of armed fishing vessels manned by soldiers from Washington's army was the beginning of the United States Navy.

Model by WALTER C. LEAVITT

Model of the Hannah

The capture of the British ship Hope by the U. S. Schooner Franklin. Watercolor; artist unknown. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.
The Franklin was a "first cousin" of the Hannah.

 

 

Model of the Providence

PROVIDENCE

The First Command of John Paul Jones

Built about 1770

Length 64 ft.; Beam 19 ft.

The sloop Providence was a small trading vessel which was purchased by the State of Rhode Island in 1775, armed and turned over to the Continental Congress. She made a number of successful cruises during the Revolution. In 1778, she captured the port of Nassau in the Bahamas single handed, although she was only a little sloop of fourteen guns. However, the Providence is best known as the first vessel commanded by John Paul Jones, who was her master for a cruise in 1776. Under other commands, the Providence captured a total of eight vessels. To escape capture by a superior British force, she was run ashore and blown up at Penobscot Bay in 1779.

Model by ALFRED S. BROWNELL

Model of the Providence, looking forward
"When the vessel was first taken into the United States Navy, she carried only ten guns. Later she rated as twelve .... It was customary in early naval vessels to credit them with more guns than were really carried"

Detail of the model
"There has always been a great deal of question as to whether the Providence was rigged, as a sloop or a brig?' The model-maker has seen fit to represent her as the former.

 

 

ENTERPRISE

Brig of The United States Navy

Built at Baltimore in 1799

Length 84 ft. 7 in.; Beam 25 ft. 6 in.;
Depth 10 ft. 3 in.; Draft 9 ft.

Model of the Enterprise

In her career of twenty-four years, the brig Enterprise engaged in many battles and never failed to capture her antagonist. She was commanded at different times by many of the most famous officers in United States Naval history, such as Hull, Decatur, Porter, Lawrence, Bainbridge, and MacDonough. From 1801 to 1805, she fought in the wars with the Barbary Corsairs off Tripoli, winning many engagements. During the War of 1812, she also distinguished herself many times, her most famous battle being that with the British brig Boxer off the Maine coast in 1813. She was known as the "Lucky Little Enterprise."

Model by CAPTAIN H. PERCY ASHLEY Gift of ROBERT F. McCORD

 

Model of the Enterprise
The combination of fore and aft with square rigging makes the brig a complex mechanism.

Detail of the model

 

 

AMERICA

Privateer in the War of 1812

Built at Salem in 1803

Length 108 ft.; Beam 30 ft.;
Depth 11 ft.; Tonnage 331 tons

Detail of the model

The America was built by Retire Becket at his yard in Salem for George Crowninshield & Sons of Salem for the East India Trade. From 1804 to 1811 she made several profitable voyages to India, Java, and Arabia. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, her owners fitted her out as a private armed ship of war to prey upon English shipping. Her top deck was removed, she was armed with twenty guns, her masts and spars were lengthened to give her an enormous spread of sail, and her crew was increased from thirty-five to one hundred and fifty. She made five cruises during the war and captured and sent into American ports twenty-seven British vessels, which, with their cargoes, were sold for $1,100,000. She was dismantled and broken up at Salem in 1831.

Model by CAPTAIN H. PERCY ASHLEY

Model of the Privateer America

Ship America. Watercolor by Antoine Roux painted while at anchor at Marseilles, 1806. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum

 

 

Model of the Monk

MONK

Trading Ship of Early 1800's

Built at Nobleborough, Maine, 1805

Length 88 1/2 ft.; Beam 26 ft.;
Depth 13 ft.; Tonnage 253 tons

The Monk was one of the countless small ships that carried American commerce to all parts of the world in the early 19th century. She was owned by William Orne of Salem and made many voyages between Salem and Mediterranean ports until 1812 when she was captured by a British war ship only a few miles from her home port.

Model by BERNARD HART

Detail of the model

Ship Monk. Watercolor by Nicolais Cammillieri, Marseilles, 1806. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

 

 

CLERMONT

The First Commercial Steamboat

Built at New York in 1807

Length 149 ft.; Beam 16 ft. 6 in.; Depth 7 ft.;
Draft 2-1/2 ft., Tonnage 182 tons

Detail of the model

The Clermont has often been called the world's first steamboat. Actually for fifty years prior to her building various attempts had been made in England, France, and America to produce a boat propelled by a steam engine. While some of these early boats operated short distances, none was a commercial success. The American inventor, Robert Fulton, combined the results of these earlier experiments with the financial aid of Robert Livingston of Clermont, New York, and had the Clermont built in 1807 by Charles Brown in New York. The engine was made by Boulton and Watt at Birmingham, England. On August 17, 1807, the Clermont sailed on her historic first voyage from New York to Albany, making the trip of one hundred and fifty miles in thirty two hours running time. For the next seven years, she plied regularly between New York and Albany, carrying passengers and freight until her place was taken by other steamboats which followed in the wake of her success.

Model by CAPTAIN H. PERCY ASHLEY

Model of the Clermont. This model was built from Eulton's original specifications. It was subsequently lengthened by 17 feet and remodelled as illustrated above.

Lithograph by F. Berthaux á Dijon, "A view of West Point on the River Hudson, with the steamboat invented by Mr. Fulton."

 

 

Model of the "James Madison"

"JAMES MADISON"

United States Revenue Cutter

Built at Baltimore about 1808

Length 94-1/2 ft.; Beam 25 ft.;
Depth 10-1/2 ft.

The most precise element about this model is her measurements (conforming to the uniform scale of the entire collection, of course). The name is enclosed in quotation marks in order to signify everything that is imprecise. For thirty years this model has been thought to be that of the James Madison, but recent research has shown that the legend concerning the capture of that vessel and its refitting to become H. M. S. Alban is incorrect. The Alban, according to British Admiralty lists, was formerly the William Bayard---presumably a sister vessel. As well as can be determined, the late Frederick W. Snow used the lines of the Alban to make the model in the belief that the Alban was originally the James Madison. What's in a name? A half year has disappeared in an attempt to unravel the mystery. Suffice it to say that at least two vessels, of which this model is a type, served in the Revenue Cutter Service (now known as the U. S. Coast Guard) to prevent smuggling and to suppress the slave trade. They were fast schooners, built in the region of Baltimore. From them the Clipper Ships later evolved.

Model by FREDERICK W. SNOW

 

 

ILLINOIS

Hudson River Packet Sloop

Built at Newburgh, New York, in 1818

Length 84 ft.; Beam 26-1/2 ft.;
Tonnage 140 tons

Model of the Illinois

Vessels like the Illinois maintained the commerce of the Hudson River from Colonial times until the middle of the last century. She was built for the regular packet service between Newburgh and New York, carrying passengers and freight. She had a cabin with berths for twenty-eight passengers and was said to have been luxuriously fitted up for the sixty mile voyage, which often took several days. Before the railroads were built, there were great numbers of these packets plying regularly between the towns along the river and New York City.

Model by CAPTAIN H. PERCY ASHLEY

Sloops on the Hudson; photographer unknown. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

Cornwall Landing, Hudson River, 1851; Oil painting by E. C. Coates.Collection: Addison Gallery.

 

 

VICTORINE

Hudson River Freight Sloop

Built at Piermont, New York, in 1848

Length 70 ft.; Beam 25 ft.;
Tonnage 125 tons

Model of the Victorine

The original Dutch settlers of New York built small vessels for the Hudson River service which were copied after the sloeps used on the waterways of Holland. In three hundred years the design of the Hudson River sloop changed but little and the Victorine is typical of the vessels that carried on the commerce of the Hudson from the time of the earliest Dutch settlements until the steamboats, the railroad, and, finally, the truck ran them out of business. She was famous as one of the fastest sloops along the river.

Model by CAPTAIN H. PERCY ASHLEY

 

 

Model of the Ann McKim

ANN McKIM

The First Clipper Ship

Built at Baltimore in 1833

Length 143 ft.; Beam 31 ft.; Depth 14 ft.;
Draft 17 ft.; Tonnage 493 tons

The Ann McKim named for his wife by the owner Isaac McKim, is generally known as the original clipper ship. Her frame was of live oak and much mahogany and brass was used in decoration regardless of cost. She carried twelve brass cannon. Prior to her building, most large ocean-going cargo ships were of clumsy model, designed more to carry large cargo than for speed. However, about 1800 the ship builders of Baltimore had developed a type of small, fast schooner known as the Baltimore Clipper which was used as a privateer in the War of 1812 and later in the African slave trade. The model of the "James Madison" (page 53) shows a vessel of this design. The Ann McKim was the first good sized ocean-going cargo ship with a hull having the lines of these Baltimore Clippers. She was employed principally in the China and South American trade. Not only was she the best known American ship afloat at the time, but she was also conceded to be the fastest, and her swift passages led others to copy her. Thus, she was the first of many clipper ships built during the next twenty-five years culminating in ships like the Flying Cloud, (page 76). She ended her days in 1852 under the Chilean flag.

Model by WALTER A. SIMONDS
Gift of WALTER. L. LINTON

 

 

CHARLES W. MORGAN

New Bedford Whaler

Built at New Bedford in 1841

Length 105 ft.; Beam 27 ft. 7 in.;
Depth 17 ft. 6 in.; Tonnage 351 tons

Model of the Charles W. Morgan

The Charles W. Morgan is the only survivor of the great fleet of whaling vessels which brought fame to New Bedford. Built by Jethro and Zachariah Hillman at their yard in that city in 1841, for 89 years she was continuously engaged in the whale fishery of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Her thirty-seven voyages, each of two or three years duration, took her around Cape Horn many times and extended from the Arctic to the Antarctic. In 1930, when she was the last New Bedford whaler afloat, she was bought by Colonel E. H. R. Green and tied up at South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, as a memorial to the whale fishery. She has since been moved to Mystic, Connecticut, where she can be seen today, one of the few ships in the world over one hundred years old.

Model by EDGAR. B. HAMMOND
Gift of DR. HENRY T. LEE

The Charles W Morgan; photograph by A. E Packard. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

Whaling scene from a sailor's journal, mid-19th century; watercolor; artist unknown. Collection: Addison Gallery.

 

 

AMERICA

First Winner of the America's Cup

Built at New York in 1851

Length 93 ft.; Beam 22 ft.;
Depth 9 ft.; Tonnage 170 tons

Stern and cockpit of the model of the Yacht America. Extraneous gear is eliminated in a racing yacht.

A syndicate of New York yachtsmen, headed by Commodore John C. Stevens, commissioned William H. Brown to build the America from designs by George Steers. She was rigged and modeled after the New York pilot boats of the time, wide and shallow, and proved to be very fast. In July of 1851, she left New York for England and on August 22nd off Cowes she won the Royal Yacht Squadron's regatta over fifteen English yachts. The cup which she won on this occasion became known as the America's Cup, the world's leading yachting trophy. Since 1870 sixteen unsuccessful attempts have been made by English yachts to win back this trophy and many millions have been spent by challengers and defenders on these America's Cup races.

Shortly after winning the Cowes Regatta, the America was sold to an English yachtsman and was active in English yachting under various owners for the next ten years. In 1861, soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, she appeared at Savannah as a blockade runner and is said to have carried Confederate emissaries back to England. In 1862 she was found sunk in the St. Johns River, Florida, by the Union forces which had captured Jacksonville. She was later raised by the United States Navy and put on blockade duty. After the war she was used as a training ship for the cadets at Annapolis. In 1873 the United States Navy sold her to General Benjamin F. Butler who fitted her as a yacht again, and she was active as such for the next thirty years. After being out of commission from 1901 to 1921, she was presented to the Navy and is now moored as a memorial at the Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Model by CAPTAIN H. PERCY ASHLEY

Model of the Yacht America

Oil painting of the America winning the cup off Cowes, England by Fitz Hugh Lane. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

 

 

FLYING CLOUD

Extreme American Clipper Ship

Built at East Boston in 1851

Length 229 ft.; Beam 40 ft.; Depth 21-1/2 ft.;
Draft 18 ft.; Tonnage 1782 tons

Model of the Flying Cloud

The Flying Cloud, one of the fastest sailing ships ever known, represents the highest development of the sailing vessel when the competition of steamers was beginning. She was designed and built by Donald McKay, the famous builder of clipper ships, for the fast freight service from New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco at the time of the California Gold Rush. Under the command of Captain Joseph P. Cressy of Marblehead, she twice made this voyage in eighty-nine days and eight hours, a record which has never been broken. The fine lines of her hull and her enormous spread of sail are typical of the extreme clipper ships, in contrast to merchant vessels like the Lottie Warren, designed not for speed but to carry large cargoes (see page 94). In 1874, she went ashore on Beacon Island Bar and after being condemned, was burned for her copper and metal work.

Model by H.E. BOUCHER MFG. COMPANY
Gift of GEORGE JORDAN

Detail of the model.

The Flying Cloud. Oil painting; artist unknown. Collection: National Maritime Museum, London.

 

 

Model of the Dreadnought

DREADNOUGHT

Trans-Atlantic Packet Ship.

Built at Newburyport in 1853

Length 212 ft.; Beam 41 1/2 ft.;
Depth 26 1/2 ft.; Tonnage 1413 tons

The Dreadnought was built for the fast cargo and passenger service between New York and Liverpool. She operated in the Red Cross Line under the command of Captain Samuel Samuels and for the first two years made twenty-six passages between New York and Liverpool, her fastest time being thirteen days, eight hours, and her average for the eastbound voyage nineteen days. She was always beautifully kept up, and such was her reputation as champion of the Atlantic that her cabins were usually sold out a year in advance. She was wrecked on Cape Penas, off Tierra del Fuego, in 1869.

Model by WALTER A. SIMONDS

Detail of the model

Shrouds of the model Dreadnought

 

 

Model of the Young America

YOUNG AMERICA

Extreme Clipper Ship

Built at New York in 1853

Length 243 ft.; Beam 43 ft. 2 in.;
Depth 28-1/2 ft.; Tonnage 1962 tons

The Young America was a fine example of the clipper ships that brought fame to the American Merchant Marine in the decade before the Civil War. Built and designed by William H. Webb of New York, builder of many famous clipper ships, she was his last clipper as well as his masterpiece. She was employed principally in the fast cargo trade from New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco and, although she did not set any such record for this voyage as the Flying Cloud (see page 76), she had many fast passages to her credit. Moreover, she survived much longer than most of the clipper ships and is said to have rounded Cape Horn over fifty times in her thirty-five years of service.

Model by WALTER A. SIMONDS
Gift of MRS. ARTHUR H. SAVAGE

The Young America at the North Point Dock, San Francisco, 1870; photographer unknown. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

Detail of the model

 

 

Model of the Thatcher Magoun

THATCHER MAGOUN

Medium Clipper Ship

Built at Medford, Massachusetts in 1856

Length 190 ft.; Beam 40 ft.;
Depth 24 ft.; Tonnage 1248 tons

The Thatcher Magoun, named for one of America's most famous shipbuilders, was built in the same yard at Medford where he had produced so many well known ships. She was a medium clipper and lacked the fine lines, large sail area, and consequent speed of the extreme clippers (pages 76-87). She was owned by the Boston shipping house of Thatcher Magoun & Son and was employed for almost twenty years in the trade between Boston, or New York, and San Francisco. She was awarded a gold medal by the French Government for the rescue of merchantmen at sea.

Model by BERNARD HART
Gift of MOREAU DELANO

Painting of the Thatcher Magoun: illustrating the rescue of the French brig Grand Fredéric by J. Hughes. Collection: Addison Gallery.

Stern of the model

 

 

LOTTIE WARREN

Cargo Ship of the 1860's

Built at East Boston in 1863

Length 181 ft.; Beam 36 ft.;
Depth 23 ft. 9 in.; Tonnage 1184 tons

Model of the Lottie Warren

George Warren and Company of Liverpool commissioned Paul Curtis to build the Lottie Warren at East Boston in 1863. She was one of several ships built in Boston for this English house which later established the Warren Line of steamships. The Lottie Warren, built after the close of the clipper ship era, was designed with ample lines more for cargo capacity than speed. For eighteen years she was owned by Warren and Company and ran under the British flag in the trans-Atlantic and Far Eastern trades. In 1882 she was sold to Dutch owners who in 1891 sold her to Russians. In 1899 she was owned in France and in 1902 she was transferred to Uruguayan registry under which flag she finally was wrecked off the Bahamas in 1903.

Model by WALTER C. LEAVITT
Gift of MRS. MONCRIEFF M. COCHRAN

Poster advertising the famous Boston Packets. The Lottie Warren was owned by Enoch Train Co. before that firm was purchased by her builders, the Warren Company.

Model of the Lottie Warren, aft

 

 

PURITAN

America's Cup Defender

Built at East Boston in 1885

Length 93 ft.; Beam 22 ft. 7 in.;
Draft 8 ft. 5 in.; Tonnage 115 tons

Model of the Puritan

The sloop Puritan was the fifth defender of the America's Cup, the famous international yachting trophy. Designed by Edward Burgess, and built by George Lawley for a syndicate of Boston yachtsmen, the Puritan met the British challenging yacht Genesta in a series of races off New York in 1885 and won easily. The Puritan was later rigged as a schooner and for twenty years was a well-known yacht along the New England coast. In 1906 she was sold to Portugese owners for the Cape Verde Islands trade.

Model by H. E. BOUCHER MFG. COMPANY

Foredeck of the model of the Puritan. The spinnaker pole is lashed to the deck.

Detail of the model

 

 

CORSAIR

Steam Yacht

Built at Newburgh, New York, in 1899

Length 304 ft. overall; Length 254 ft. at waterline;
Beam 33 ft. 4 in.; Draft 15 ft. 6 in.; Tonnage 1136 tons

Model of the Corsair

One of the best known, as well as one of the largest American yachts, the Corsair was designed by J. Beavor Webb and built by W. A. Fletcher Company for J. Pierpont Morgan. For thirty years she was a familiar sight on the New England coast. She made many trans-Atlantic crossings to Europe and cruised extensively in the Mediterranean and in the West Indies. During World War I, she was taken over by the United States Navy and was based at Brest where she served as flagship of the European station. The chevrons on her funnel testify to this service. In 1929, Mr. Morgan presented the Corsair to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey; after twelve years of peaceful survey work she was refitted for duty in the Pacific theatre. In 1944, needing excessively expensive repairs, she was ordered to be broken up and her flag was hauled down for the last time.

Model by H. E. BOUCHER MFG. COMPANY
Gift of JUNIUS S. MORGAN

[image]

 

 

SAVANNAH

American Cargo Schooner

Built at Kennebunk, Maine, in 1901

Length 181 ft.; Beam 35 ft.;
Draft 13-1/2 ft.; Tonnage 584 tons

Stern of the model of the Savannah

The Savannah was one of the great fleet of cargo schooners which, from the early 1800's to early 1900's carried most of the American coastwise commerce. Vessels which were rigged with square sails to take advantage of the trade winds could not maneuver as readily in crowded waters or against head winds. Consequently schooners rigged with so-called "fore and aft" sails replaced them, and became the standard of the American coastwise trade. As the original two-masted schooners increased in size, they were given more masts, culminating in six-masters, and even one seven-master, until they were driven off the seas by steamers in the early 1900's. The Savannah was designed by Joseph Dyer for the lumber trade between Florida, Georgia, and New York, and was built by David Clark for Henry Parsons and others.

Model by FREDERICK W. SNOW
Gift of OLIVER G. JENNINGS

Model of the Savannah

Oil painting of the Savannah; artist unknown. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

 

 

COLUMBIA

Gloucester Fishing Schooner

Built at Essex, Massachusetts, in 1923

Length 139 ft. overall; Length 105 ft. at waterline;
Beam 25 ft. 4 in.; Draft 14 ft. 9 in.; Tonnage 140 tons

Model of the Columbia

The Columbia represents the final development of the Gloucester fishing schooner, famous for speed and seaworthiness. From earliest Colonial times until the middle 1800's, the Gloucester fishing vessels were somewhat clumsy (for example, see the Hannah, page 28). But later in the 19th century the demand for speed to rush fresh fish to market brought about a change in design. A fast yet seaworthy yacht-like type was developed of which the Columbia, built by A.P. Story from the design of Starling Burgess, was one of the most extreme examples. At the time she was built, however, more and more of the schooners were being equipped with auxiliary motors, until eventually the sailing schooner disappeared and the entire Gloucester fishing fleet became motorized. The Columbia was lost with all hands off Sable Island in August 1927.

Model by FREDERICK W. SNOW
Gift of OLIVER G. JENNINGS

The Columbia under sail;

Left photograph by Albert Cook Church, New Bedford, Ma; right photograph by Wilhelm, 1926; Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.

 

 

CHECKLIST

R. C. ANDERSON
Santa Maria
29-1/8 x 27-1/4 x 13
1931.S1
gift of William Cochran
EDGAR B. HAMMOND
Charles W. Morgan
31-3/4 x 43 x 14-1/2
1931.S9
gift of Dr. Henry T. Lee
H. PERCY ASHLEY, CAPT.
Clermont
20 x 40-3/8 x 8-1/4
1931.S11
BERNARD HART
Monk
37 x 26-1/2 x 13-1/4
1937.S
H. PERCY ASHLEY, CAPT.
Illinois
34-1/4 x 34-5/8 x 6-1/2
1931.S6
BERNARD HART
Thatcher Magoun
47 x 62-1/4 x 20-1/4
1932.S2
gift of Moreau Delano
H. PERCY ASHLEY, CAPT.
Enterprise
30-1/4 x 37-7/8 x 14
1931.S3
gift of Robert F. McCord
WALTER C. LEAVITT
Hannah
17 x 21-1/2 x 4-1/4
1932.S1
H. PERCY ASHLEY, CAPT.
America
38 x 50-1/2 x 19-1/2
1936.S2
WALTER C. LEAVITT
Lottie Warren
43 x 62 x 20
1938.S1
gift of Mrs. Moncreiff M. Cochran
H. PERCY ASHLEY, CAPT.
Victorine
28-3/4 x 28-1/4 x 6-1/2
1931.S12
L. A. PRITCHARD
Mayflower
11-1/2 x 17-1/4 x 7-3/4
1936.S1
gift of Adolph G. Wigren
H. PERCY ASHLEY, CAPT.
America
29-1/4 x 35-1/2 x 6-1/4
1931.S4
WALTER A. SIMONDS
Ann McKim
34 x 54 x 16
1931.S13
gift of Walter A. Linton
A H. BAAY
Half Moon
21 x 24-3/4 x 9-1/8
1931.S2
gift of Adolph G. Wingren
WALTER A. SIMONDS
Dreadnought
45 x 68-1/2 x 23
1934.S1
H. E. BOUCHER MFG. COMPANY
Corsair
37 x 85 x 12-1/2
1931.S8
gift of Junius S. Morgan
WALTER A. SIMONDS
Young America
76-1/2 x 51 x 20-1/2
1939.S1
gift of Mrs. Arthur H. Savage
H. E. BOUCHER MFG. COMPANY
Flying Cloud
44 x 72 x 22
1931.S7
gift of George Jordan
FREDERICK W. SNOW
"James Madison"
27-1/4 x 40-1/2 x 14
1934.S3
H. E. BOUCHER MFG. COMPANY
Puritan
30-1/4 x 36-3/4 x 6
1931.S5
FREDERICK W. SNOW
Columbia
36-7/8 x 43-1/2 x 6
1931.S14
gift of Oliver G. Jennings
ALFRED S. BROWNWELL
Providence
26-1/8 x 28-1/4 x 9-1/2
1934.S2
FREDERICK W. SNOW
Savannah
35-1/2 x 61-1/4 x 8-3/4
1931.S14
gift of Oliver G. Jennings

 

ADDISON GALLERY OF AMERICAN ART

Alison Cleveland, Administrative Assistant
Brian Coleman, Assistant for Collection Care
Susan C. Faxon, Associate Director and Curator of Paintings, Prints, and Drawings
Denise J.H. Johnson, Registrar
Allison N. Kemmerer, Assistant Curator
Leslie Maloney, Preparator
Juliann D. McDonough, Curatorial Assistant
David Olivares, Security Officer
Jock Reynolds, Director
Hector Rivera, Custodian
Carmel Rodriguez-Walter, Front Desk Attendant
John Sirois, Assistant Preparator
Duncan F. Will, Director of Museum Resources and Public Information