MARINE ART
A Celebration of Clippers: Artists Seek to Capture the Glory of the American Clipper Ship by Peter Stanford n the complex and varying wind systems of the China run, which roared fro m the bafflin g airs of the Sunda Straits to the howling gales of the Roaring Fo rties off the Cape of Good H ope, the lovely Sea Witch of 1846 made record passages no other shi p could to uch. And when the Califo rnia Gold Rush swept her up, this fin e-lined beauty rounded Cape H orn on the N ew York to San Francisco run in 97 days-th e flrsrofon ly 25 ships rhar ever made the passage in under 100 days. In the painting below, the Sea Witch graces the Whampoa roadsread as she comes in to anchor after another of her fas t passages from New York. The unknown C hinese artist looks upon this dainty animal as he would a gazelle, or perhaps even the longnecked giraffe that was brought to China in the 1400s to catch the emperor's fancy-alien bur charming. The painter clearly appreciates her chas te lines and delicate silhouette enlivened by billowing canvas. In fac t, he's actually fl attened the ship's sheer, the
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rising curve of the rail to bow and stern, to convey an ideal of restrain t. Perhaps he would have limned her differentl y in the gales of the Roaring Forties-but why do that, when the highest goal of any barbarian voyage is to arrive in the Celesti al Kingdom ? T he Sea Witch was the creation of John G riffiths, and her design undoubtedly incorporated some lessons learned in G riffiths' s earlier Rainbow. The Sea Witch was built in Smith and Dimon's East Ri ver Yard in New York and her career defin ed the clipper era from 1846 until 1855 when she caugh t fire and was wrecked off C uba. In th e years that fo llowed her demise, no such ships we re built. T he National M aritime H isto rical Society is workin g with naval architect Melbourne Smith to bui ld a new Sea Witch. T his is a distant goal-but wo uldn 't it be a treat to see this vessel rein ca rn ated to sail again to distant seas, or to charge through New York H arbor at 19 knots, as she did on one fa mous occas ion, outward bound for China?
"Clipper Ship Sea Wirch Coming to Anchor at Whampoa," by an unidentified Chinese artist; oil, 25 112 x 37111 in. (Peabody Essex M useum, Salem, ivfassachusettj)
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SEA HISTORY 88, SPRING 1999