"Flying Cloud, "by Warren Sheppard
T
he immortal Flying Cloud was "just the kind of vehicle, or whatever else it may be called , that a sensibl e man wo uld choose fo r a ninety days voyage," as re ported in a New York newspaper. Soon after this was wri tte n, the Cloud set sai l on her maiden voyage to San Francisco, departing 2 June 185 1-a run she actually accomplished in 89 days, 2 11/z hours! T his breathtaking time contrasts with the 150-day run that was normal before the advent of the clipper ships and earned her ove rnight fa me, which has lasted among sailing people to this day.
SEA HISTORY 88, SPRING 1999
Above, the famous clipper, every line instilled with the grace of a noble animal on the stretch, runs fas t in a favoring slant of wind off Cape Horn . The H orn was the gravestone of many ships and men, but here the great clipper is in her element-perfectly at home in the wind-lashed seas the Bosto n builder Donald M cKay des igned her to earn her living in . T he late W arren Sheppard catches the vessel in mid-stride, through the rising sea, broken water ri:ishing by her svelte fl anks, the whole picture a tribute to the breed of which she was the exemplar.
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