LARGE CASED MODEL OF THE AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIP 'SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS', BY LANNAN SHIP MODEL COMPANY, BOSTON
20TH CENTURY
£813
Auction: 20 November 2019 from 10:00 GMT
Description
finely modelled with three masts, in a mahogany and satinwood inlaid glazed case bearing a plaque inscribed with builder, captain, etc., and a presentation plaque, and raised on a base with four moulded square legs united by an H stretcher
Dimensions
118cm wide, 161cm high, 49cm deep
Footnote
The Sovereign of the Seas was built by Donald McKay, a Canadian born American shipbuilder, and launched at Boston in the late spring of 1852. Her owners were Funch & Menke, New York and she was captained by Lauchlan McKay. She measured 258ft. long, with a tonnage of 2421. She was renowned for setting the world record for fastest sailing ship at 22 knots and was the first ship to travel more than 400 nautical miles in 24 hours. On the second leg of her maiden voyage, she made a record passage from Honolulu, Hawaii to New York City in 82 days. She then broke the record to Liverpool, England, making the passage in 13 days 13.5 hours. In 1853 she was chartered by James Baines of the Black Ball Line, Liverpool for the Australia trade, but her career was relatively short, having wrecked in the Strait of Malacca, on a voyage from Hamburg to China, in 1859.