On the top of a small hill, in Oak Hill Cemetary, Newburyport, Massachusetts, a gentle and enchanting place, lies buried one of the greatest ship builders of the 19th century, or for that matter any century -Donald Mckay.
Suffering severe consumption and gallantly unyeilding to the very end, he was finally laid to rest on the 20th of September 1880.
"ODE TO A SHIPBUILDER"
'In a sweet and distant place,
lies a shipbuilder, in peace and grace.
He toiled and built the great ships of the past,
and joined the world with sails, the wind and a tall mast.
Now the winds have eased,
to accompany this mighty shipbuilder on the seas.
To see his great ships of past,
they will always remain and sail to the very last.
Donald Mckay, oh how we miss you,
your genius, strength and the vessels no longer with you.
Carry thy soul where the fair winds blow,
to navigate the seven seas with boundless spirit,
and wisdom, for all to know'
- MJ -
Donald McKay was born on September 4, 1810, in Nova Scotia, he was the eldest son of a farmer, Hugh McKay, whose father, Donald Mckay of Tain, Ross County, Scotland, a British Army officer, emigrated to Nova Scotia at the end of the American Revolution.
His mother, Ann McPherson, belonged to a family which had long been settled in Nova Scotia and obtained prominence and wealth in Halifax.
At the age of 26, Donald McKay was in New York and at the very center of the shipbuilding industry. New York ships were second to none in the world. The city was the headquarters for the packet business between America and Europe and boasted the finest and the most sailing ships on earth.
He quickly found work in the shipyard of Isaac Webb, located on the East River, from Fifth to Seventh Streets. In 1827, McKay began his apprenticeship, which would unfold into a magical tale of a master-mechanic and creative artist whose genius elevated the construction of sailing ships from the level of a journeyman's trade to an exact science.
After completing his apprenticeship, Mckay became a fully-fledged shipwright and decided to move on from Isaac Webb's shipyard.
He found work on a freelance basis and soon his capabilities were recognised from the major ship yards.
From the Brooklyn Navy Yard to Maine to superintend the building of ships for New York shipping houses.
Now in Partnership with William Currier, the company of Currier and McKay designed and built his first ship, the 380 ton 'Courier'.
She was built to sail the coffee trade between New York and Rio de Janiero.
After dissolving this partnership and stepping almost straight into another, his vessels would eventually earn them the reputation as masterpieces. The well known leading shipping merchant of Boston, Enoch Train, convinced Mckay to leave Newburyport and to set up his own shipbuilding yard in Boston.
Donald McKay, at the age of 34, finally realised his great ambition, to establish his own shipbuilding yard, which was to be located at the foot of Border Street, East Boston.
The discovery of gold in Australia took some time for the news to spread around the world and when it did, this 'boom' filled the shipyards of America with orders to build very large passenger-carrying windjammers.
James Baines, owner of the Black Ball Line, realised the genius of the great American shipbuilder, Donald McKay and gave him commissions for 'large' clippers, among them what was to be the famous quartet for the England to Australian run. It was these big clippers that made the world-wide reputation of the Black Ball Line.
The Lightning, Champion of the Seas, James Baines, and the Donald McKay.
These magnificent 'Black Ballers', were to astonish the world in strength, beauty and speed, especially the famous "Lightning".
The Lightning, was to set the square-rigger record for the fastest 24 hour run under sail. On her maiden voyage across the Altantic in 1854, the Lightning logged a run of 436 miles, a little over 18 knots.
She was to set another record 3 years later on her voyage to Australia, of 430 miles. This was never equalled and meant that no steamship afloat at the time could come within a 100 miles of the ship.
Nearly all of Lightning's records were made on the outward passage from England to Australia. This was due to the large crews, frequently doubled by men working their passage to the Victorian goldfields. The return voyage had a much smaller crew and wasn't so important.
The Lightning was built by Donald McKay in the winter of 1853-54, a t a cost of 30,000 pounds sterling, with a further cost of about 2,000 pounds sterling for below deck furnishings.
The timbers used in her construction ranged from oak to elm and selected hard pine. Yellow pine being, it is thought, used for the carving of her Figurehead.
Her length was 244 feet, with a beam of 44feet and a depth of 23 feet. Her builder's tonnage was 2,096 feet.
She carried 13,000 yards of canvas when under all plain sail and was unique in that she was fitted with a moonsail and only the second ship afloat to do so.
The Lightning was one of the sharpest ships ever launched. He stem raked boldly forward, with the lines of her bow gradually becoming convex and blending with the sheer line and cutwater.
Her Figurehead, which I spent so many months looking for, on a global scale and finally located, ironically, back here in Australia, was a figure of a beautiful young woman in flowing white drapery, streaming hair, holding a golden thunderbolt in her outstretched hand, completed the outline of the bow.
Incindentally, the figurehead, lost for quite a considerable time after the terrible disaster of the Lightning, suddenly appeared, fitted with new arms, adorning the entrance of Jeffery's Fernery Hotel, in Victoria (no longer standing). It once again mysteriously disappeared and remained hidden until my research brought it into the light once again. A sad story.
Her stern carried gilded carved work, but this didn't distract the attention from the majestic and powerful shape of her hull.
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