Page:The Clipper Ship Era.djvu/180

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136
The Clipper Ship Era.

East Boston. The Witchcraft, 1310 tons, was built at Chelsea by Paul Curtis, for S. Rogers & W. D. Pickman, of Salem; the John Bertram, 1080 tons, by R. E. Jackson at East Boston, for Glidden & Williams, of Boston; the Governor Morton, 1318 tons, by James M. Hood at Somerset, for Handy & Everett, of New York; the Sea Serpent, 1337 tons, by George Raynes at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for Grinnell, Minturn & Co., of New York; the Eclipse, 1223 tons, by J. Williams & Son at Williamsburg, for T. Wardle & Co., of New York; the Seaman, 546 tons, by Bell & Co., at Baltimore, for Funck & Meincke, of New York; the White Squall, 1118 tons, by Jacob Bell, for W. Piatt & Son, of Philadelphia, and the Stag-Hound, 1535 tons, by Donald McKay at East Boston, for Sampson & Tappan and George B. Upton, of Boston.

The Celestial was a remarkably good-looking ship and much sharper than any vessel built by Mr. Webb up to that time. She carried long, slender spars, with plenty of canvas, and proved a very fast and able ship.

The Mandarin, also a fine-looking ship, was intended by her builders to be an improved Sea Witch, and although she made some excellent passages, she never came up to the older vessel in point of speed; the Sea Witch was her builders' masterpiece, and they, like many others, found her a difficult ship to improve upon.

The Surprise was one of the most successful clipper ships ever constructed, and proved a mine of wealth for her owners. She was fully rigged on the stocks, with all her gear rove off, and was