View source for Red Jacket (clipper)

{{short description|American clipper ship, launched in 1853}}
{{For|steamships named Red Jacket|SS Red Jacket}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2019}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Redjacketclipper.jpg
| Ship caption = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = no
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{USN flag|1853}}
| Ship name = '''''Red Jacket'''''
| Ship owner = Seccomb & Taylor, [[Boston]]
| Ship ordered = 30 December 1852
| Ship builder = George Thomas, [[Rockland, Maine|Rockland]], ME
| Ship original cost = 50,000$
| Ship laid down = 6 March 1853
| Ship launched = 2 Nov 1853<ref name="Howe and Matthews">{{cite book |last1=Howe |first1=Octavius T. |last2=Matthews |first2=Frederick C. |title=American clipper ships, 1833-1858 |date=1986 |publisher=Dover |location=New York |isbn=0486251160}}</ref>{{rp|511}}
| Ship acquired = 3 November 1853
| Ship commissioned = 
| Ship decommissioned = 
| Ship in service = 3 November 1853 - 28 July 1855
| Ship out of service = 28 July 1853
| Ship renamed = Red Clipper
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship captured = 
| Ship fate = Sold as scrap after running aground
| Ship notes = made 2 meters longer.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = title
| Ship country = United Kingdom
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name = Red Clipper
| Ship owner = Pilkington & Wilson
| Ship operator = [[White Star Line]]
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = 
| Ship cost = £30,000
| Ship laid down = 
| Ship launched = 
| Ship acquired = 1855
| Ship commissioned = 
| Ship decommissioned = 
| Ship in service = 1 August 1854 - 9 January 1864
| Ship out of service = 9 January 1864
| Ship renamed = Red Sea
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship captured = 
| Ship fate = Sold
| Ship notes = In the immigrant trade; became an Australian and Indian coastal freighter, 1861.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = yes
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = 
| Ship name = Red sea
| Ship owner = Wilson & Chambers, [[Liverpool]], 1868
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = 
| Ship cost = 60,000$
| Ship laid down = 
| Ship launched = 
| Ship acquired = 12 January 1865
| Ship commissioned = 
| Ship decommissioned = 
| Ship in service = 12 January - 4 September 1866
| Ship out of service = 4 September 1866
| Ship renamed = Oceano Vermelho
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship captured = 
| Ship fate = Sold
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = title
| Ship country = Portugal
| Ship flag = [[File:Flag Portugal sea (1830).svg|60px]]
| Ship name = Oceano Vermelho
| Ship owner = Blandy Brothers, [[Madeira|Madeira Islands]]
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = 
| Ship cost = 
| Ship laid down = 
| Ship launched = 
| Ship acquired = 7 September 1866
| Ship commissioned = 
| Ship decommissioned = 
| Ship in service = 7 September 1866 - 18 October 1882
| Ship out of service = 18 October 1882
| Ship renamed = 
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship captured = 
| Ship fate = Driven ashore in a gale, 1882.
| Ship notes = [[Hulk (ship type)|Hulked]], became a coal barge in Madeira.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Binney |first1=Marcus |title=The Blandys of Madeira |date=2011 |publisher=Francis Lincoln |location=London |isbn=978-0-7112-30774}}</ref>
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = 
| Ship class = [[Clipper]], designed by [[Samuel Hartt Pook]]
| Ship tons burthen = 2305 tons
| Ship length = 251 ft. 2 in.
| Ship beam = 44 ft.
| Ship draft = 
| Ship hold depth = 31 ft.{{r|MacGregor 1993|p=116}}
| Ship propulsion = sails
| Ship sail plan = full-rigged ship
| Ship complement = 
| Ship armament = 
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}
'''''Red Jacket''''' was a [[clipper]] [[Full-rigged ship|ship]], one of the largest and fastest ever built.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pielcraftsmen.com/ships/redjacket.html|access-date=1 Sep 2020|title=Red Jacket}}</ref> She was also the first ship of the [[White Star Line]] company.{{dubious|date=November 2024}} She was named after [[Sagoyewatha]], a famous [[Seneca tribe|Seneca]] Indian chief, called "Red Jacket" by settlers.<ref name=Penobscot>{{cite web|title=Ship Red Jacket|url=http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/collection/ship-red-jacket|website=Penobscot Bay History Online|access-date=9 October 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010045541/http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/collection/ship-red-jacket|url-status=dead}}</ref> She was designed by [[Samuel Hartt Pook]], built by George Thomas in [[Rockland, Maine]], and launched in 1853, the last ship to be launched from this yard.<ref name="Penobscot" />

==History==
''Red Jacket'' left Rockland under tow, and was rigged in New York. Her captain was a veteran packet ship commander, [[Asa Eldridge]] of [[Yarmouth, Massachusetts]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hsoy.org/historic/hallethouse.htm|title=Captain Bangs Hallet House Museum|date=2001–2003|publisher=The Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, PO Box 11, Yarmouth Port, MA 02675|access-date=February 24, 2013|quote=The Red Jacket's first commander was a Yarmouth captain, Asa Eldredge.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105074536/http://www.hsoy.org/historic/hallethouse.htm|archive-date=November 5, 2012}}</ref> and she had a crew of 65. On the passage to Liverpool, she averaged {{convert|14.5|kn|km/h|1}} for the latter part of the voyage, with sustained bursts of {{convert|17|kn|km/h|1}}.

A [[Collins Line]] steamer arriving in Liverpool (which had left New York two days before ''Red Jacket'') reported that ''Red Jacket ''was just astern. As she entered the harbor, tugs tried to get lines aboard the clipper but she was traveling too fast. Thousands, alerted by the Collins Liner, watched as Eldridge shortened sail and backed the vessel into its berth.<ref name="Penobscot" />

On this voyage, ''Red Jacket'' set the speed record for sailing ships making the [[Transatlantic crossing]] from [[New York City|New York]] to [[Liverpool]] in 13 days, 1 hour, 25 minutes, dock to dock.<ref name="Penobscot" /> The time between [[Sandy Hook]] and the Bell Buoy (at the entrance to the [[Mersey]]) was 11 days, but the harbour pilot refused to take her on into the port of Liverpool until the next day due to adverse weather conditions, so extending the passage time dock-to-dock.<ref name="MacGregor 1993">{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=David R. |title=British & American clippers: a comparison of their design, construction and performance in the 1850s |date=1993 |publisher=Conway Maritime |location=London |isbn=0851775888}}</ref>{{rp|115–118}}

A few days after the ''Red Jacket''{{'}}s arrival in Liverpool, the accuracy of the ship's log—and thus the integrity of her captain—was questioned in a letter to ''[[The Times]]'' of London. The letter came from a highly authoritative source, [[Lloyd's of London]], but was signed only with the author's initials "A.W.J."<ref>{{cite news |title=The Clipper Red Jacket |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS84707899/TTDA?u=nl_earl&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=c2cdba77 |access-date=5 November 2024 |work=The Times |issue=21649 |date=27 January 1854 |location=London|page=5|via=Gale}}</ref> It prompted a fierce rebuttal the following day from a second correspondent who also did not disclose his name, but was clearly American.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Red Jacket |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS152341052/TTDA?u=nl_earl&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=cb2ebaf8 |access-date=5 November 2024 |work=The Times |issue=21650 |date=28 January 1854 |location=London |page=9|via=Gale}}</ref> Three days later, the final word in this correspondence went to Asa Eldridge himself; ''The Times'' printed a letter from him (sent in his own name) in which he patiently explained why the original correspondent was wrong in his interpretation of the ship's log.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Eldridge |first1=A. |title=To the Editor of The Times |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS151292479/TTDA?u=nl_earl&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=ed4de4e8 |access-date=5 November 2024 |work=The Times |issue=21652 |date=31 January 1854 |location=London |page=9|via=Gale}}</ref><ref name="Miles2015">{{cite book|author=Miles, Vincent|title=The Lost Hero of Cape Cod: Captain Asa Eldridge and the Maritime Trade that Shaped America|url=https://vjmiles.com/lost-hero|year=2015|publisher=The Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts}}</ref>

At Liverpool, the ''Red Jacket'' had her bottom coppered and cabins fitted out for the [[Australia]]n immigrant trade. She was purchased by Pilkington & Wilcox and other Liverpool investors with registry changing on April 24, 1854. (Most secondary sources say that the vessel was bought by the British a year later, copying a mistake made by earlier historians.) She was then chartered by the [[White Star Line]] for a run to [[Melbourne]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. Under Captain Samuel Reid (who owned 1/16 of her), she reached in Melbourne in 69 days.<ref name="Penobscot" /> Only one clipper, ''[[James Baines (clipper)|James Baines]]'', ever made the run faster.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} On 13 June 1859,<ref name=DN081059>{{Cite news |title=Miscellaneous |newspaper=Daily News |location=London |date=8 October 1859 |issue=4182 }}</ref> whilst on a voyage from [[Liverpool]] to Melbourne, she collided with the British merchant ship ''Elizabeth Walker'', which sank. ''Red Jacket'' rescued the crew of ''Elizabeth Walker'', which was on a voyage from [[Buenos Aires]], Argentina to [[London]].<ref name=DN071059>{{Cite news |title=Shipping Intelligence |newspaper=Daily News |location=London |date=7 October 1859 |issue=4181 }}</ref><ref name=BNL081059>{{Cite news |title=Australia |newspaper=The Belfast News-Letter |location=Belfast |date=8 October 1859 |issue=13511 |edition=Second }}</ref>

''Red Jacket '' served in the immigrant trade until 1866, when she was sold to Portugal. In May 1871, she ran aground at [[Ponta Delgada]] whilst on a voyage from [[Lisbon]] to [[Boston]]. She was refloated and completed her voyage.<ref name=LM130571>{{Cite news |title=Shipping |newspaper=Liverpool Mercury |location=Liverpool |date=13 May 1871 |issue=7271 }}</ref>

===Fate===
In 1872 ''Red Jacket'' became a lumber carrier from [[Quebec]] to [[London]], joining the clippers [[Marco Polo (1851 ship)|''Marco Polo'']] and [[Donald McKay (clipper)|''Donald McKay'']], which "ended their days" in the [[Economic history of Canada#Timber|transatlantic Quebec timber trade]].<ref name="clark2">
{{Citation
  | last = Clark
  | first = A H
  | title =  The clipper ship era; An epitome of famous American and British clipper ships, their owners, builders, commanders and crews, 1843–1869
  | place = New York
  | publisher = G.P. Putnam's Sons
  | year = 1912
  | chapter = Fate of the Clipper Ships
  | page = 346
  | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HVYuAAAAYAAJ&q=red+jacket&pg=PA346
  }}
</ref>  On 29 January 1878, she put in to [[Boston]] in a leaky condition, her crew refusing to proceed. She was recorded as a [[collier (ship type)|collier]] on a voyage from [[New York City|New York]] to [[Lisbon]].<ref name=GH300178>{{Cite news |title=Shipping |newspaper=Glasgow Herald |location=Glasgow |date=30 January 1878 |issue=11889 }}</ref><ref name=LM300178>{{Cite news |title=Shipping |newspaper=Liverpool Mercury |location=Liverpool |date=30 January 1878 |issue=9374 }}</ref> In 1882, she dragged her anchors in a heavy gale whilst on a voyage from [[Lisbon]] to [[Casablanca]] and ran aground near [[Soria Kedima]]
and was driven ashore on 16 December 1882; the sale of her wreckage fetched just £113. It completely disappeared in 1907.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wrecks in Funchal Roads |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000495/18851230/010/0002 |access-date=12 October 2022 |work=Hampshire Advertiser |issue=4126, Vol.LXII |date=30 December 1885 |location=Southampton |page=2}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{Citation
  | last = Fuller
  | first = Benjamin A. G.
  | title = Red Jacket, Champion of the Seas
  | journal = Maine Boats Homes and Harbors
  | issue = 76
  |date=Autumn 2003
}}

==Further reading==
{{Cite book
  | last = Cornell
  | first = Edward 
  | title = Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne for H.M. Royal Mail Clipper Red Jacket, Captain O'Halloran
  | publisher = Manuscript
  | date = 1856
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GUmwNwAACAAJ&q=%22red+jacket%22+clipper
}}

{{Cite book
  | last = Abreu
  | first = Maria de Fátima 
  | title = Memória do Red Jacket - De famoso transatlântico a "pontão" de carvão
  | publisher = Direção Regional da Cultural / Divisão de Publicações
  | url = https://cultura.madeira.gov.pt/livros-categoria/2369-memória-do-red-jacket-de-famoso-transatlântico-a-“pontão”-de-carvão.html
|year=2021|isbn=978-972-648-252-9|location=Funchal, Portugal}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Red Jacket (ship, 1853)}}
* [http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page44web7.html Era of the Clipper Ships, the ''Red Jacket'']

===Images and models===
*[http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/collection/ship-red-jacket History & Painting of ''Red Jacket'' by Percy A. Sanborn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010045541/http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/collection/ship-red-jacket |date=2016-10-10 }}
*[http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/the_museums/fine_arts/collection/view/630-clipper_ship_red_jacket_in_the_ice_off_cape_horn_on_her_passage_from_australia_to_liverpool ''Red Jacket'' in the ice off Cape Horn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110033549/http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/the_museums/fine_arts/collection/view/630-clipper_ship_red_jacket_in_the_ice_off_cape_horn_on_her_passage_from_australia_to_liverpool |date=2011-01-10 }} Currier and Ives print, with less color, Springfield Museum
*[http://www.jahitchcock.com/hitchcockmodels/redjacket.html ''Red Jacket''] ship model
*[http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2136 "Clipper Ship Red Jacket"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308093212/http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2136 |date=2012-03-08 }} watercolor by David J. Kennedy

{{White Star Line ships}}
{{Clipper ships}}
{{1859 shipwrecks}}
{{1871 shipwrecks}}
{{1878 shipwrecks}}
{{1885 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Jacket (clipper)}}
[[Category:Clippers]]
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]
[[Category:Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of immigration to Australia]]
[[Category:Ships of the White Star Line]]
[[Category:Ships built in Rockland, Maine]]
[[Category:Merchant ships of Portugal]]
[[Category:Lumber ships]]
[[Category:Barges]]
[[Category:Coal hulks]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1859]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1871]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1878]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1885]]
[[Category:1853 ships]]