Donald McKay

For the Prince Edward Island politician, see Donald McKay (politician). For other people with the same name, see Donald Mackay (disambiguation).
Donald McKay
Born September 4, 1810 (1810-09-04)
Jordon Falls, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died September 20, 1880(1880-09-20) (aged 70)
Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA
Occupation Ship Designer
Known for Flying Cloud
Spouse(s) Albenia Boole and Mary Cressy Litchfield

Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships.

He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County on Nova Scotia's South Shore. In 1826 he moved to New York, working for shipbuilders Brown & Bell and Isaac Webb.[1] In 1841, he opened his first yard in Newburyport and moved to East Boston in 1845, building substantial packet ships for the Atlantic emigrant route. McKay later designed and built some of the most successful clippers ever built. His house in East Boston is on the National Register of Historic Places. He was the great-grandfather of the American actor, author, and artist Gardner McKay (1932–2001).[2]

McKay's clippers

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McKay Shipyard, East Boston, ca.1855

McKay's design practices

McKay's designs were characterized by a long fine bow with increasing hollow and waterlines. He was perhaps influenced by the writings of John W. Griffiths, designer of the China clipper Rainbow in 1845. The long hollow bow helped to penetrate rather than ride over the wave produced by the hull at high speeds, reducing resistance as hull speed is approached. Hull speed is the natural speed of a wave the same length as the ship, in knots, , where LWL = Length of Water Line in feet. His hulls had a shorter afterbody, putting the center of buoyancy farther aft than was typical of the period, as well as a full midsection with rather flat bottom. These characteristics led to lower drag at high speed compared to other ships of similar length, as well as great stability which translated into the ability to carry sail in high winds (more power in extreme conditions). His fishing schooner design was even more radical than his clippers, being a huge flat-bottomed dinghy similar in form to 20th century planing boats. These design changes were not favorable for light wind conditions such as were expected on the China trade, but were profitable in the California and Australian trades.

Pan Am named one of their Boeing 747s Clipper Donald McKay in his honor.

Records set by McKay's clippers

McKay's other ships

Between 1845 and 1850 McKay built five large packet ships for Enoch Train's White Diamond line, which specialised in the Atlantic emigrant route from Europe to North America. These were the Washington Irving, the Anglo Saxon, the Anglo American, the Daniel Webster, and the Ocean Monarch.[4] The Ocean Monarch was lost to fire on August 28, 1848, soon after leaving Liverpool and within sight of Wales; over 170 of the passengers and crew perished.[5] The Washington Irving carried Patrick Kennedy to Boston in 1849.

McKay is also probably the designer of two fishing schooners of an extreme clipper design, the Mary B. Dyer and H & R. Attwood.[6]

During the American Civil War he was contracted by the US Navy to build the USS Nausett, one of the few Casco-class monitors to be commissioned. There is a monument to McKay in South Boston, near Fort Independence, overlooking the channel, that lists all his ships. There were more than 30.

Images

See also

References

  1. ↑ McCutchan, Philip Tall Ships The Golden Age of Sail London Book Club Associates 1976 p.37
  2. ↑ Video on YouTube
  3. ↑ Octavius T. Howe; Frederick G. Matthews (1986). American Clipper Ships 1833–1858. 1. New York. ISBN 0-486-25115-2.
  4. ↑ Laxton, Edward The Famine Ships The Irish Exodus to America 1846–51 London Bloomsbury 1997 pp144–5 ISBN 0-7475-3500-0
  5. ↑ Laxton, Edward op cit pp91–8
  6. ↑ Howard I. Chapelle (1973). The American Fishing Schooners. New York. p. 105. ISBN 0-393-03123-3.

Further reading

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