Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Director Peter Christopher Awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia

Congratulations to Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Director Peter Christopher, on being awarded the  Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to Maritime History. Peter Christopher convened the first meeting of Adelaide volunteers to save the City of … Continue reading

Women’s History Month — Eleanor Creesy, Navigator of the Clipper Ship Flying Cloud

In honor of Women’s History Month, it is worthwhile remembering Eleanor Creesy, the navigator of the clipper ship Flying Cloud, who with her husband, Captain Josiah Creesy, set world sailing records for the fastest passage between New York and San … Continue reading

Women’s History Month — Remembering Mary Patten, Clipper Ship Captain

During Women’s History Month, it seems a good time to remember Mary Ann Brown Patten, the first woman to command an American merchant ship. An updated repost. The year was 1856. The ship was the clipper ship Neptune’s Car, bound … Continue reading

Women’s History Month — Eleanor Creesy, Navigator of the Clipper Ship Flying Cloud

During Women’s History Month it is a worthwhile remembering Eleanor Creesy, the navigator of the clipper ship Flying Cloud, who with her husband, Captain Josiah Creesy, set world sailing records for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco.  … Continue reading

On International Women’s Day — Remembering Mary Patten, Clipper Ship Captain

On International Women’s Day, it seems a good time to remember Mary Ann Brown Patten, the first woman to command an American merchant ship. The year was 1856. The ship was the clipper ship Neptune’s Car, bound for San Francisco from New … Continue reading

The Clipper Ship Noonday & the Ships of Badger’s Island

Last year, the wreck of a the clipper ship, Noonday, was located just west of San Francisco. There was no great mystery where the ship sank in 1863, as the submerged rock where she struck has been known as Noonday Rock ever since. … Continue reading

Clipper Ship City of Adelaide — Close to Home but Short on Cash

The world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, City of Adelaide, has arrived in Port Hedland, Western Australia. She has been carried from Scotlandon the deck of the heavy-lift ship MV Palanpur, with intermediate stops to load and discharge other cargo.  MV Palanpur is … Continue reading

New York City — Once The City of Ships

Sometime during the Civil War, the poet Walt Whitman wrote a poem about New York City, titled “The City of Ships.” The first stanzas begin: City of ships! (O the black ships! O the fierce ships! O the beautiful, sharp-bow’d … Continue reading

Historic Clipper City of Adelaide’s Voyage Home in Limbo? Will New Government Write the Check?

The clipper ship City of Adelaide is supposed to be transported by heavy-lift ship back to Australia in the near future. Scottish taxpayers have already chipped in $1.2 million.  The City of Adelaide Trust, however, has been unable to book … Continue reading

The Leaving of Liverpool

“The Leaving of Liverpool” is a wonderful sea song,  capturing both the promise of a new voyage and the sadness of leaving loved ones behind.   It was “collected” by William Main Doerflinger in 1951 from Dick Maitland, an old sailor at New York’s … Continue reading