Vol. 71, No.1 Spring 2026 44


(Figure 14) Reviewing prows of other contemporary vessels, we saw that there was a dramatic diff erence. T e State Library of South Australia has a wonderful collection of Arthur Diederich Edwards (circa 1845- 1950) photographs. He took dozens of contemporary pictures of


every type of clipper and barque,


15. 1869 clipper Great Admiral. Courtesy State Library of South Aus- tralia.


16. James E. Buttersworth, 1852 “Clipper Flying Fish, to Commemorate her Great Deep-Sea Derby Win” Courtesy of Vallejo Studio, Vallejo, California.


Glory off the Welsh coast, and Captain Knowles departed from Cardiff in August 1871, that was most likely when Walters was commissioned, so possibly those backstays might have been added in the later months of 1872, maybe in November.


Donald McKay’s hidden structural genius fi nally revealed


Rob and I have concluded, aſt er decades of research into every structure of Glory of the Seas, that Donald McKay designed an ingenious and rugged clipper bow.


including their bows and fi gureheads. Among them was an impressive picture of the clipper ship Great Admiral whose fi gurehead was a likeness of Civil War hero Admiral Farragut. (Figure 15) T is was a full rigged ship built in 1869 by Robert E. Jackson, East Boston, to the design of W.H. Varney, United Staes Navy. While 50 feet smaller than Glory of the Seas, this was a decent-sized clipper for the day. T e standard bow features an ornately carved, gilded cutwater but no navel hoods. In fact, as we reviewed the gamut of wooden and composite built clipper ships from America and Great Britain, we saw no others with the unique McKay layered navel hood, cutwater, stem combination. If you look closely at the navel hoods (large triangular carved arches that terminate just above Glory’s fi gurehead) you will see that they are really an extension of the hull itself, which they hug neatly to and quite closely. Rob and I concur that there is no reason to think McKay would not have included navel hoods on all his clippers, with the sole exception of his massive clipper Great Republic, which had four decks. T is might explain why he may have felt it unnecessary to include navel hoods due to the bow’s great height above the seas. Notoriously secretive about his nautical science, Donald McKay jealously guarded his designs. But he has become a victim of his own compulsive success. As a result, today not one of the McKay models or replicas are entirely accurate compared to the vessels they portray!


Here are Duncan McLean’s precise descriptions of the inventive McKay clipper ship bow components from the Boston Daily Atlas. First is McKay’s prototype extreme clipper Stag Hound:


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100