CAPE COD CLIPPER
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CAPE COD CLIPPER
Dedicated in 1924, it commemorates Shiverick Shipyard, which once filled the environs with the sounds of hammers, axes and saws, and sent to sea magnificent multi-masted vessels. From 1815 until 1863, the family-owned enterprise produced dozens of vessels for fishing, commerce and international shipping. They were the only builders of glorious clipper ships on Cape Cod, manufacturing eight in the period from 1850 to 1862.
The Shiverick brothers moved their boatworks a half-mile closer to Cape Cod Bay, the better to launch their new greyhound-sleek 500- to 1000-ton ships. Their first clipper, Revenue, set sail in 1850 and was captained in turn by two local men, Captain Seth Crowell and Captain David Seabury Sears, both of Dennis.
The next Shiverick clipper ship, Hippogriffe, took its maiden voyage from Boston to San Francisco in 1852, helmed by Captain Anthony Howes, also of Dennis. He captained her for several years, including voyages to Peru and Calcutta, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. In 1858, Hippogriffe encountered a previously uncharted rock in the South China Sea and Captain Howes maneuvered the ship back to Hong King safely despite a chunk of the coral stuck in the bow.
Six other clipper ships the Shivericks built on Cape Cod were Belle of the West, Kit Carson, Wild Hunter, Web Foot, Christopher Hall (named for one of the Shiverick Shipyard primary financiers) and the last in the series, Ellen Sears. Each was profitable, traveling to places like Ceylon, Chile, Burma, Singapore, and Australia, quickly carrying exotic and valuable goods back to Europe and America.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, in the little village of East Dennis on Cape Cod, there existed the Shiverick Shipyard, which over a period of fourteen years produced eight magnificent clipper ships, whose destiny was to sail worldwide transporting a diversity of cargo including silk, tea, lumber, and fertilizer. A plea to the Shiverick ship captains from San Francisco brought biscuits and flour to the hoards of starving men pouring into the gold fields of California. These sailing ships were marvelous to behold; proud equals to the best in this country.
Red Jacket was a clipper ship, one of the largest and fastest ever built.[2] She was also the first ship of the White Star Line company. She was named after Sagoyewatha, a famous Seneca Indian chief, called "Red Jacket" by settlers. 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.[3]
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.
At Liverpool, the Red Jacket had her bottom coppered and cabins fitted out for the Australian 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. Under Captain Samuel Reid (who owned 1/16 of her), she reached in Melbourne in 69 days. Only one clipper, James Baines, ever made the run faster.[citation needed] On 13 June 1859,[6] 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.[7][8]
The 180-foot clipper Northern Light, designed by Samuel Hartt Pook and built by Edward and Henry O. Briggs at their South Boston shipyard, was protected by a carved angel figurehead, draped in white and holding a flaming torch. She was launched on Sept. 21, 1851. For her second voyage to San Francisco via Cape Horn, with Capt. Freeman Hatch at the helm, Northern Light departed Boston on Oct. 28, 1852, and completed the 15,000-mile voyage to the West Coast in 118 days.
By 1854, Northern Light had been sold to Capt. Seth Doane of Orleans, who had served as mate on the record-breaking voyage, and until 1861 he was both owner and captain, making voyages to Calcutta, Manila, and Shanghai. Under new ownership and command, Northern Light made its first transatlantic passage in 1861, tragically meeting her demise in early January 1862 when, returning from Le Havre, she collided with a French brig. Though the crew was spared, the celebrated clipper was so severely damaged that she was abandoned.
Few manmade things can long endure the forces of time and tide. Walking this lane today, it's hard to imagine that a few generations ago, one could see clipper ships moored to the wharf that extended out to deep water in Cape Cod Bay. And just what, exactly, were clipper ships? The term is familiar but the memory is blurred. A child walking here with her parents was overheard asking if clipper ships carried cargo other than clippers. It would have been interesting to hear her parents' response.
Asa Shiverick and his sons built many fine clipper ships in the famous shipyard, now marked only by a plaque on a large boulder, at Dennis. The plaque is located on Sesuit Neck Road just as you come over the hill before the entrance to the west side of the town harbor.
Two of the best known clippers designed and put together by the Shivericks were the Wild Hunter and the Belle of the West. The latter was lost in the Bay of Bengal. The last launching of a Shiverick clipper was in 1863.
Of the many fine clippers built and launched in Dennis; eight of them were captained by native sons. The Shiverick shipbuilding enterprise was principally financed by Christopher Hall, also of Dennis. Thomas Hall, son of Christopher, sailed in Shiverick vessels as a boy, and later wrote a history of the shipyard, in the form of a monograph.
Hi there, my name is Sam Shiverick, son of Paul Shiverick, and his father Asa Shiverick Jr. My dad, one of 4 brothers and a sister was raised in Cleveland Ohio. We are very fond of the clipper ships that our ancestors built and have some collections around the house. I would love to continue this collection. We even named our dog Griffer, short for Hippogrif (1 of the clipper ships). My dad named his motor boat Webfoot in tribute to another of the clipper ships. i can be reached at samshiverick AT gmail.com 041b061a72