Sea Witch
Owner: Manhattan Sailing Club
LOA: 24'
Type: J/24
Designer: Rod Johnstone
Year Built: 19__?
Material: Fiberglass
Sail # SW
Commissioned into the Manhattan Sailing Club fleet on .
The clipper Sea Witch
(from www.eraoftheclipperships.com)
From the signal tower high atop the Navesink Highlands, that stood 250 feet over the treacherous entrance to New York Harbor at Sandy Hook, the watcher from the semaphore station stared out from his panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean in disbelief. On the far horizon to the southeast he spotted what could only be a heavily sparred ship. It was a clear Sunday afternoon, a day when one could see 40 miles out to sea. The anxious watcher focused in his telescope at the rapidly approaching tea clipper flying clouds of canvas that could only be the Sea Witch, ring tails and studding sails set, scudding up the New Jersey coast as she caught the winds from the south-southeast. Her sleek, black hull slicing through the choppy swells, with the crew at last taking in her studding sails one after the other and running up her private signal. It was March 25, 1849, and there were no tea clippers due for another two weeks, but there was no denying that there was the Sea Witch, flaunting her coiled dragon figurehead with the pointed tail, back from her third voyage around the world. Robert Waterman had come romping back from China to New York in 74 days, 14 hours, and beaten the tea fleet home.
The watcher lost little time in jotting down a message on his pad and handed it to the semaphore operator, and soon the message was sent by the long signal arms that would be seen across the bay at the Coney Island semaphore station. The message was immediately sent by telegraph to the Howland & Aspinwall shipping office at 55 South Street. Soon, the waterfront was buzzing with the news. Within hours, a pilot had come aboard the Sea Witch and guided the sleek black tea clipper to her moorings at the South Street wharf. The firm of Howland and Aspinwall would make a fortune at the tea auction and bask in the glory of a new record for the China to New York run. Again, William Aspinwall's hunches and daring had paid off in a big way. With profits more then enough to pay for the building of another clipper.
Upwards of 50 tea-laden ships would follow in the coming weeks. Two of the fleet, the Onieda and the Carrington, both fast ships, had left Macao sailing in company on January 5, 1849. Neither Captain Creesy of the Oneida, or Captain Abbott of the Carrington logged anything about sighting the Sea Witch that day. That was because Waterman had sailed from Whompoa to Hong Kong on January 4th, and sailed from there in the evening hours of January 9th. The Sea Witch shaved over 1,000 miles off the regular route of the Northeast monsoon season for a voyage of 14,255 miles with brief stops at Anjier and St. Helena. Waterman had shaved another three days off his existing record of the China run of 77 days in the Sea Witch on his last voyage, which had shaved a day off his first run back from China in 78 days. He had brought the Sea Witch home on this last scamper which he concluded would never be surpassed, at least by him and the Sea Witch, and was now content to pass on command to his hard driving first mate, George Fraser, and retire. Waterman was forty-three years old and over the course of his three record-breaking China runs had earned a large sum of money. He had promised Cordelia before departing on the third voyage that this would be the last.
New York City went wild with the news of this latest record-breaking run. The Commercial Advertiser wrote:
The splendid ship Sea Witch, Capt. Waterman, arrived here on Sunday in seventy-five days from China, having performed a voyage around the world in 194 sailing days.
During the voyage she has made the shortest direct passages on record, viz.: 69 days from New York to Valparaiso; 50 days from Callao to China; 75 days from China to New York. Distance run by observation from New York to Valparaiso, 10,568 miles; average 6 2/5 miles per hour. Distance from Callao to China, 10,417 miles; average, 8 5/8 knots per hour. Distance from China to New York, 14,225 miles; average, 7 7/8 knots per hour. Best ten (consecutive) days' run, 2,634 miles; 11 1/10 knots per hour.
Waterman basked in his latest limelight at the Astor Bar and soon left for Connecticut to reunite with his wife. Griffiths basked in the limelight as well and was never at a loss for words when praising the ship that was his masterpiece. He wrote:
The model of the Sea Witch had more influence upon the subsequent configuration of fast vessels than any other ship ever built in the United States.
A much more interesting race around the Horn took place over the summer of 1851; between the Typhoon, the Raven, and the Sea Witch.
The Typhoon, 1611 tons, was a large extreme clipper ship built for the California and China trade, launched on February 18, 1851, from the Portsmouth, N. H. shipyard of Fernald & Pettigrew. She slid down the ways fully rigged to the skysail yards and colors flying with a great crowd of admirers gathered for the special occasion. Her overall measurements were 225 x 41 x 23, and was said to be a very sharp clipper. Her figurehead was that of a life size leaping horse surrounded by clouds and lightning. A gilded eagle enhanced by intricate scrollwork graced her round stern.
On her maiden voyage, the Typhoon cleared for Liverpool on March 12th, and sailed across the Atlantic in 13 days, 22 hours, and reached a speed of 15 1/2 knots, and on her best day she made 346 miles.
On April 20th, she sailed from the Mersey to New York, arriving there on May 17th after a 27-day "uphill" passage. The Typhoon began taking on cargo for San Francisco and sailed on August 2, 1998, under the command of Captain Charles H. Salter, to chase after the venerable Sea Witch, still under the command of George Frazer, which sailed the day before on her sixth voyage.
The Extreme clipper ship Raven was built in Somerset, Massachusetts, by James M. Hood and launched fully rigged for Crocker & Sturgis of Boston, who almost immediately passed on ownership to Crocker & Warren of New York. A small ship by comparison to other clippers of the period, the Raven was but 711 tons, and 158 x 32 x 17. No figurehead graced her bow, but she was a beautiful little clipper and showed promise of being a swift sailing vessel. The Raven sailed from Boston August 5th under the command of Captain William H. Henry.
All three clippers had competent commanders aboard and all carried Maury's Wind and Current Charts and Sailing Directions to assist in their navigation. They all plotted their way swiftly through the doldrums.
The Sea Witch led the way through the summer's baffling breezes to the equator. Behind her, the race was heating up as off the Cape de São Roque, as the Typhoon came up on the wake of the Raven on August 28th, as both ships piled on all possible sail, with the Typhoon slowly drawing ahead, and both crossed the equator together on August 31st. Both clippers gained on the Sea Witch as they roared on down the South Atlantic.
The Raven pulled on ahead of the Typhoon and steadily closed the distance with the Sea Witch, as she raced for Cape Horn. Where the Typhoon's greater size would give her the advantage.
All three clippers crossed the parallel of 50° S. at the same longitude of 64° W. according to their logs. The Raven caught up with the Sea Witch off Cape Horn and they were soon side by side, fighting it out tack for tack, at the bottom of the world against the westerlies, both carrying as much sail as they dared. For fourteen days and nights they clawed back and forth, with the advantage shifting from one to the other, as their long sharp bows sliced on through the wild surging seas, with the Typhoon steadily drawing up on them from behind.
The Sea Witch and the Raven crossed latitude 50° S. in the Pacific side by side, with the Typhoon less than twenty-four hours astern. All three clippers piled on every yard of canvas they could set, a vast array of studdingsails, skysails, water-sails, and ringtails, all reaching for the sky to catch every puff of wind and pull them to the north as fast as they could go.
On the run to the equator, the Sea Witch pulled away from her pursuers and flew on ahead, crossing the line in 22 days from 50° S. with a two-day lead over the Raven, and a four-day lead over the Typhoon.
Steady winds now came out of the north and it became a close-hauled contest all the way to California. It was on this stretch of ocean that the Typhoon's size gave her the advantage, and she flew on past the Raven and closed on the Sea Witch, and pulled on ahead.
It was an exciting race right up to the San Francisco Heads. Five hundred miles from the Golden Gate, luck deserted the Sea Witch, as she ran into a belt of calms with the light airs pulling her along the rest of the way to her destination in five days, a distance she would have normally covered in two.
The Typhoon arrived first, entering San Francisco Harbor on November 18th, followed by the Raven on the 19th, and the Sea Witch on the 20th.
The Raven had sailed after the others, so she emerged as the winner with a passage of 106 days from Boston Light. The Raven had lost her maintopmast three days out from San Francisco, which had slowed her down for two full days.
The Typhoon had a 108-day passage from Sandy Hook and the Sea Witch was credited with a 111-day passage from Sandy Hook.
( * There seems to be a little bit of confusion concerning the total number of days as the Clipper Ship Era, Greyhounds of the Sea and American Clipper Ships all list different numbers concerning this race. I have gone with the American Clipper Ships numbers for this account)
The little Raven was clearly the winner and was the only ship of her size and tonnage to ever outsail the Sea Witch. But the fact that the Sea Witch was over five years old at that time, and had already sailed around the world on five voyages before this last race, should also be taken into account. Probably no ship in the world could have beaten the Sea Witch in her prime.
The Raven's victory over the Typhoon, a ship over twice her size, was equally impressive.
A number of other fine clippers slid down the ways in 1851, the most famous being the Flying Fish, Hurricane, Northern Light, Comet, Staffordshire, Sword Fish, Wild Pigeon, Hornet, John Wade, Seaman's Bride, Trade Wind, and Shooting Star. All would sail on their maiden voyages around the Horn in the later part of 1851 and early in 1852.
Many other fine clippers were nearing completion on the stocks, soon to be launched, and sail in 1852, as the era of the clipper ships showed no sign of slowing down and the frenzied pace of shipbuilding activity continued.
After loading a cargo at Coquimbo, the Sea Witch continued on down the Pacific and it was soon discovered that she was in a leaky condition and the clipper was forced to put into Valparaiso, where it was discovered that holes had been bored through her bottom. The damage was repaired and the Sea Witch sailed on around the Horn for New York, arriving there 64 days from Valparaiso in January 1855.
The Sea Witch left New York from Howland & Aspinwall's Pier 9 on April 5, 1855, on her ninth voyage bound for Hong Kong. On the South Atlantic leg of the voyage, Captain Fraser was murdered by the First Mate and the Sea Witch was forced to put in to Rio. Where Captain Lang was put in command of the Sea Witch and continued on with the voyage to Hong Kong.
The Sea Witch sailed from Amoy on December 1, 1855, with 500 coolies aboard bound for Cuba by way of Anjer and the Cape of Good Hope.
The noted naval architect and expert on the history of the Sea Witch, Melbourne Smith, picks up the tale from there.
"As the Sea Witch approached Cuba, she lost the evening breeze and slowly drifted inshore and took the beach about 12 miles west of Havana. Two Spanish steamers came to take off the Chinese coolies and crew and the Sea Witch fetched up further inshore as she was lightened. Wreckers came aboard the next day and her ballast was stolen and lightened even more. She was towed to a small landing nearby where she was claimed by the local landowner. Her owners wrote her off and a year later an unknown party set her alight and she burned to the waterline and sank. Over the following years, the tides and storms swirled around the sunken hulk and slowly washed the jetty and land away. Today her bones are almost a mile offshore as the beach has now eroded away."
The amazing ten-year career of the once proud Sea Witch that had ushered in the era of the clipper ships had sadly come to an end.