Alexander Martin Model Ship Gallery

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Great Republic

THE GREAT REPUBLIC
Largest Clipper Ship Ever Built In The United States
Clippers embody all the romance and adventure of the sea in the
days when American ships were pre-eminent. To develop this
design, actual experience on sailing ships and a study of the
type and period have been necessary.

The Great Republic was built at East Boston in 1853 by Donald
McKay to his own design and at his own risk. She was the largest
merchant sailing ship ever constructed in the United States and
was designed to carry 6,000 tons. Unfortunately, while loading
in New York before starting on her first voyage, she burned
almost to the waterline. When rebuilt, she was cut down one
deck and her sail plan was reduced. There have been very few
larger sailing ships (wooden vessels), and she was the crowning
achievement of America's most famous ship builder. For this
reason I have preferred to make a model of her as originally
conceived and built.

The Great Republic had a registered tonnage of 4,555. Her
dimensions were: Length 335, beam 53 and depth 38 feet. The
model is built to a scale of 3/32 inch equals one foot of the
original. This gives us a hull of 32 inches long. She had a
20 inch dead rise. The ship had four decks with seven feet
between the upper and eight feet between the others. The upper
deck was a flush or spar deck with no poop deck or forecastle.
The figurehead was an eagle and there was a spread-eagle holding
the American shield on the stern. In her day when she was
America's largest clipper ship, the Great Republic was called
the "Ship of Ships". She was not only large but remarkably
beautiful - An ideal subject for a ship model. Her upper deck
was on one level fore and aft. All accommodations were below
this deck. The crew of one hundred men and thirty boys lived
in the upper between decks. The dining saloon alone was 30 by
14 feet. The forward house is a shelter house and sick bay. The
next contains the galley, smith's shop and donkey engine. The
third is the officers mess hall and staircase to quarters. The
fourth is a staircase and smoke room, and the last is the wheelhouse.
The second house was half doors, a funnel for the galley
stove and another for the donkey engine, which was the first ever
placed on a sailing ship. According to some accounts, the fifteen
horsepower engine could be moved about the deck for working cargo
or hoisting sails or even be placed in a huge longboat and fitted
with a propeller to tow the ship.

She had two 6,500 lb. anchors (porter's patent working anchors)
and two 8,500 lb. wood stock bowers, as well as a stream anchor
and kedge. The Great Republic as originally built was more
heavily rigged than any other merchant vessel. Her spars were
large even for her size. Her main yard was 120 feet long.
Although a fast ship, the Great Republic never got a fair trial
with her full rig because when rebuilt after the fire her rig
was reduced about fifteen per cent. Her best records were
nineteen knots for nineteen hours and New York to San Francisco
in 92 days, including three day calm off the latter port. (No
Panama Canal in those days - She had to go around the Horn).
She was one of the few ships that had double topsails and she
was one of the first vessels to be rigged as a four masted bark.
After the fire she was refloated by the insurance underwriters
and bought from them by A. A. Lowe and Brothers who rebuilt
her at Green Point, New York. The upper deck was not replaced,
leaving her with three decks, poop and forecastle decks, and
reducing her tonnage 3,356 tons. Her crew was cut down correspondingly
to fifty men. She was still a fast sailor and made
the best time on record from Sandy Hook to the Line (the Equator)
in fifteen days, eighteen hours.

She was traded to England and in 1857 made the trip from New York
to that country, land to land, in twelve days. She was then
chartered to the French Government and later, while in the
Californian trade, made a passage of 92 days from New York to
San Francisco. In 1865 she was laid up for a year and then sold
to Yarmouth N.S. In 1868 she was sold to Liverpool for about
$17,500 and renamed "Denmark". On March 5, 1872, she foundered
in a gale in the Atlantic, all hands reaching Bermuda in safety.
It may be interesting to know the reason why a ship is always
called a "She". A nine year old boy, the son of a sea captain,
gave the best reason I ever heard. He 'said' "It is because it
cost so much to rig her."

You may have noticed the ship's steering wheels in these pictures.
I made them because they are extremely ornamental where nautical
subjects are shown.

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