Neptune's Car

A clipper ship built in 1853 by Page & Allen, Portsmouth, VA. Dimensions 216'×40'×23'6" and tonnage 1616 tons old measurement.

1853 April 16: Launched at the shipyard of Page & Allen, Portsmouth, VA, for Foster & Nickerson, New York.
1853 October 15 - February 9: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 117 days under command of Captain Forbes.
1854: Sailed from San Francisco to Singapore.
1854 July 12 - October 29: Sailed from Cacutta to New York in 109 days.
1854-1856: In Command of Captain Joshua Patten.
1855 January 14 - April 25: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 101 days. [122 days according to Cutler]
1855 September 29 - January 22: Sailed from Foo Chow to London, 81 days from Anjer.
1856 June 30 - November 15: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 138 days. Captain Patten was taken ill with brain fever and became both deaf and blind and his 19 year old wife took over command of the ship.
1857 March 12: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 99 days under command of Captain Bearse. The best day's run was 385 miles.
1858 August 29 - March 4: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 125 sailing days. Had to put into Rio de Janeiro on November 8 to repair a badly sprung foremast.
1859 May 24 - August 24: Sailed from Penang to New York in 92 days.
1859: Captain Caleb Sprague late of the clipper ship Gravina assumed command of the ship.
1859 December 31 - April 23: Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 114/115 days.
1860: J.D. Fisher, New York, became the managing owner.
1861 April 25 - October 28: Sailed from New York to San Francisco via Callao in 186 days. Heavy weather off Cape Horn carried away the jib-boom, fore-topgallant and main-top masts and sprang the bowsprit. Captain Sprague had to put into Callao for repairs.
1862 January 31 - May 9: Sailed from San Francisco to New York in 98 days. The Equator had been crossed 13 days out and she was off Cape Horn in 41 days.
1862 July 24: Sailed from New York to London under command of Captain Reed.
1862 September 21 - October 19: Sailed from London to New York in 28 days from the Downs.
1863 February: Sold at auction to Barclay & Co., Liverpool [?], for £8000.

References:

Clipper ships, general references.
A Heroine of the Sea.
New York Daily Tribune, February 18, 1857.
Cutler, Carl C.: Greyhounds of the Sea. The Story of the American Clipper Ship.
United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, 1960.
Howe, Octavius T. & Matthews, Fredric C.: American Clipper Ships 1833-1858.
Argosy Antiquarian, New York, 1967/1926 (facs.).
Joy, Arthur F.: Captain's Wife.
Reprinted from Down East, July 1959.

Updated 1999-06-22 by Lars Bruzelius

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