28th Apr, 2010 12:00
Maritime and Scientific Models, Instruments & Art (Undaunted)
14
[M] R. MACGREGOR (British, 1925- )<br/>The American...
R. MACGREGOR (British, 1925- )
The American clipper 'Sovereign of the Seas' at speed with studding sails set
Signed 'R. Macgregor' (lower left) with label to verso
Oil on canvas
20 x 24in. (51 x 61cm.) Original frame
Sovereign of the Seas shares, with Flying Cloud, the honour of being the best-known of the American clipper ships of the 1850's. Built as a speculation by the great Donald McKay at East Boston in 1852, the prediction that she would be an expensive 'white elephant' proved spectacularly incorrect. Measuring 258 feet in length with a 44 foot beam, Sovereign of the Seas was registered at 2,421 tons and carried almost 12, 000 running yards of canvas. Clearing New York for San Francisco on 4 August 1852 under the command of Captain L. McKay (the brother of her builder), she made port after a tremendous battering off the Falklands and around Cape Horn in an extremely fast 103 days and arrived to find an enormous crowd waiting to cheer her in. Other fast passages, some of them claimed as records, followed and on the way back to Liverpool from Melbourne in 1854, she beat the steamer Harbinger by 4 days as well as all the other sailing vessels who left with her by 15-20 days. After this trip she was sold to German owners and suddenly seemed to lose her good luck, especially when she was resold again several times in as many years. By December 1858 she was in British ownership but was wrecked on the Pyramid Shoal in the Straits of Malacca on 6 August 1859.
The American clipper 'Sovereign of the Seas' at speed with studding sails set
Signed 'R. Macgregor' (lower left) with label to verso
Oil on canvas
20 x 24in. (51 x 61cm.) Original frame
Sovereign of the Seas shares, with Flying Cloud, the honour of being the best-known of the American clipper ships of the 1850's. Built as a speculation by the great Donald McKay at East Boston in 1852, the prediction that she would be an expensive 'white elephant' proved spectacularly incorrect. Measuring 258 feet in length with a 44 foot beam, Sovereign of the Seas was registered at 2,421 tons and carried almost 12, 000 running yards of canvas. Clearing New York for San Francisco on 4 August 1852 under the command of Captain L. McKay (the brother of her builder), she made port after a tremendous battering off the Falklands and around Cape Horn in an extremely fast 103 days and arrived to find an enormous crowd waiting to cheer her in. Other fast passages, some of them claimed as records, followed and on the way back to Liverpool from Melbourne in 1854, she beat the steamer Harbinger by 4 days as well as all the other sailing vessels who left with her by 15-20 days. After this trip she was sold to German owners and suddenly seemed to lose her good luck, especially when she was resold again several times in as many years. By December 1858 she was in British ownership but was wrecked on the Pyramid Shoal in the Straits of Malacca on 6 August 1859.
Sold for £744
Estimated at £600 - £800
(inc. buyer's premium of 24%)
R. MACGREGOR (British, 1925- )
The American clipper 'Sovereign of the Seas' at speed with studding sails set
Signed 'R. Macgregor' (lower left) with label to verso
Oil on canvas
20 x 24in. (51 x 61cm.) Original frame
Sovereign of the Seas shares, with Flying Cloud, the honour of being the best-known of the American clipper ships of the 1850's. Built as a speculation by the great Donald McKay at East Boston in 1852, the prediction that she would be an expensive 'white elephant' proved spectacularly incorrect. Measuring 258 feet in length with a 44 foot beam, Sovereign of the Seas was registered at 2,421 tons and carried almost 12, 000 running yards of canvas. Clearing New York for San Francisco on 4 August 1852 under the command of Captain L. McKay (the brother of her builder), she made port after a tremendous battering off the Falklands and around Cape Horn in an extremely fast 103 days and arrived to find an enormous crowd waiting to cheer her in. Other fast passages, some of them claimed as records, followed and on the way back to Liverpool from Melbourne in 1854, she beat the steamer Harbinger by 4 days as well as all the other sailing vessels who left with her by 15-20 days. After this trip she was sold to German owners and suddenly seemed to lose her good luck, especially when she was resold again several times in as many years. By December 1858 she was in British ownership but was wrecked on the Pyramid Shoal in the Straits of Malacca on 6 August 1859.
The American clipper 'Sovereign of the Seas' at speed with studding sails set
Signed 'R. Macgregor' (lower left) with label to verso
Oil on canvas
20 x 24in. (51 x 61cm.) Original frame
Sovereign of the Seas shares, with Flying Cloud, the honour of being the best-known of the American clipper ships of the 1850's. Built as a speculation by the great Donald McKay at East Boston in 1852, the prediction that she would be an expensive 'white elephant' proved spectacularly incorrect. Measuring 258 feet in length with a 44 foot beam, Sovereign of the Seas was registered at 2,421 tons and carried almost 12, 000 running yards of canvas. Clearing New York for San Francisco on 4 August 1852 under the command of Captain L. McKay (the brother of her builder), she made port after a tremendous battering off the Falklands and around Cape Horn in an extremely fast 103 days and arrived to find an enormous crowd waiting to cheer her in. Other fast passages, some of them claimed as records, followed and on the way back to Liverpool from Melbourne in 1854, she beat the steamer Harbinger by 4 days as well as all the other sailing vessels who left with her by 15-20 days. After this trip she was sold to German owners and suddenly seemed to lose her good luck, especially when she was resold again several times in as many years. By December 1858 she was in British ownership but was wrecked on the Pyramid Shoal in the Straits of Malacca on 6 August 1859.
Auction: Maritime and Scientific Models, Instruments & Art (Undaunted), 28th Apr, 2010
