"Extraordinary Passage of the Flying Cloud"

"Extraordinary Passage of the Flying Cloud". East Boston. , The 1851 New York Tribune headline trumpeted Flying Cloud's record-breaking sail: 89 days 21 hours from New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco. There a newspaper described Donald McKay's most famous clipper ship as "a monument of Yankee talent in ship building." Flying Cloud, her captain Josiah Creesy and his wife, Eleanor, the ship's navigator, would surpass their achievement 4 years later by 13 hours. No square-rigged ship ever beat it; 135 years later a racing yacht did., Eleanor Creesy's expertise in navigation and her role in Flying Cloud's success were exceptional for the times. Recognizing her intellect, Eleanor's seafaring step-father had taught her navigation. She used her knowledge and the latest scientific data to chart Flying Cloud's course into maritime history., Between 1850 and 1858, Donald McKay built 31 clipper ships at his shipyard located along Border Street. Dozens more were built by other outstanding shipbuilders, earning East Boston the reputation as the birthplace of many of the fastest, most beautiful merchant sailing ships ever built., [Captions:] , Top Nathaniel Currier lithograph and watercolor, 1852., Bottom Left A sextant, which measures the distance between the horizon and the sun, stars, or planets, was among the tools Eleanor Creesy used to establish the ship's position., Bottom Middle Eleanor Creesy charted Flying Cloud's course informed by U.S. Navy Lt. Matthew Maury's seminal work on worldwide wind patterns and ocean currents., Bottom Right In the late 1960s a three-quarter replica of Flying Cloud was tied up along this wharf next to the Boston '1800' restaurant and used as a cocktail lounge; this ketch is from inside the menu. In 1971 the restaurant burned, but the vessel was towed to safety.