Item  #  Flying Cloud-20

Flying Cloud 20"

• Overall dimensions 20" Long x 4" Wide x 17" High.  2 Lbs.
• This is a fully assembled Flying Cloud model, no assembly needed
• Our Flying Cloud boat model is built with rare, high quality woods such as ebony, jackwood, sycamore, blackwood, and mahogany.
• Deck Details include:
  • Wooden hull, Two metal anchors with a chain on the bow of the boat, flag, the name “Flying Cloud” painted on the front side and stern of the boat, flag, thick white sails
• Our model boats have masterfully stitched, thick canvas sails that hold their shape and do not wrinkle.
• These tall ship models of the Flying Cloud are meticulously painted to the actual wooden model ship.
• The Flying Cloud model boat rests perfectly on a wooden base.
• To build this ship model, extensive research was done using various sources such as the original plans, drawings, paintings and pictures.

The Flying Cloud of 1851 was the most famous of the extreme clippers built by Donald McKay in East Boston, Massachusetts, intended for Enoch Train of Boston, who paid $50,000 for her construction.

The Flying Cloud was purchased at launching by Grinnell, Minturn & Co., of New York, for $90,000, which represented a huge profit for Train & Co. Within six weeks she sailed from New York and made San Francisco 'round Cape Horn in 89 days, 21 hours under the command of Captain Josiah Perkins Cressy. On July 31, during the trip, she made 374 miles in 3 days. In 1853 she beat her own record by 13 hours, a record that stood until 1989 when the breakthrough-designed sailboat Thursday's Child completed the passage in 80 days, 20 hours. The record was once again broken 2008 by the French racing yacht Gitana 13 with a time of 43 days and 38 minutes.

In the early days of the California Gold Rush, it took more than 200 days for a ship to travel from New York to San Francisco, a voyage of more than 16,000 miles. The Flying Cloud's better-than-halving that time (only 89 days) was a headline-grabbing world record that the ship itself beat three years later, setting a record that lasted for 136 years.