Donald McKay
East Boston MA
Most recent update: May 20, 2016.
Donald McKay, a naval architect and shipbuilder of almost legendary status, moved in 1826 from Nova Scotia to New York City, where he worked for Brown & Bell and for Isaac Webb. He started his own yard in Newburyport in 1841 but moved to East Boston in 1845. The yard was located at the foot of Border Street, where General Ship was until fairly recently. I think that the table below is close to complete but it may be that some of the ships listed were designed by McKay but not built by him.
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| Name | Customer | Type | GT | LOA | Built | Notes |
| Built in Newburyport | ||||||
| Mary Broughton | 1841 | |||||
| Ashburton | 1842 | |||||
| Courier | trading ship | 380 | 1842 | |||
| St. George | packet | 845 | 1843 | |||
| John R. Skiddy | packet | 930 | 1844 | |||
| Joshua Bates | packet | 620 | 1844 | |||
| Built in East Boston | ||||||
| Washington Irving | White Diamond Line | packet | 751 | 1845 | ||
| Anglo Saxon | White Diamond Line | packet | 894 | 1846 | ||
| New World | packet | 1,404 | 1846 | |||
| Anglo American | White Diamond Line | packet | 704 | 1847 | ||
| A.Z. | packet | 700 | 1847 | |||
| L.Z. | packet | 897 | 1848 | |||
| Daniel Webster | White Diamond Line | packet | 1848 | |||
| Jenny Lind | packet | 533 | 1848 | |||
| Ocean Monarch | White Diamond Line | packet | 1,301 | 1847 | burned in North Atlantic 1848 | |
| Helicon | bark | 400 | 1849 | |||
| Reindeer | clipper ship | 800 | 1849 | |||
| Plymouth Rock | packet | 960 | 1849 | |||
| Parliament | packet | 998 | 1849 | |||
| Stag Hound | George B. Upton | clipper ship | 1,534 | 1850 | burned off Pernambuco 1869 | |
| Moses Wheeler | clipper ship | 900 | 1850 | |||
| Sultana | bark | 400 | 1850 | |||
| Cornelius Grinell | packet | 1,118 | 1850 | |||
| Antarctic | packet | 1,116 | 1850 | |||
| Daniel Webster | packet | 1,187 | 1850 | |||
| Flying Cloud | Enoch Train & Co | clipper ship | 1,782 | 1851 | wrecked on Beacon Island 1874 | |
| Flying Fish | Sampson & Tappan | clipper ship | 1,505 | 1851 | wrecked off Foochow 1858, rebuilt as El Bueno Succeso | |
| Staffordshire | Enoch Train & Co | clipper ship | 1,817 | 1851 | wrecked off Cape Sable 1853 | |
| North America | clipper ship | 1,464 | 1851 | |||
| Bald Eagle | George B. Upton | clipper ship | 1,705 | 1852 | disappeared in the Pacific 1861 | |
| Sovereign of the Seas | Andrew F. Meinke | clipper ship | 2,421 | 1852 | wrecked in the Malacca Straits 1859 | |
| Westward Ho | Sampson & Tappan | clipper ship | 1,650 | 1852 | burned in Callao 1864 | |
| Chariot of Fame | Enoch Train & Co | clipper ship | 2,050 | 1853 | lost at sea 1876 | |
| Empress of the Seas | William Wilson & Co | clipper ship | 2,197 | 1853 | burned in Australia 1881 | |
| Great Republic | Low & Bros. | clipper ship | 4,555 | 1853 | lost at sea 1872 | |
| Romance of the Seas | George B. Upton | clipper ship | 1,782 | 1853 | disappeared in the North Pacific 1863 | |
| Star of Empire | clipper ship | 2,050 | 1853 | |||
| Champion of the Seas | Black Ball Line | clipper ship | 2,447 | 1854 | sank off Cape Horn 1877 | |
| Commodore Perry | Black Ball Line | clipper ship | 1,964 | 1854 | burned near Bombay 1869 | |
| James Baines | Black Ball Line | clipper ship | 2,515 | 1854 | scrapped 1863 | |
| Lightning | Black Ball Line | clipper ship | 2,083 | 1854 | burned at Geelong 1869 | |
| Blanche Moore | clipper ship | 1,787 | 1854 | |||
| Santa Claus | clipper ship | 1,256 | 1854 | |||
| Japan | clipper ship | 1,964 | 1854 | |||
| Benin | schooner | 692 | 1854 | |||
| Donald McKay | Black Ball Line | clipper ship | 2,598 | 1855 | burned in Madeira 1888 | |
| Zephyr | clipper ship | 1,184 | 1855 | |||
| Defender | clipper ship | 1,413 | 1855 | |||
| Mastiff | George B. Upton | clipper ship | 1,034 | 1856 | burned in the South Pacific 1859 | |
| Henry Hill | bark | 568 | 1856 | |||
| Minnehaha | clipper ship | 1,695 | 1856 | |||
| Amos Lawrence | clipper ship | 1,396 | 1856 | |||
| Abbott Lawrence | clipper ship | 1,497 | 1856 | |||
| Baltic | clipper ship | 1,372 | 1856 | |||
| Adriatic | clipper ship | 1,327 | 1856 | |||
| Alhambra | clipper ship | 1,097 | 1858 | |||
| R.R. Higgins | schooner | 1858 | ||||
| Benj. S. Wright | 107 | 1859 | ||||
| Mary B. Dyer | schooner | 1860 | ||||
| H. & R. Atwood | schooner | 1860 | ||||
| General Putnam | ship | 1861 | ||||
| Trefoil | ship | 370 | 1864 | |||
| Yucca | US Navy | gunboat | 1,375 | 1864 | sold 1868 | |
| Ashuelot | US Navy | gunboat | 1,375 | 1865 | wrecked 1883 | |
| Nausett | US Navy | monitor | 1,175 | 1865 | later Aetna 1869, scrapped 1874 | |
| Squando | US Navy | monitor | 1,175 | 1865 | later Algoma 1869, scrapped 1874 | |
| Geo. B. Upton | ship | 604 | 1866 | |||
| Theodore D. Wagner | ship | 607 | 1866 | |||
| North Star | brig | 410 | 1867 | |||
| Helen Morris | clipper ship | 1,285 | 1867 | |||
| Sovereign of the Seas | clipper ship | 1,502 | 1868 | |||
| Frank Atwood | schooner | 107 | 1869 | |||
| Glory of the Seas | Donald McKay | clipper ship | 2,103 | 1869 | scrapped 1923 | |
| Adams | US Navy | gunboat | 1,375 | 1876 | scrapped 1921 | |
| Essex | US Navy | gunboat | 1,375 | 1876 | sold 1930 | |