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

Printed from shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net