Eleanor Creesy (September 21, 1814 – 1900) was an American
navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...
, who was the wife of Josiah Perkins Creesy, skipper of the ''
Flying Cloud'' which set the world's sailing record for the fastest passage between
New York and
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
in 1851. They beat their own record three years later, and it remained a record until 1989.
Early life and background
Creesy was born on September 21, 1814, in
Marblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...
, to Joshua III and Eleanor Prentiss.
["Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897M-Y9NJ-S?cc=2061550&wc=Q4D7-K6V%3A353349401%2C353440401%2C353440402 : 22 October 2020), Essex > Marblehead > Births 1670-1850 > image 59 of 139; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.] She learned the craft of seafaring from her step-father and uncle, John Prentiss. John Prentiss married Eleanor's mother Eleanor after Joshua Prentiss died at sea in 1817. Prentiss, a master mariner, captained a ship called the ''Californian''. Locals thought it peculiar that she was taught ship navigation by her father, at a time when women were rarely educated, let alone in a business dominated by men. Her dream was to marry a Captain and sail with him on his ship and, though she attracted many suitors as a young woman, she rejected their advances until she found a sailor.
Eleanor married Captain Josiah Creesy in 1841, and served him as a navigator aboard his ship. Around 1846 they began traveling on the ''Oneida'', and had just returned from a trip to
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
, China when they sailed from New York in 1851.
New York to San Francisco voyage
The ''Flying Cloud'', kept in
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
, was the harbor's largest at the time, measuring and weighing 1,782 tons. Its three masts held 21 sails, using some 30,000 square feet of sailcloth.
Eleanor and Josiah planned a trip from New York to San Francisco, to break the record. She read
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806February 1, 1873) was an American oceanographer and naval officer, serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and i ...
's detailed guide ''Sailing Directions'', prior to the voyage in May 1851.
''
The Daily Alta California
The ''Alta California'' or ''Daily Alta California'' (often miswritten ''Alta Californian'' or ''Daily Alta Californian'') was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper.
''California Star''
The ''Daily Alta California'' descended from the first ...
'' wrote in an article documenting the event on April 20, 1854: "
leanor Creesy'sskills are considered to be a major factor in the ship's safe and swift passages.”
Later years
The ''Flying Cloud'' was laid down in 1857 due to poor business. Creesy and her husband were believed to have gone to sea aboard the ''Archer'' after his Civil War service ended, but they retired to a farm near
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
. Josiah died in 1871; she survived him by 29 years.
References
;Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Creesy, Eleanor
1814 births
1900 deaths
19th-century American women
United States Merchant Mariners
Female travelers
People from Marblehead, Massachusetts
American navigators
19th-century American people