''Kingfisher'' was an extreme

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

built in 1853 that sailed on the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

route as well as to Hawaii on its way to China. It eventually sailed out of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. She was one of the longest lived clipper ships, with a sailing life of 36 years and 5 months. A sailing card advertised her.

Construction

She had a small deckhouse aft, and a larger deckhouse forward. The hull was black, with pearl colored bulwarks, and blue waterways on the upper deck. The hull sheathing was

yellow metal Muntz metal (also known as yellow metal) is an alpha-beta brass alloy composed of approximately 60% copper, 40% zinc and a trace of iron. It is named after George Fredrick Muntz, a metal-roller of Birmingham, England, who commercialised the all ...

. Kingfisher had deck structures and hatchway coamings of East India

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

. She had:

Life aboard

In the early 1860s, Joe Taylor, a member of the
Backus’ Minstrels
' troupe en route 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 flow ...

via

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, described ''Kingfisher'' as follows:

Voyages

''Kingfisher'' arrived in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Fate

In 1890 she was "sold at auction and broken up in Montevideo Bay".

References

External links

Tully Crosby
commander of brig ''Old Colony,'' barque ''Arab,'' and ships ''Kingfisher,'' ''Monterey,'' ''

Antelope of Boston ''Antelope'' was a medium clipper built in 1851 in Medford, near Boston, Massachusetts. She sailed in the San Francisco, China, and Far East trades, and was known for her fine finish work and for her crew's escape from pirates. She is often cal ...

'' and ''Charlotte.''
Heave Ahoy!
chantey about the Kingfisher
Zera L. Tanner
served as first officer of the Kingfisher {{1871 shipwrecks California clippers Individual sailing vessels Guano trade Baker Island Ships built in Medford, Massachusetts Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States Merchant ships of the United States Ships of Uruguay Maritime incidents in June 1871 1853 ships