''Syren'' was the longest lived of all the clipper ships, with a sailing life of 68 years 7 months. She sailed in the San Francisco trade, in the Far East, and transported whaling products from Hawaii and the Arctic to

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

San Francisco trade and transport of whaling products

''Syren'' sailed in 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 ...

trade from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1851 to 1856, making five passages. She then made a voyage from Boston and

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, and served in the Boston -

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 ...

- New Bedford trade until 1861. She then made four more passages in the San Francisco trade. In 1866, ''Syren'' returned to the Boston - Honolulu - New Bedford run, a route she sailed for ten more years. In 1877, ''Syren'' began to voyage to Alaska and the Arctic to transport

whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Whale oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tears, tear" or "drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil obtained from the ...

and the catch of whalers; she also transported coal to the north, and a load of

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

from Seattle to Bath, ME. In ''All About Hawaii'', written in 1920, there appears the following note about ''Syren'':

Dec. 23, 1858, ship ''Syren'', 1064 tons, Green master, 96 days from Boston via Rio Janeiro, with cargo for this market. Feb. 23, 1860, she is back with another eastern cargo, reporting a trip of 114 days. Was the crack ship of the Brewer line of Boston packets several years. In 1868 she made the run in 105 days, and in 1872 it was 109. She also figured in the San Francisco-China trade later, and was finally condemned at Rio, July, 1888.

Fast voyage from San Francisco to Boston, 1861

In 1861, ''Syren'' made a fast voyage from San Francisco to Boston of 103 days, besting the ''

Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

'' by 17 days. On this voyage, ''Syren'' also bested four other clippers bound for New York: '' Northern Light'' and ''Belle of the Seas'', both by three days, and ''Sierra Nevada'' and ''

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

'', both by 4 days.

Far East voyages and guano trade

Other ports of call during ''Syrens long career included: in the Far East, Manila, Whampoa and Batavia;

Baker Island Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is an uninhabited atoll just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Ho ...

, Liverpool, and London. The stop at Baker Island suggests that she was engaged in the

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

trade. Another fast voyage was an 1857 round trip between Boston and Calcutta, of 99 days to Calcutta and 97 days returning. However, ''Syren'' was not known as a particularly fast ship on the East Coast to San Francisco run, as she seemed to run into more than her share of calms, light winds, and bad weather off

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

. Her times typically ranged from 120 to 152 days.

Mishaps

''Syren'' suffered various mishaps during her long career, but remained in service nonetheless. On April 25, 1861, ''Syren'' was

beating Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

out of San Francisco, near the entrance to the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...

, when she struck Mile Rock two times. ''Syren'' made it back into the harbor with four feet of water in her hold. She was nearly sinking by the time she was beached on the mud flats. Repairs at

Mare Island Navy Yard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

cost $15,000. Like many clippers, ''Syren'' lost

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they are ...

and topgallant masts off Cape Horn and in the South Atlantic, in 1853, 1856, 1858 and 1864. An unknown vessel collided with ''Syren'' on a voyage from

on December 18, 1870, near the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, but ''Syren'' did not sustain serious damage.

References

External links

''Syren'' Clipper CardEngraving of sailing ship ''Syren''
San Francisco Public Library
''Syren'' Ship Model
The Boston Daily Atlas, February 13, 1852
Illustration of clipper ship ''Syren''
from ''The Story of the American Merchant Marine'', by

John Randolph Spears John Randolph Spears (1850–1936) was an American author and journalist. Biography John Randolph Spears was born at Van Wert, Ohio on April 21, 1850. He married Celestia Smiley on November 11, 1873. In 1875, he became editor of the East Aurora ...