FLYING CLOUD
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Scale: 1:96 Length: 38" Height: 27" Width: 12" US $ 3000.00
Designed and built in 1851 in Boston by Donald Mckay, this gallant ship set records on sailing routes around the globe. She acquired a high reputation during the "gold rush", hurrying provisions, furniture, clothing, tools, and a host of enthusiastic treasure seekers to California. In whole sail wind conditions, Flying Cloud could not be beaten, but she was not a fast ship in light winds. Like all soft-wood clippers, she soon became strained and water soaked, and her best speeds were in her first five years.
On her maiden voyage, she smashed the previous record time, sailing from New York to San Francisco, and became a national triumph. Three years later she made the same passage and clipped 23 hours off her previous record with the stunning time of 88 days, 22 1/2 hours. This record still stands today. In 1874 she went aground at New Brunswick, and then caught fire while under repair in St. John.
