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September 28, 2014
Several months ago I was sending out my usual queries to maritime museums and I got a call back from The Mariners Museum of Newport News Virginia. They had looked into my request and had some information for me. They wanted to know where to send it to. A week later I got a packet from them in the mail. It consisted of the mentions of The Carrier Dove in the book “Greyhounds of the Sea” by Carl C Cutler, Copyright 1930 and “Merchant Sail” by William Armstrong Fairburn There are quite a few mentions in Carl C. Cutler's book as you can see below and the one I liked best was his opinion of the Carrier Dove as being one of the medium clippers that combined beauty, speed and cargo capacity and having set a speed record which still stands today! (of course it was written in 1930 but I highly doubt a clipper ship of any kind was sailing after 1930) Much thanks to the wonderful folks at the Mariners Museum!
Here are the mentions from Greyhounds of the Sea:
Page 281 “The results was the development during the next few years of a very fine type of vessel which combined to a rare degree, the beauty and speed of the extreme clipper with the huge stowage capacity of the old packet ships. Many of these later vessels, including the Andrew Jackson of Mystic, the Mary Whitridge and Carrier Dove of Baltimore, and Flying Mist of Medford , were not only very burdensome but very beautiful ships which made runs that are records to this day.”
Page 311 “Baltimore furnished two well-known ships, the little Mary Whitridge and the Carrier Dove, a very handsome 1700 ton ship. The latter made a run of 78 days from Liverpool to Melbourne in 1858.”
Page 328 “On the 23rd of October, the Carrier Dove, Captain Corner, arrived at Valparaiso 30 days from Melbourne, a passage very close to the record. “
Page 440 Appendix 1 Carrier Dove, Corner, 1694.35: 207.8 X 42 X 24 | James Abraham, Baltimore | Montell & Co, Balstimore (Lost near Tybee Mar. 3, 1876) Page 460 Appendix 11 Carrier Dove---- Corner, Arrived Valparaiso October 23, 1856, from Melbourne, 32 days. (N.Y.H., December 15, 1856) Port Phillip to Callao
Page 502 Appendix IV Carrier Dove, Corning | New York, Oct, 5 | April 28 via Rio 98 days--- Arrived Rio Janeiro Dec. 2. 8 days out she had carried away main mast 5 feet from eyes of rigging and fore and mizen topgallant mast with all attached---was at Rio 7 weeks
Page 513 Carrier Dove, Montell | New York, Cleared Oct, 1 | Mar. 8----155 days
Page 518 Carrier Dove, Montell | New York, Feb. 3 Boston, Feb. 7 | June 8---127 days
And here is Carrier Dove's mention in William Armstrong Fairburn's “Merchant Sail”
Page 3647 “ All the other clipper ships sailing from an eastern port at the time of and for a month before the Resolute made slow passages, as the following record of the performances of the ten clippers sailing between September 19 and October 23 clearly shows:
Name of Clipper Tonnage Departure in 1855 Arrival in 1856 Passage in Days Port to Port
CARRIER DOVE 1694 October 5, April 28, 206
Sancho Panza 876 October 11, Mar 8, 149
Charmer 1055 October 15, March 8, 145
Resolute 787 October 26, March 11, 147
Noonday 1189 October 17, March 5, 140
The CARRIER DOVE had to put into Rio de Janerio for repairs and was there about seven weeks.
The SANCHO PANZA put into Juan Fernandez for water.
Page 3733 From NE US Coast to San Francisco Name of Clipper, year build, Captain Builder Depart Arrive Length of Passage tonnage
CARRIER DOVE, 1855, 1694 Montel James Abraham NYFeb3 June8 126
HERRALD OF THE MORNING 1853, 1294 Mitchell Hayden/Cudworth BostFeb7 May25 108
OCEAN PEARL 1853, 847 Crowell Joshua Magoon NYFeb17 June29 133
Page 3790 “Seven clipper ships arrived at San Francisco during the three days April 28-30, 1856, inclusive. (These were the only entries to the port during the eighteen-day period April 13-30 inclusive.) These ships and their sailing performances were as follows: Name Captain Tonnage From Date Arrival Length of Passage CARRIER DOVE Corning 1694 NY Oct 5 April 28 206 / reported time of 153 at sea Again Carrier Dove had been dis-masted on this voyage and had to spend several months in Rio.HLM
Page 3934 “Arrived in company with the ARCHER. The two clippers ran from the Pacific equator to Golden Gate in fast time of 15 days. ARCHER claimed a 119 day passage from New York, but record of the closest six sailings to the COMPETITOR gives the following length of passages from clearance to entry:
CARRIER DOVE (1694 TONS), October 1 – March 8, 158 days.... Page 3938 California Westward Passage CARRIER DOVE (1694 tons) from New York Oct 1; arrived March 8, 158 days
Page 2750 “Clippers” Constructed in the Chesapeake Territory during the Clipper Ship Decade, with a Record of Their Builders and Deep-Sea Service Year Name Tonnage Builder Owner Built 1855
Carrier Dove 1694 J. Abraham, Baltimore Montell & Co, Baltimore 1855
Cherubim 1796 J. Abraham, Baltimore David Currie et al Richmond among 24 other clippers built in the Chesapeake Name/Year Registered Dimensions Tonnage Passages Times Average
Let me step in here to mention that Carrier Dove 208X42X26 1694 3 205, 158, 127 163.3 It seems the highest tonnage ships may have been handicapped. Her records were considerably better on Pacific crossings. She was one of the slowest on Cape Horn passages but also one can look at the tonnage as being a factor.
Page 2754 “Among other fast sailing performances of Baltimore clippers was a passage in 1858 of 78 days from Liverpool to Melbourne by the Carrier Dove and a run in 1856 of 32 days from Melbourne to Valparaiso by the same vessel. Her performance in the California Cape Horn service was poor; her best passage took 127 days and the two others 158 and 205 days respectively, the latter including a stay at Rio de Janeiro of about seven weeks for necessary repairs.”
Page 2304 1858 Carrier Dove Passages in days = 73 Remarks: Reported that in 1858 she “went from Liverpool to Melbourne in 73 days and around the world in ten months.”
Page 1822 “Outstanding Crossings of the southern Pacific from Australia to West Coast of South America” “about 16 months later the big medium clipper Carrier Dove of 1694 tons (built at Baltimore in 1855), under Captain Conner, arrived also at Valparaiso in 32 days from Melbourne and reported a passage of 30 days, pilot to pilot.”