 Surprise
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Surprise |
| Owner | A. A. Low & Brother |
| Builder | Samuel Hall, East Boston, MA |
| Launched | 5 October 1850[1] |
| Fate | Wrecked in 1876 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Clipper |
| Tonnage | 1262[1] or 1361 tons |
| Length | 183[1] or 190 ft. |
| Beam | 38[1] or 39 ft. |
| Draft | 22 ft. |
| Complement | A captain, "30 able seamen, 6 ordinary seamen, 4 boys, 2 boatswains, a carpenter, a sailmaker, 2 cooks, a steward, and 4 mates."[2] Captain Philip Dumaresq, 1850-1852, Captain Charles A. Ranlett, 1852-1876. |
Surprise was a California clipper built in East Boston in 1850. It initially rounded Cape Horn to California, but the vessel's owners, A. A. Low & Brother, soon found that the vessel performed well in Far Eastern waters. From that point onward the vessel spent much of her working life in the China trade, although the vessel also made three trips from the East Coast of the United States to California.
Surprise served as a clipper-rigged ship for 17 years, from 1850 until 1867, giving her an exceptionally long working life with this demanding rigging. After her sail plan was cut down in 1867, removing her skysails, she entered a second life as a slower merchant sailing ship from 1867 until her loss in 1876.[3]
- ^ a b c d Strong, Charles (1957), The story of American sailing ships, New York: Grosset and Dunlap
- ^ Clark, Arthur Hamilton (1912), "California Clippers of 1850", The clipper ship era; An epitome of famous American and British clipper ships, their owners, builders, commanders and crews, 1843-1869, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, p. 138, ISBN 978-0-7222-0657-7
- ^ "Surprise". Lars Bruzelius/Sjöhistoriska Samfundet. Retrieved 2010-09-23.[permanent dead link]