The Sea Witch was an American clipper ship designed by naval architect John W. Griffiths

John W. Griffiths

John Willis Griffiths was an American naval architect who designed the first true clipper ship.His first ship, the Rainbow, was viewed with shock as a difference in design, until she made the round trip from New York to Canton in 180 days instead of the normal year.-Books and...

 for the China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 trading firm of Howland & Aspinwall

Howland & Aspinwall

Howland & Aspinwall was a merchant firm based in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s. It specialized in the Pacific Ocean trade, especially the importing of goods from China...

. She was launched in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 on December 8, 1846.

Model for American clipper ship design

"In 1845, John Willis Griffiths

John W. Griffiths

John Willis Griffiths was an American naval architect who designed the first true clipper ship.His first ship, the Rainbow, was viewed with shock as a difference in design, until she made the round trip from New York to Canton in 180 days instead of the normal year.-Books and...

 built the fast ship Rainbow and followed it in the next year with the even faster Sea Witch

Sea witch

Sea witches have enhanced many stories of British folklore for centuries. Traditionally, sea witches were witches who often appeared among sailors along with many others involved in the seafaring trade. Often, sea witches focused on witchcraft relating to the moon, tides, and the weather, which in...

. Both vessels would have tremendous impact on merchant hull design. Sea Witch, in fact, had more influence on the configuration of fast vessels than any ship built in the United States. Vessels built in general accordance with the Sea Witch model were known as clippers, a term already well entrenched in the language of fast vessels."

Construction

The Sea Witch was 192 feet in length, had a 43-foot beam, and was of 908 tons burden.

She was designed and built by the shipbuilding firm of Smith & Dimon in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 as a purpose-built vessel for the speedy movement of high-value freight, such as porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

 and tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

, from China to the United States East Coast. To this end, she was very heavily sparred and built with especially tall masts for a vessel of her size. Her 140-foot mainmast carried five tiers of sails, as did the shorter foremast and mizzenmast. She was briefly the tallest ship afloat, and is credited with being one of the first American "clipper ships."

Figurehead

"The figurehead was a Chinese dragon with an open mouth and a partly coiled tail. The hull was painted black with a contrasting sheerline strip at deck level and the spars were all bright work."

Hong-Kong to New York record holder, 1849-2003

Howland & Aspinwall gave the command of the Sea Witch to Captain Robert Waterman

Robert Waterman (sea captain)

Robert H. Waterman, , known as 'Bully Waterman' or 'Bully Bob Waterman', was an American merchant sea captain. He set three sailing speed records; his time of 74 days from Hong Kong to New York City has never been bettered in a sail-powered vessel...

, known in the trade as "Bully Bob" Waterman. In 1847, under Waterman, she made a record-setting run from Hong Kong to New York in 77 days. She lowered this record to 74 days under the same captain in 1849. This March 1849 mark is one of the longest-lived human speed records, bettered only in May 2003 by the trimaran

Trimaran

A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...

 "Great American II" in 72 days and 21 hour. Sea Witch continues to hold the Hong Kong-New York record for a monohull

Monohull

rightA monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another.-Fundamental concept:...

ed sailing vessel.

Voyages

After gold was discovered in California

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, the Sea Witch's owners, Howland & Aspinwall, transferred her from the China trade to the new Cape Horn

Cape Horn

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

 run from the East Coast to San Francisco. In early 1850 the Sea Witch completed this passage in 97 days, the first vessel ever to do so in less than 100 days.

Later in the 1850s the Sea Witch physically deteriorated and her place in the fast-freight trade was taken over by newer vessels. The aging clipper ship was reassigned to serve as a steerage

Steerage

Steerage is the act of steering a ship. "Steerage" also refers to the lowest decks of a ship.-Steerage and steerage way:The rudder of a vessel can only steer the ship when water is passing over it...

 vessel carrying immigrants to the Western Hemisphere. In 1856, with approximately 500 immigrants from China

Coolie

Historically, a coolie was a manual labourer or slave from Asia, particularly China, India, and the Phillipines during the 19th century and early 20th century...

 on board, she ran aground 12 miles (19 km) west of Havana.

Painting and Models

• Clipper Ship SEA WITCH Coming to Anchor At Whampoa - Oil painting by unidentified Chinese artist, Peabody Museum (click to enlarge)
• Model, Sea Witch, Tea Clipper
• Model, Sea Witch Clipper Ship

Proposals for Sea Witch replica

• Project Sea Witch
• American Clipper Trust, Proposals for the US Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010
  Expo 2010
  Expo 2010, officially Expo 2010 Shanghai China was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai, China, from May 1 to October 31, 2010. It was a major World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 1992...