The Thatcher Magoun, an extreme clipper

Clipper

A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...

 launched in 1855, was named after Medford's great shipbuilder, Thatcher Magoun, who died the year that she was launched.

Construction

"Her figurehead was a life-like image of the father of ship building on the Mystic

Mystic River

The Mystic River is a river in Massachusetts, in the United States. Its name derives from the Wampanoag word "muhs-uhtuq", which translates to "big river." In an Algonquian language, "Missi-Tuk" means "a great river whose waters are driven by waves", alluding to the natural tidal nature of the...

."

Voyages

"She made five passages from Boston to S.F., the fastest being 113 days and the slowest 152 days; seven from N.Y.

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to S.F., fastest 117 and slowest 149; two from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in 150 and 115 days. The average of the fourteen is 128.7 days. S.F. to N.Y. in 96 days in 1869."

Delivery of locomotives to San Francisco

Thatcher Magoun left New York on July 10, 1868, and arrived in San Francisco on November 4 of that year after a voyage of 117 days, carrying Central Pacific

Central Pacific Railroad

The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...

locomotives CP 88, 89, and 95.

Shipbuilding career

"Magoun established the first shipyard in Medford. It was on Riverside Ave. (then called Ship Street) opposite the end of Park Street. In 1803 he laid the keel of his first vessel, the Mt. Aetna, the model of which he had made a few years before. He built ships here until 1836 and eventually his yard was to be the only one in Medford with a shiphouse. He built 84 vessels, and they made him a rich man.
Magoun "specialized" in big ships and brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

s, 250 tons and larger, built for the China trade

Old China Trade

The Old China Trade was the name given to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghsia in 1844...

. His reputation according to the maritime historian Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison was 'second to none among American shipbuilders.'"

External links

• The New Clipper Ship Thatcher Magoun of Boston