Romance of the Sea was a clipper ship launched in 1853. She was "the last extreme clipper ship built by Donald McKay for the California trade". Her original figurehead was "a small female figure, intended to represent Romance, with the name of [Sir Walter] Scott on one side, and [James Fenimore] Cooper on the other - the greatest romancers of the century". She lost that figurehead during a storm on her third voyage. Some time later it was replaced by "a full-length figure of an ancient navigator, with head bent forward and right hand raised to shade his eyes as he searched for the land beyond the horizon."
In her nine-year life, Romance of the Sea made six round-trip voyages from North Atlantic ports before being lost during her seventh voyage.
Her voyages
The Romance of the Sea'''s voyages are listed here. Sources disagree on some items; disagreements or ambiguities are individually cited. City names are as they were at the time.
Voyage Origin Depart Destination Arrive Days Captain 1 Boston December 16, 1853 San Francisco March 23, 1854 96 Philip Dumaresq 1 San Francisco March 31, 1854 Hong Kong May 16, 1854 45 Philip Dumaresq 1 Hong Kong May 9, 1854 Deal, England or London September 21, 1854 102 or 103 Philip Dumaresq 2 Deal Hong Kong 99 William H. Henry 2 Shanghai November 1, 1855 Deal March 7, 1856 126 William H. Henry 2 Deal Boston August 15, 1856 William H. Henry 3 New York July 3, 1856 San Francisco October 24, 1856 113 William H. Henry 3 San Francisco November 17, 1856 Shanghai December 22, 1856 113 William H. Henry 3 Shanghai February 16, 1857 New York May 27, 1857 100 William H. Henry 4 New York July 3, 1857 Batavia, Dutch East Indies September 28, 1857 88 Eben Caldwell 4 See noteRomance spent from late 1857 to early 1859 trading among Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Shanghai. Eben Caldwell (see note)A privately-printed family history, Caldwells & Clipper Ships, states that Captain Caldwell fell ill at Hong Kong and left the ship there. 4 Shanghai March 20 or 21, 1859 New York June 22, 1859 94 5 New York August 11, 1859 Hong Kong December 6, 1859 109 5 Manila June 23, 1860 Boston October 10, 1860 109 6 Boston December 28, 1860 San Francisco April 13, 1861 105 Ashman J. Clough 6 San Francisco May 12, 1861 Queenstown, Ireland August 13, 1861 93 Ashman J. Clough 6 Liverpool September 29, 1861 Boston October 27, 1861 34 Ashman J. Clough 7 New York February 7, 1862 San Francisco May 24, 1862 106 7 San Francisco June 7, 1862 Hong Kong July 24, 1862 46 7 Hong Kong (see note)Between July and December 1862, Romance sailed to Bangkok and back; the exact dates are not known December 31, 1862 San Francisco Lost during voyage
Artifacts Donald McKay's original half-hull working model is held by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Sailing cards advertising Romance's first two voyages to San Francisco are held by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Museum of MIT. The one for the first voyage is reproduced in Yankee Ship Sailing Cards''.
Notes
References
See also List of clipper ships