Only two wooden ships were ever launched in England which could compare in size with these six giants. One of these was the ill-fated Schomberg and the other the beautiful Sobraon, which, however, had iron frames and was not launched until the palmy days of the gold rush were over. Both came from the famous yard of Hall, of Aberdeen. Schomberg was, of course, wrecked on her maiden passage, but Sobraon, though never as hard sailed as the great Black Ball and White Star ships, made equally good passages, and being built of the finest Malabar teak retained her speed right up to the end of her long and successful career.
In comparing the measurements of the American built, Nova Scotian built and Aberdeen built ships the most noticeable point is the greater beam of the Nova Scotians and the greater length of the British.
This is well shown by the following table:—
American Built | Lightning | 5.54 beams to length. | ||
| Red Jacket | 5.54 beams to length. | |||
| Champion of the Seas | 5.55 beams to length. | |||
| James Baines | 5.70 beams to length. | |||
| Donald Mackay | 5.72 beams to length. | |||
British Built | Schomberg | 5.82 beams to length. | ||
| Sobraon | 6.80 beams to length. | |||
Nova Scotian Built | Marco Polo | 4.86 beams to length. | ||
| White Star | 4.84 beams to length. | |||
Carrying On.
Perhaps no ships ever sailed the seas which held on to their canvas longer than these great Black Ball and White Star clippers; and yet the carrying away of spars and sails, which was so common an occurrence with the earlier American clippers and also with the early British iron clippers, was quite rare on these big emigrant ships.
There is no difficulty, however, in finding reasons for their freedom from dismasting and heavy casualties aloft, their designers and builders had learnt something by the dismastings and constant losses of spars which overtook their earlier ships, and thus no ships were more scientifically stayed than these big ships, at the same time in their outfit we find hemp rigging and wooden spars in their highest state of efficiency. Strength of gear had for some time been one of the chief problems that a clipper ship builder had to contend with, and in the rigging of these six famous ships we see this problem finally mastered.
Topsails, topgallant sails and even royals were diagonally roped from clew to earing. The rope used for standing rigging was the very best procurable and of immense thickness; for instance, Lightning’s lower rigging, fore and main stays and backstays were of 11½ inch Russian hemp; whilst in regard to spars, here are the diameters in inches of some of James Baines’ masts and yards:—
| Mainmast | 42 inches in diameter. |
| Main topmast | 21 inches in diameter. |
| Main topgallant mast | 16 inches in diameter. |
| Main royal mast | 14 inches in diameter. |
| Mainyard | 26 inches in diameter. |
| Main topsail yard | 21 inches in diameter. |
| Main skysail yard | 8 inches in diameter. |