''Kingfisher'' was an extreme

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

built in 1853 that sailed on the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

route as well as to Hawaii on its way to China. It eventually sailed out of

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. She was one of the longest lived clipper ships, with a sailing life of 36 years and 5 months. A sailing card advertised her.

Construction

She had a small deckhouse aft, and a larger deckhouse forward. The hull was black, with pearl colored bulwarks, and blue waterways on the upper deck. The hull sheathing was yellow metal. Kingfisher had deck structures and hatchway coamings of East India

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

. She had:

Life aboard

In the early 1860s, Joe Taylor, a member of the
Backus’ Minstrels
' troupe en route to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

via

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, described ''Kingfisher'' as follows:

Voyages

''Kingfisher'' arrived in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Fate

In 1890 she was "sold at auction and broken up in Montevideo Bay".

References

External links

Tully Crosby
commander of brig ''Old Colony,'' barque ''Arab,'' and ships ''Kingfisher,'' ''Monterey,'' '' Antelope of Boston'' and ''Charlotte.''
Heave Ahoy!
chantey about the Kingfisher
Zera L. Tanner
served as first officer of the Kingfisher {{1871 shipwrecks California clippers Individual sailing vessels Guano trade Baker Island Ships built in Medford, Massachusetts Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States Ships of Uruguay Maritime incidents in June 1871 1853 ships