''Northern Light'' was an American

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Cl ...

ship. In 1853 she sailed from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

via

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

with Captain Freeman Hatch at the helm in a record-setting 76 days, 6 hours. The record still stands for a single hull vessel. In 1993 the record was soundly broken by a multi-hull sailing vessel ''Great American II'' with no cargo. Sailing around Cape Horn (the southernmost tip of South America) is widely regarded as one of the most challenging routes in yachting, due to

extreme weather Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a locati ...

, strong currents, and a historical reputation for mountainous seas and frequent severe storms.

Construction

''Northern Light'' was designed by Boston-based

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Occupations ...

Samuel Hartt Pook and built by the Briggs Brothers in South Boston in 1851. The ship was 1,021 tons register and it measured long, wide, and deep.Clark, 163

1853 voyage

''Northern Light'' left Boston for San Francisco on October 29, 1852 under the command of Captain Freeman Hatch of

Eastham, Massachusetts Eastham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information about the village of North Eastha ...

. The return journey was part of a competition with another clipper, ''Contest'', bound for New York.Clark, 227 ''Contest'' departed San Francisco for New York on March 12, 1853. ''Northern Light'' sailed for Boston the next day. After 38 days ''Northern Light'' came within sight of ''Contest'' off

. ''Northern Light''′s crew signalled and overtook their rival. ''Northern Light'' reached

Boston Light Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The ...

on May 29, 1853, after 76 days, 5 hours, arriving in Boston an hour later, two days ahead of ''Contest''′s arrival in New York. It was the shortest run on the San Francisco-to-Boston passage on record. It also beat previous around-Cape-Horn speed records of 84 days and 85 days held by the New York-based ''Comet'' and ''Flying Dutchman'' respectively. The ''Boston Post'' noted that ''Northern Light'' carried no cargo during the passage. The San Francisco-to-Boston sailing record by ''Northern Light'' still stands for a single-hull vessel; that feat, accomplished in a time with no electricity, and few navigation aids, no plastics, no synthetic materials for sails or lines, and neither accurate television or radio weather forecasts nor accurate charts and Global Positioning System navigation to demonstrate precise location, is unlikely ever to be repeated. Nevertheless, in 1993 the multi-hull

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recrea ...

''Great American II'' broke the record and completed the passage in 69 days, 19 hours; she had capsized off San Francisco on an initial attempt.

Later service

''Northern Light'' made her first transatlantic voyage in 1861, sailing to

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, and departed Le Havre bound for New York on December 25, 1861. On January 2, 1862, the ship collided with and sank the French

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

''Nouveau St. Jacques''. ''Northern Light'' was abandoned at sea.Clark, 342

References

;Notes ;Sources * *

External links

''Northern Light''
from Clipper Ships in San Francisco: The Maritime Heritage Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Light (Clipper) California clippers Maritime incidents in January 1862 Individual sailing vessels Ships built in Boston Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States Tall ships of the United States 1851 ships Ships sunk in collisions Full-rigged ships Extreme clippers