Occupation Ship Designer | Name Donald McKay Role Ship Designer | |
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Born September 4, 1810 ( 1810-09-04 ) Jordon Falls, Nova Scotia Spouse Mary Cressy (m. 1849), Albenia Boole People also search for John W. Griffiths, Richard Cobden, Isaac Webb | ||
Flying Cloud Animation - Sails Test using nCloth and Dynamics
Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships.
Contents
- Flying Cloud Animation Sails Test using nCloth and Dynamics
- Sir Donald McKay on why he is yes
- McKays clippers
- McKays design practices
- Records set by McKays clippers
- McKays other ships
- Images
- References
He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County on Nova Scotia's South Shore. In 1826 he moved to New York, working for shipbuilders Brown & Bell and Isaac Webb. In 1841, he opened his first yard in Newburyport and moved to East Boston in 1845, building substantial packet ships for the Atlantic emigrant route. McKay later designed and built some of the most successful clippers ever built. His house in East Boston is on the National Register of Historic Places. He was the great-grandfather of the American actor, author, and artist Gardner McKay (1932–2001).
Sir Donald McKay on why he is yes
McKay's clippers
McKay's design practices
McKay's designs were characterized by a long fine bow with increasing hollow and waterlines. He was perhaps influenced by the writings of John W. Griffiths, designer of the China clipper Rainbow in 1845. The long hollow bow helped to penetrate rather than ride over the wave produced by the hull at high speeds, reducing resistance as hull speed is approached. Hull speed is the natural speed of a wave the same length as the ship, in knots,
Pan Am named one of their Boeing 747s Clipper Donald McKay in his honor.
Records set by McKay's clippers
McKay's other ships
Between 1845 and 1850 McKay built five large packet ships for Enoch Train's White Diamond line, which specialised in the Atlantic emigrant route from Europe to North America. These were the Washington Irving, the Anglo Saxon, the Anglo American, the Daniel Webster, and the Ocean Monarch. The Ocean Monarch was lost to fire on August 28, 1848, soon after leaving Liverpool and within sight of Wales; over 170 of the passengers and crew perished. The Washington Irving carried Patrick Kennedy to Boston in 1849.
McKay is also probably the designer of two fishing schooners of an extreme clipper design, the Mary B. Dyer and H & R. Attwood.
During the American Civil War he was contracted by the US Navy to build the USS Nausett, one of the few Casco-class monitors to be commissioned. There is a monument to McKay in South Boston, near Fort Independence, overlooking the channel, that lists all his ships. There were more than 30.