CHAPTER XV
THE "GREAT REPUBLIC" AND THE "DREADNOUGHT"
TWO other ships built in 1853 deserve notice here, though they were not constructed for the California trade. They were Donald McKay's Great Republic and the famous packet ship Dreadnought.
For some time Mr. McKay had contemplated building a ship for the Australian trade, but failing to find any one to join in the undertaking, and stimulated by the success of the Sovereign of the Seas, he resolved to build her for himself. This vessel was the Great Republic, the largest extreme clipper ship ever built. She attracted universal attention from the fact of her being by far the largest merchant ship constructed up to that time, and also, among those interested in shipping, on account of the excellence of her construction and her majestic beauty.
This vessel was 4555 tons register, and measured: length 335 feet, breadth 53 feet, depth 38 feet. She had four decks, the upper or spar deck being flush with the covering board and protected by a rail on turned oak stanchions. She carried a fifteen horse-power engine on deck to hoist the yards and to work the pumps, this being the first time an
235
