Red Jacket (Clipper)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Red Jacket was a famous clipper ship. Commissioned by Seacomb & Taylor of Boston, the Red Jacket was designed by Samuel Hartt Pook and built by George Thomas in Rockland, Maine. Launched in 1853, the Red Jacket set a speed record for sailing ships by traveling from New York to Liverpool in 13 days, 1 hour and 25 minutes, dock to dock. She left Rockland under tow, and was rigged in New York. An experienced ex-packet ship captain Asa Eldridge put together a crew of 65, and drove her across the Atlantic. She averaged 14 1/2 knots with sustained bursts of 17/ No other merchant sailing vessel made the passage faster. A Collins Line steamer which had left New York two days earlier reported that Red Jacket was just astern. Tugs tried to get lines aboard the clipper but she was traveling too fast.