Clipper Ship "Flying Cloud"

Marine views and pictures of ships have long appealed to collectors and popular taste. To meet consumer demand, Nathaniel Currier produced dozens of lithographs of American clipper ships, which were designed for speedy transport of passengers and large cargoes to meet international merchant trade demands. When a clipper ship set a remarkable record for speed, Currier quickly published a print to celebrate that feat, thereby also creating good publicity for the ship's builder, owner, as well as the captain.

Shortly after it was completed by Boston builder Donald McKay in 1851, the Flying Cloud set the world's record among clipper ships for sailing the fastest passage "anchor to anchor" from New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco; it made the voyage in a remarkable 89 days 21 hours (which was less than half the time the voyage usually took). Then in 1853, the ship sailed the same route again and broke its own record by thirteen hours --a record that remained unsurpassed for over 100 years. On its record-setting voyages, the Flying Cloud was also notable for having a woman navigator, Eleanor Creesy (1814-1900), wife of Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy, who skippered the ship.


Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.