Painting, Clipper Ship <I>Mandarin</I>
date: label: date made
content: ca 1850-1860
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This formal ship portrait by an unknown Chinese artist depicts the clipper ship <I>Mandarin</I> sailing into Hong Kong harbor around the middle of the 19th century. All sails are set except for one on the mizzenmast, and the crew on the ship's bow are preparing to drop anchor in the harbor. One of the earliest extreme clipper ships built specifically for the California Gold Rush, <I>Mandarin</I> was launched at the New York shipyard of Smith & Dimon in June 1850.
label: Description
content: The ship was built on the packet ship model—relatively flat-floored and vertical-sided—which added cargo capacity. Measuring 151.5 ft in length by 33.5 ft in breadth and 776 tons, <I>Mandarin</I> was not particularly large, nevertheless, the smallish clipper ship was very swift, particularly during its later voyages. Mandarin was owned by Goodhue & Co. for the 12 years, then sold to former Goodhue partners Weston & Gray.
label: Description
content: Throughout the ship's 14-year life of ten round trips, the clipper had only two captains. Three of its voyages were to California; most of the others were to China. This painting would have been painted during one of these trips, but which one is not known. On one trip from New York to Melbourne, Australia in 1855/56, <I>Mandarin</I> set a 69-day 14-hour record that was never bested by a commercial sailing ship. <I>Mandarin</I> continued to trade into the Civil War, despite the massive rise in insurance rates connected with the conflict. On its 11th voyage, the ship cleared New York in December 1862 for Shanghai, and traded on the China coast until the summer of 1864. On 9 August 1864, en route back to the United States, <I>Mandarin</I> struck an uncharted rock 12 feet deep in the China Sea. All the passengers and crew were saved along with some of the cargo, but the ship was a total loss.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Maritime
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Cigna Maritime Collection
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content: Transportation
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content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0279.008
label: accession number
content: 2005.0279
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0279.008
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
label: Object Name
content: painting, oil