One such extreme clipper was the Red Jacket, designed by Samuel Harte Pook, and built and launched from George Thomas' shipyard at Rockland, Maine on November 2, 1853. She was a large exquisitely handsome clipper of perfect proportions quite pleasing to the eye that some said "had the graceful appearance of a dainty tea clipper," but much larger measuring out at 251 x 44 x 31 feet and 2305 tons. She had hollow entrance lines and her ends were long and very sharp, but not as pronounced as her great rival, the Lightning.

   The Red Jacket was to be sent to Liverpool uncoppered with few interior fittings and all the coppering was to be done upon arrival, along with the decorating of her saloons and cabins by Liverpool artisans to customize her for the Australian emigrant trade. American artisans, however, took great pride in carving the figureheads, taffrail scrolls, and carvings of their ships and such was the case with the Red Jacket.
   The Red Jacket's figurehead was a life-size carving of the great Seneca Indian chief Red Jacket of the Wolf Clan presented in a magnificent fashion with beaded buckskins, a red jacket, and a feather head-dress. His Indian name was chief Sagoyewatha (He that keeps them awake). The carving was a carefully crafted likeness of the Indian chief, for Red Jacket had been a scout for British forces at the time of the Revolutionary War and had lived on a reservation near Buffalo, New York until he died in 1830.
   He often wore the red jacket of the British soldier and a number of red jackets were presented to him over the years upon many occasions by the grateful British for his years of loyal service.
   The Red Jacket was Pook's masterpiece and owned by Boston merchants Seacomb & Taylor. A week after her launching, the Red Jacket was towed to New York to be fitted with her spars and rigging. 
   The Red Jacket was upstream from the Great Republic a sufficient distance on the night of December 26th and was not in any danger that night of the fire.
   Command of the Red Jacket was given to Captain Asa Eldridge, the former captain of the packet ship Roscius of the Collins Line, a superb navigator known around the world. A very indifferent crew was rounded up and the Red Jacket cleared New York on January 11, 1854. They had an amazingly swift voyage across the Atlantic even though there was snow, hail, and rain throughout every day of the voyage accompanied by westerly gales and the Red Jacket arrived off Point Lynas on January 23rd. 
   A pilot came aboard shortly after noon in stormy weather and guided her up the Mersey River to Liverpool. The Red Jacket had a dock to dock elapsed time of 13 days, one hour and 25 minutes, thus beating the record time of 13 days, 22 hours set by the Sovereign of the Seas the year before. The three best days of the Red Jacket's run were 413, 374 and 371 miles. 
   The Liverpool newspapers were impressed with the Red Jacket and the following account appeared in the Liverpool Journal on January 28, 1854:
   The Red Jacket in general appearance of hull, spars, rigging and deck arrangements is very much after the style of the celebrated Sovereign of the Seas; but she appears to have rather more 'Spring" forward and she certainly has more outside ornament in the shape of a full length figure head, and an elaborate design in gilt work on her stern extending also down each side of the rudder. 
   The Red Jacket was held in such favorable esteem in Liverpool that Pilkinton & Wilson soon chartered her for a round voyage to Melbourne for the White Star Line. The Red Jacket was immediately fitted out to accommodate a large number of emigrants for the passage to Australia.
   Captain Eldridge had no desire to leave the Atlantic New York - Liverpool trade and passed on command of the Red Jacket to a captain of the White Star Line's choosing, Captain Samuel Reid. 
   The record setting best day's distance of the Red Jacket's maiden voyage across the Atlantic of 413 nautical miles in 24 hours was short-lived. Eight days before the Red Jacket had cleared New York, on January 3, 1854, the Lightning was launched at Donald McKay's shipyard in East Boston and she was soon to follow the Red Jacket across the Atlantic. 
   America's golden age of sail had peaked for most shipbuilders, but Donald McKay was fortunate, indeed, to have found such a generous benefactor in James Baines & Co. James Baines would keep McKay busy for a time with the building of the Black Ball Quartette of Australian passenger clippers, of which the Lightning was the first.
   The Lightning was an extremely sharp clipper built expressly for the Australian trade, and McKay pooled all his energy and attention upon the final preparations of his latest clipper in the stocks.
   Her carved figurehead was that of a beautiful young woman with long streaming hair in flowing drapery with her outstretched hand holding a thunderbolt.


The Red Jacket