of about thirty-five. Always in the midst of his workmen, or upon his knees in his draughting loft," laying down," with mathematical exactness, his vessels, he might easily be recognized as the ruling mind in the yard. About the medium size in his stature, abstracted in his appearance as if conning some new design; with his lips pressed quite resolutely together, speaking rapidly and with unmistaken precision when the occasion called for it; always active, with every faculty on guard to perform its duty at the moment required; with a noble forehead, a fine eye, and a frank and hearty courtesy. Such was Mr. M'Kay as he impressed us upon our first acquaintance with him: It was impossible to be with him, even for a short time, without carrying away the impression that you had met with, not merely a master of his profession, but a bold and successful explorer in new lines of mechanical enterprise. Mr. M'Kay has excellent blood in his veins; he is of Scottish origin, and was born in Shelburne, N. S., in 1809. His parents are still living to share with him the merited honors which he has won by his business triumphs. His early years were employed upon a farm, and his opportunities for acquiring an education were very limited. The quiet life of the farm, however, did not satisfy the restless cravings of his mechanical genius. At the age of nineteen, in connection with his brother Laughlin M'Kay, afterward the accomplished commander of the Sovereign of the Seas, he commenced his career as a shipbuilder in the construction of a fishing-smack. At the age of twenty-two, alone and without testimonials, he presented himself at the yard of Mr. Jacob Bell, the veteran ship-builder of NewYork, lately deceased, and was taken into his employment. Mr. M'Kay's extraordinary natural endowments now began to develop themselves, and no opportunity was permitted to escape him for making himself a thorough master of every branch of his business. While connected with the yard of Bell and Westervelt, the threatened collision with France, during the administration of General Jackson, gave occasion to unusual activity in the navy yards. Mr. Bell recommended Mr. M'Kay to the Naval Constructor at Brooklyn Navy Yard; and here, from a thousand men, he was selected as a foreman of a gang of employées, ordered upon some more delicate and important portion of the work. A strong "Native American" feeling-or rather a jealousy of superior ability sheltering itself under this party guise, and never more undeservedly expressing itself, (for although not born within the limits of the Union, there never was a truer American or more hearty republican,)-beginning to render his position in the Navy Yard uncomfortable, at the suggestion of his fast friend Mr. Bell, who appreciated his worth, and perhaps saw the promise of his future eminence, he engaged a yard in Newburyport, and commenced his labors for himself upon the Merrimack. His first packet-ships, the largest that had hitherto been launched upon this river, (constructed for New-York firms,) for their perfect proportions, beauty of model, and thorough workmanship, at once attracted the attention of merchants, while their extraordinary sailing qualities confirmed the favorable impressions first produced. Here he launched his earliest sharp ship," the Carrier, which, upon its first voyage to Rio Janeiro, surpassed in the shortness of the passage all previous trials. The extraordinary fleetness of this vessel brought Mr. M'Kay into general notice in the mercantile community, and established his reputation as an original and highly successful builder. At the completion of the Joshua Bates, for Train and Co's. line of Liverpool packets, through the suggestion of Enoch Train, Esq., the much respected head of the firm, he purchased one of the yards he now occupies in East Boston, and, much to the regret of the citizens, left the shores of the Merrimack for Boston harbor. He now constructed in rapid succession the well-known line of Liverpool packets, numbering twelve splendid vessels, ranging from one thousand to twenty-one hundred tons. A new occasion for the genius and skill of Mr. M'Kay was offered in the opening of the new and extraordinary market upon the Pacific. In the wonderful rush of passengers, and the great demand for the transportation of freight, two ends were to be sought in the construction of vessels intended for this trade-speed and capacity. From the yard of our builder leaped forth the Staghound for its ocean race; and this fine clipper was followed by the appropriately named Flying Cloud, a ship of the most perfect proportions, with a carrying capacity of seventeen hundred tons, and as fleet as the winds that swelled her sails. On her first passage she not only made the quickest run from New-York to San Francisco, but attained the highest rate of speed of any sailing vessel up to that period on record. The passage was made in eighty-nine days, and she ran three hundred and seventyfour geographical miles in twenty-four consecutive hours. She has since exceeded herself, in her last voyage making the distance in eighty-eight days, discharging her cargo of two thousand tons of merchandise, and sailing again for China, on the ninety-ninth day after leaving New-York-an unparalleled performance in the nautical world. This remarkable success, placing him at the head of his profession, and establishing his fortune as a builder, (for his contracts now reached the utmost limits of his facilities for building, although large additions were made to his yards,) did not satisfy his merely stimulated ambition. He carefully reviewed all his past works, and analyzed their results, and came to the conclusion that perfection in modeling had not yet been discovered. Again he was found in his draughtingroom, laying down, from the model which imbodied the results of his previous cogitations, the lines of his new nautical triumph. In due time a noble vessel of two thousand four hundred tons, at the time the largest, longest, and sharpest merchant ship in the world, to which he had given the well-merited title of the Sovereign of the Seas, glided from her ways, and hastened to assume her prophesied supremacy over the vast mercantile fleet. Up to this time, vessels of this size had been considered too large and expensive for any trade; and even doubts of their safety in the conflicts of the seas were harbored. No merchant would adventure his capital in this ship; and, against the advice of his friends, the courageous builder, confident in his calculations, built her upon his own account, investing in her all he was worth. During her construction, he made himself familiar with the details of the California trade, and when, he had completed his ship, he was prepared to load her on his own account. It was especially favorable for the success of the enterprise that it could be intrusted to such judicious hands as his brother, the well-known Captain Laughlin M'Kay, who promises to earn as rich a reputation upon the sea as his brother upon the shore. The success of the enterprise fully justified the confidence of the designer in the practicability of his plans. It was an intuition of genius which his extraordinary mechanical skill and indomitable perseverance brought to a happy consummation. Her passage out to San tation. Francisco, as a whole, was not so short | tralia, have fully justified her early repuas that of the Flying Cloud, yet she was seven days in advance of the entire clipper fleet, which sailed about the same time; although, as seen in the illustration, she was dismasted in the Pacific, at about the latitude of Valparaiso, in a gale of wind. And here the peculiar capacity and seamanship of her master found an occasion for their exhibition. Probably no vessel, so thoroughly dismantled, was ever refitted without making a port. Captain M'Kay, however, at once set himself with his crew to the task of replacing the lost spars and rigging, at sea, without turning aside from his voyage, and accomplished his purpose in the most successful manner. On her homeward passage, this ship made one of the greatest runs ever recorded. In twenty-four consecutive hours she made four hundred and thirty geographical miles, fifty-six more than the greatest run of the Flying Cloud, and in ten successive days she ran three thousand one hundred and forty-four miles. Her next passage also, from New-York to Liverpool, although made under very unfavorable circumstances, was the shortest ever made by a sailing vessel. In eleven months her gross earnings amounted to $200,000, and the noble vessel was then sold to her present English proprietors at the builder's own price. Her achievements since, on her route between Liverpool and Aus Our builder had not yet reached the height of his ambition. "Experience had shown that the passage to California had been lengthened by the tremendous westerly gales in the vicinity of Cape Horn; and that, to combat these gales successfully, vessels of greater size and power than any which had yet been built were necessary. His incessantly active mind again grappled with the problem, and the wonder of the times was the result, in the form of the memorable "Great Republic," the largest ship afloat built for any active service. When she reached the water, she was preeminent above all others in her form, fastenings, internal arrangement, and useful and ornamental accommodations. From her keel to her pennant, every modern nautical improvement of any practical value, and many devised by her ingenious builder himself, were introduced in her construction. A sumptuous palace for the passengers, officers, and centennial crew, she still opened immense vaults between her decks for the bestowment of freight. She was of four thousand five hundred tons register, and of full six thousand tons stowage capacity. The wonderful harmony of all her proportions reduced the impression of her immense size, made upon the first view; and only by comparing her with surrounding objects ordinary ships seeming quite like pleasureyachts by her side-could her full admeasurement be apprehended. Her length was three hundred and twenty-five feetquite a long journey from her transom to her bow, and requiring no ordinary human lungs, even in a calm, to make the voice reach from one to the other. The breadth of the ship was fifty-three feet, and the depth thirty-nine. She had four masts for the spreading of her mighty wings, and four decks for the strengthening of her sides and the covering of her merchandise. Her mainmast, which was forty-four inches in diameter, reached at its summit the distance of one hundred and thirty-one feet. It is a curious item to record the amount of the principal material entering into her construction: "Timber of chestnut, and elm, and oak, And scatter'd here and there, with them, The knarred and crooked cedar knees, Brought from regions far awayFrom Pascagoula's sunny bay, And the banks of the roaring Roanoke!" Of hard pine, one million five hundred thousand feet entered into her immense mass; two thousand and fifty-six tons of white oak; three hundred and thirty-six and a half tons of iron; fifty-six of copper, exclusive of sheathing. Fifty thousand days' work were expended upon her hull, equivalent to the labor of one man for one hundred and thirty-seven years. Fifteen thousand six hundred and fifty-three yards of canvas were used for her sails. Her crew was composed of one hundred men and thirty boys. This mighty vessel also was Mr. M'Kay's sole adventure. Into her immense sides he poured his hardlyearned wealth without stint, while all others stood aloof, hesitating at the experiment. No ordinary interest was felt on its success. The bulletins issuing from time to time from the press were eagerly perused, and public curiosity had reached an unusual height before the vessel was completed. The island portion of the city, where it was towering up upon its stocks, was constantly visited by crowds, and the well-known courtesy of the builder was tested to its utmost by the constant inquiries of curious visitors : "Day by day the vessel grew, With timbers fashion'd strong and true,— And around the bows and along the side, The heavy hammers and mallets plied, Till after many a week, at length, Wonderful to form, and strength Sublime in its enormous bulk, Loom'd aloft the shadowy hulk!" But when the hour of launching arrived, the harbor presented a most extraordinary and sublime spectacle. Boats of every description, and steamboats, loaded to their last capacity, sailed to and fro in the vicinity of the stately ship. Wharfs, bridges, vessels, house-tops-every convenient spot overlooking in any degree the object of general interest-were black with spectators :— "All is finish'd! and at length To-day the vessel shall be launch'd! And o'er the bay Slowly, in all his splendors dight, The great sun rises to behold the sight." Quietly among the crowd of workmen and of personal friends, moved the presiding genius of the whole scene-the "master," who had with his own hand prepared "The model of the vessel, That should laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle." Some expressed their fears lest the launch should not be successful. "Did he fear no accident?" they asked. "Was he sure all was right?" "Could he launch her?" He might have been pardoned for a little impatience. "Launch her!" said he; "I could place her upon the top of Bunker-Hill Monument, if it were necessary to do so." Never was a launch more successful-so sublime, so enrapturing. Let Longfellow utter it in his noble song : "Then the master, And at the word, Loud and sudden there was heard, She starts, she moves.-she seems to feel There rose a shout, prolonged and loud, That to the ocean seem'd to say, Take her, O bridegroom, old and gray; Take her to thy protecting arms, With all her youth and all her charms!"" |