Flying Cloud was an extreme clipper built in 1851 at East Boston by Donald McKay. Originally intended for Enoch Train, she was bought while still on the stocks by Grinnell, Minturn & Co of New York for $90,000.
On her maiden passage she sailed from New York to San Francisco round Cape Horn in 89 days 21 hours under Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy, with his wife Eleanor as navigator. In 1854 she cut 13 hours from that time, reaching 89 days 8 hours, a record that stood until 1989 when the racing sloop Thursday's Child beat it. In 1853 she also fought a very close race against the clipper Hornet.
Sold in 1862 to the Black Ball Line of Liverpool, she sailed under the British flag to Australia and New Zealand, then in the timber trade between Newcastle and Saint John, New Brunswick. She went aground on the Beacon Island bar in June 1874, breaking her keel, and was burned in 1875 for her copper and iron fastenings.
5 sources · updated 29 Oct 2026
