SAILING SCHOONER JOHN
GILPRIN
MARYLAND
1831 TO 1845
The schooner John Gilprin
was begun in 1826 at St. Michael's and launched in 1831 , sent to
sea the
year following. Most of
it's voyages were with the China Tea trade. The John Gilprin was a
two
master brig 104 feet in
length and is said to be the last large ship to be launched at St.
Michael's. Ar
Michael's was at the hub of
the Eastern Shore, once having the material ready for building such
vessels,
such as live oak, locusts
and cedar, carpenters with the knowledge of the use of hand tools
necessary to
construct such a ship. It
could take several years to complete these vessel's said to be a link
between
the early Baltimore Clipper
Ships and the larger clipper ships of a later era. The ship sank
off
Newfoundland sometime around
1845, having traveled some 228,533 miles during the 144,323 days
she was afloat. She held a
record of a 56 day, 4 hour run, from Callao , Peru to Lintin, China
in 1837
which she held until 1843
when the record was broken by the Helena, a larger ship.
A model of the John Gilprin
rest in the Chesapeake Bay Museum built by the historian R. Hamiton
Gibson.
Source: Dick Moore,
Salisbury Daily Times, 30 March , 1977
