Lot Essay
The extreme clipper ship Flying Fish was launched from the yard of Donald McKay at East Boston in September, 1851. This event inaugurated a sea-faring career that would credit her with seven Cape Horn runs, all of which contributed to her reputation as a vessel of incredible swiftness. Her commander on all but one outward voyage while the Flying Fish sailed under the American flag, Captain Edward Nickels, reputedly boasted once that his ship had never been "crawled up to" or passed. On November 23, 1858, during heavy winds and tossed by considerable swells, the Flying Fish drifted onto a sand bank and was severely damaged. Her original owner, Sampson & Tappan of Boston, sold her to a mercantile firm from Manila, for which the Flying Fish labored en route between Manila and Spain under the new appellation, El Bueno Suceso.