The American medium clipper Dashing Wave, 1,054 tons, was launched from the yard of Fernald & Pettigrew, at Plymouth, New Hampshire, on 15 July 1853, having been built to the order ot Tilton's of Boston. Measuring 181½ feet in length, with a 39½ foot beam, she had an unconventional rig and an unusual square stern but was nevertheless a graceful ship. Originally trading around the Horn - Boston or New York to San Francisco, and thence across the Pacific before returning home via the East Indies - she was remodelled for the timber trade in 1870 and thereafter worked up and down the west coast of the United States, usually sailing out of Puget Sound (Seattle). Considered the fastest ship in the timber fleets, her long life was punctuated by numerous mishaps including a sinking off Sandy Hook (New York) in 1867 from which she was refloated and repaired. Still in excellent condition when dry-docked for survey at the beginning of 1920, she ran aground en route from Seattle to Alaska in March that year and becamed a total loss.