The U.S. clipper ship Sweepstakes at sea

Sweepstakes was designed and built by Daniel and Aaron Westervelt in their New York yard. Ordered by the New York merchants Chambers & Heiser, no expense was spared in her construction and, when completed, she was registered at 1,735 tons and measured 235 feet in length with a 41½ foot beam. Her launching on 18th June 1853 was nothing short of a disaster. A large crowd had gathered for the event but instead of gliding into the water as expected, Sweepstakes halted halfway down the ways and then suddenly keeled over and rammed the stagings of the clipper Kathay being built alongside her. With her maiden voyage thus delayed almost two months, Sweepstakes eventually sailed from New York on 3rd September, and for the next few years she turned in one fast passage after another, to and from either India, China or Australia. In 1862, on what was to be her last voyage, from Adelaide to Batavia, she ran ashore in heavy weather and the damages inflicted by being pounded by the surf for over ten hours, led to her being sold by her master, Captain Magill in Batavia and broken up in front of her heartbroken crew.