Gravina (clipper)

Gravina, a wooden-hulled clipper ship, was built in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1853 by Isaac C. Smith & Son.{{cite news |author= |title= Hoboken Yards |url= http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201853/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%20%201853%20-%202768.pdf |work= The New York Herald |date= 1853-12-29 }} She was launched at 12:30 pm on 8 October.{{cite news |author= |title= Hoboken |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15304008/gravina_launch_1853/ |work= The New York Times |date= 1853-10-10 |page= 1 |via= Newspapers.com }}{{Open access}} Unusually for an American-built clipper, Gravina was built for foreign owners, the Loring Brothers of Málaga, Spain. The brothers, George, Edward and Joseph, were the sons of American expatriate George Loring, who "went to Málaga as a young man and married there a very beautiful Spanish girl of sixteen years of age."Sprague 1913. p. [https://archive.org/stream/barnstableyarmou02spra/barnstableyarmou02spra#page/18/mode/1up 18]. Gravina was named after Spanish Admiral Federico Carlos Gravina y Nápoli, commander of the reserve fleet under the French at the Battle of Trafalgar.Konstam 2011. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eDq3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 55].

Gravina was built of oak, with copper and iron fastenings.American Lloyds 1861. p. [https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l0237571861/73/ 44]. She had a length of {{convert|165|ft}}, keel length of {{convert|150|ft}}, beam of {{convert|32|ft}}, draft of {{convert|17|ft}} and hold depth of {{convert|18|ft}}.New York Marine Register 1858. p. [https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l0237571858/51/ 36]. Her registered tonnage was 818. She was fitted with a half poop deck, and in addition to her cargo capacity, had a cabin for the accommodation of passengers.Sprague 1913. p. [https://archive.org/stream/barnstableyarmou02spra/barnstableyarmou02spra#page/19/mode/1up 19]. For defense, she was armed with a pair of cannon.

Gravina was built by the Loring Brothers with Captain Caleb Sprague, a native of Hingham, Massachusetts, in mind as her master. Sprague would skipper the vessel until about 1860. His son, F. W. Sprague, was familiar with Gravina as a boy and described her in his memoirs as "a beautiful ship".

Gravina departed New York on her maiden voyage on 14 November 1853, bound for Shanghai, China,Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church 1854. p. [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89064896806?urlappend=%3Bseq=42 30].{{efn|This voyage was apparently made via Boston as Captain Sprague{{'}}s son F. W Sprague, then a boy, relates in his memoir how he watched the burning of the clipper ship Great Republic at Boston on 26 December 1853 from Gravina{{'}}s deck. Knoblock, citing Sprague, erroneously writes that Gravina was also damaged in the fire and "subsequently cut down in size by one deck"Knoblock 2014. p. 347.—uncorroborated claims evidently based on a misreading of the source, which refers to the damage and rebuilding not of Gravina but of Great Republic. Gravina is known to have completed her journey to China without mishap.Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church 1854. pp. [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89064896806?urlappend=%3Bseq=346 334–36].}} arriving 14 April 1854 at Wusong, {{convert|14|mile|km}} below Shanghai, the latter being at the time in the hands of Chinese rebels. Travelling with Gravina on this trip was a seven-person Episcopal missionary group including Bishop W. J. Boone, his family and associates. A member of this group later described their 150-day voyage on Gravina as "unfortunate in the matter of head winds and calms" but otherwise "pleasant and safe", while Boone himself complimented Captain Sprague on his "most kind and obliging" manner.

After taking on a cargo of tea, Gravina became stranded in the Min River, Fujian, in late June 1854, but was hauled off with minimal damage{{cite news |author= |title= Foreign Ports |url= http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/New%20York%20NY%20Morning%20Courier/New%20York%20NY%20Morning%20Courier%201854/New%20York%20NY%20Morning%20Courier%201854%20-%201135.pdf |work= Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer |date= 1854-09-13 |page= 3 }} and continued on to Deal, England, where she arrived 23 October.{{cite news |author= |title= Ship News |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22824488/gravina_at_deal_oct_1854/ |work= The Morning Post |location= London, England |date= 1854-10-24 |page= 8 |via= Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} Proceeding on to London, Gravina{{'}}s agents were advertising a voyage of the vessel to Shanghai from early December but in the event, she remained in port for another two months and did not sail until 2 February 1855, arriving at Shanghai mid-June. On one of her trips to China, Gravina was attacked by Chinese pirates in junks, who were driven off by the clipper{{'}}s two deck guns.

From Shanghai, Gravina went to Manila, the Philippines; Batavia, the Dutch East Indies; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where she arrived in March 1856.{{cite news |author= |title= Shipping |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22880118/gravina_for_amsterdam_mar_1856/ |work= The Morning Chronicle |location= London, England |page= 8 |via= Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} While at Batavia, Captain Sprague{{'}}s wife, who had joined her husband on the ship in New York the previous year, fell ill, and died after returning home to the United States.

Gravina{{'}}s later record of voyages is incomplete. She is known to have made at least one voyage from Málaga, Spain, to South America. In mid-1859, she was back in Pacific service, making a voyage from Manila to Singapore.{{cite news |author= |title= India and China Shipping |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22880147/gravina_leaves_manila_for_singapore_aug/ |work= The Daily News |location= London, England |date= 1859-08-11 |page= 7 |via= Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}

In 1860, Captain Sprague sold Gravina in Valparaiso, Chile, to parties in that city. In 1865, she was in Sydney, Australia, under the command of Captain John Laffrentz, preparing for a voyage to "Valparaiso direct".{{cite news |author= |title= Ship Advertisements |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22880181/gravina_in_australia_1865/ |work= The Sydney Morning Herald |location= Sydney, Australia |date= 1865-01-07 |page= 1 |via= Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} Her last reported sighting was in Valparaiso in 1866.

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{{Reflist|30em}}

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• {{cite book |author= |title= American Lloyds{{'}} Registry of American and Foreign Shipping |location= New York |publisher= E. & W. Blunt |page= [https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l0237571861/73/ 44] |date= 1861 }}
• {{cite book |author= Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church |title= The Spirit of Missions |location= New York |publisher= Daniel Dana Jr |volume= XIX |pages= [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89064896806?urlappend=%3Bseq=42 30], [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89064896806?urlappend=%3Bseq=346 334–36] |date= 1854 }}
• {{cite book |last= Knoblock |first= Glenn A. |date= 2014 |title= The American Clipper Ship, 1845–1920 |location= Jefferson, NC |publisher= McFarland & Company, Inc |page= 347 |isbn= 978-0-7864-7112-6 }}
• {{cite book |last= Konstam |first= Angus |date= 2011 |title= Horatio Nelson |location= Oxford, England |publisher= Osprey Publishing |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=eDq3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 55] |isbn= 9781849084963 }}
• {{cite book |author= |title= New York Marine Register |location= New York |publisher= Board of Underwriters |page= [https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l0237571858/51/ 36] |date= 1858 }}
• {{cite book |last= Sprague |first= Francis William |date= 1913 |title= Barnstable and Yarmouth Sea Captains and Ship Owners |location= Brookline, MA |pages= [https://archive.org/stream/barnstableyarmou02spra/barnstableyarmou02spra#page/18/mode/1up 18–19] }}

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{{Clipper ships}}

Category:1853 ships

Category:Clipper ships built in New Jersey

Category:Ships built by Isaac C. Smith

Category:Ships built in Hoboken, New Jersey