Lookout (clipper)
Lookout was a 1,291-ton clipper built by Chase & Davis in Warren, Rhode Island for E. Buckley & Sons of New York City. She was launched on 10 October 1853 and measured about 198 feet long, with a beam of 38 feet 4 inches and a draft of 21 feet 9 inches. Her first voyage began on 10 November 1853, a day when several other new clippers also started their maiden trips.
Lookout became known for fast voyages from New York to San Francisco, making 16 trips between 1854 and 1871. Her fastest voyage took 108 days; the slowest was 157 days, with the other trips averaging about 121 days. She also called at ports including Boston, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Liverpool, Callao, Chamala, Mexico, Honolulu, New Bedford, and Port Stanley, and even sailed to Australia before being sold into the Pacific Coast lumber and coal trade in 1871.
A notable event occurred in 1855 when, on a voyage from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Lookout found the British clipper Invincible in distress after it had collided with and sunk the A. Chesebrough. Lookout helped Invincible reach Hong Kong and received $25,000 in salvage money.
In September 1867, Lookout, along with the clippers Franklin and Haze, delivered four locomotives to San Francisco for the California Pacific Railroad Company. Lookout left New York on 26 April 1867 and arrived in San Francisco on 11 September 1867.
Lookout was wrecked in 1878 in the Japan Sea while sailing from Shanghai to Puget Sound. After a typhoon on 12 September, she dismasted and ran aground on a reef near Kutsonoshima. Three crew members drowned while trying to land the boats; the rest were saved with help from local fishermen.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:24 (CET).