Jenny Lind Figurehead-- Part 3: You Determine If It's the Real Thing

In his research, Svardskog found that the Nightingale had actually been in the vicinity atone time.  In 1874,  workers had a refit on the ship in Norway nearby.   The bow of the ship had been damaged  on a reef off the coast of Kargero.

Svardskog theorizes that the figurehead was removed when the work was done and never put back so it didn't go down with the ship.  As a matter of fact, the original boathouse of the Nightingale was also removed at the time and you can still see it at the repair yard in Norway.

At this point, you have to wonder if this is the real thing or not.

Well, now it is essentially up to the reader to determine if Mr. Svardskog's Jenny Lind figurehead is the real thing or not.  I like to think it is, but I always like finding buried or lost treasures.

--Old B-Runner

The Jenny Lind Figurehead-- Part 2: Looking for Origins

The next we hear about the Jenny Lind figurehead from the Nightingale clipper ship was 1994.  Swedish maritime antique dealer Karl-Eric  Svardskog heard about a large  wooden carving shaped like a woman that a Swedish family had which had once been used as a scarecrow and went to se it.  he found it  in a hayloft with one arm sticking out  where it had apparently been for a century.

Svardskog determined to find out about its origins and spent six years looking for clues.  He was able to trace the carving to Boston artist John Mason and then matched the figurehead to publicity pictures of Jenny Lind back in her 1850s tour of the United States. 

Of the four ships named after Jenny Lind, only the clipper ship  built in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Eliot, Maine is in it) matched the timeline he was using.

But, a problem was that the Nightingale had sunk in the North Atlantic off the coast of Norway in 1894.  Then, why would its figurehead still be around and not at the bottom of the ocean?

--Old B-Runner

So, What About That Jenny Lind Figurehead?-- Part 1

 During this Jennymania/rage  people named towns, babies and furniture after her.  There is a Jenny Lind, North Carolina, according to stories, she sang a song under a nearby tree.  At least four ships were named after her, including the Nightingale that I have been writing about.  Many consider this Nightingale to be one of the fastest clipper ships ever built.

In 1851, the same year Jenny arrived in Boston, the Nightingale (originally to be named  Sarah Cowles) was built in Eliot, Maine.  The owners planned to use the ship to take wealthy passengers to London for the World's Fair in 1851 ($125 round trip).  The idea fell through, but a figurehead of a woman bearing the likeness of Jenny Lind was made and attached to the front of the ship.

Having difficulties paying the cost of the ship, this was when it turned to bringing slaves to the Americas.  Of interest, the Nightingale was captured by the USS Saratoga, which had been built in 1842 at the nearby Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine.

After its capture, the Nightingale became a U.S. warship during the Civil War and afterwards went through owner after owner before being abandoned off Norway in 1894.

By this time, both Jenny Lind and P.T. Barnum were dead.  Jenny died in 1887 after a long self-imposed retirement.  

What Next?  --Old B-Runner

A Piece of the Nightingale Remains-- Part 10: Also a Long and Varied Story of the Jenny Lind Figurehead

The Nightingale was built as an exhibit at the World's Fair in London (The Great Exhibition), to which she was to carry passengers.  As such, she was fitted out with very extravagant items, one of which was her figurehead (a carving set at the prow of a sailing ship).

Her original name was to be Sarah  Cowles was exchanged for that of Nightingale, in honor of Jenny Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale" who was touring the United States at the time.  The Nightingale had a Jenny Lind figurehead.

The Nightingale's Jenny Lind figurehead ended up in the hands of a Swedish antiques dealer  in 1994.  He has spent  13 years researching its history.

He discovered that the Nightingale had undergone repairs in Norway in 1885 during which time the figurehead was removed.  He found out that the farm's owner where he found it had a relative who had bought the "scarecrow" while on a trip to Norway.

The figurehead of the Nightingale and   the Great Republic are the only two known surviving figureheads from extreme clipper ships.

So, One More Thing of Interest About This Ship.  --Old B-Runner

Okay, the Nightingale Sank, But a Part of It Remains, Is There a Mystery?

Here are some clues:

Eliot, Maine

A  clipper ship

A Swedish Singer

P.T. Barnum

A slave ship

A U.S. warship

A merchant ship

Norway

Start thinking hard.

There is a clue to the right of this.

What Part Remains.  --Old B-Runner

USS Nightingale-- Part 8: Arctic Exploration and Loss of In 1893

But, the Nightingale's career wasn't over.  Not yet anyway.  She entered another phase.

This tome it was Arctic exploration.  From 1865 to 1867, she served as the flagship of the Western Union  Telegraph Expedition exploring  British Columbia, Alaska and Siberia with the plan of  laying telegraph cable across the Bering Strait.

Captain C.M. Scammon, U.S.R.M. Chief f Marine, commanded the Nightingale

The Nightingale, described as a fine, large clipper ship, carried two small flat-bottomed steamers on her deck from San Francisco.  One was intended for exploration of the Yukon River in Russian America, and the other for the Anadyr Bay.

After the Arctic Expedition, the Nightingale remained in the merchant service until she foundered in the  North Atlantic Ocean on 17 April 1893.

But, wait, there's one more thing about this ship.

Next Post.  --Old B-Runner

USS Nightingale-- Part 6: Purchase By U.S. Navy, Commissioned and Duty on the Gulf Coast

Being a slave ship, the Nightingale was condemned by the New York prize court and then promptly bought by the U.S. Navy, then in serious need of anything that would float and carry guns for the blockade of the South's coasts.

It was commissioned 18 August 1861 under command of Brevet Master  David B. Horne. 

The Nightingale now carried four 32-pounder cannons.

Fitted out as a collier and store ship, the Nightingale got underway south laden with coal the same day she was commissioned.  Stopped at Hampton Roads on the 21st and then left for Key West the following morning.  But for occasional trips north for coal and supplies, she served on the Gulf Coast through the first years of the Civil War.

--Old B-Runner

Long and Varied Career of USS Nightingale-- Part 5: Slaves Freed and the Disastrous Cruise Home

SAGA AS A PRIZE

The Saratoga's skipper, Commander Alfred Taylor,  placed a prize crew on board the Nightingale, under the command of Lt. John J. Guthrie.  The captured slaver/clipper got underway on the 23rd April for Liberia, a nation founded in 1822 by the American Colonization  Society as a refuge for  freed American slaves.

En route,  a fever raged through the ship, killing 160  of the now freed slaves  and one member of the crew.  After arriving in Monrovia, Liberia's capital,  on 7 May, the Nightingale landed her  passengers, fumigated the living quarters and sailed for the United States on May 13.

During the first part of the cruise, fever  seriously weakened the crew, at one point leaving  only 7 of her  34-man crew fit for duty.    Two more sailors died before the scourge began to subside.

The Nightingale reached New York City on June 15, 1861.

--Old B-Runner

The Long and Varied Saga of the USS Nightingale-- Part 4:

AS A SLAVER

In the fall of 1860, the Nightingale arrived in England from New York.  Word soon got around the docks that she was  going to become a slaver.  A cover was devised where she supposedly was loading with  cargo of guns, powder and cotton cloth with the intention of going to St. Thomas.

She sailed several times from Cabinda, Angola.  During that time, some 2,000 Africans were transported in irons on their way to become slaves.

SEIZURE

About midnight on 20-21 April 1861, two boats from the  sloop of war USS Saratoga pulled silently  toward a darkened ship anchored near the mouth of the Congo River at Cabinda, Angola.  After clambering aboard the Nightingale, a suspected slaver from Boston, Massachusetts, the American sailors and Marines found 961 men, women and children chained between the decks.

Of those, some 160 died while the ship was en route to Liberia where they were to be released.   When the ship was taken, it was in the process of loading even more slaves to go to America.

--Old Secesh

From Tea Clipper to Slaver to U.S. Warship, the Saga of the USS Nightingale-- Part 3: Off to the Tea Races

OFF TO THE TEA RACES

Her first voyage was  on the famous "Tea to Silk Course" between Shanghai and London, which at the time had the  fastest ships afloat.  A race was arranged between her and  a British clipper, Challenger.  The course was from Shanghai to London with stakes of 2,000 pounds being placed by their respective owners.  The Nightingale lost, and her commander, chagrined at the result,  resigned, leaving the Nightingale in London Docks and took a Cunarder home.

The Nightingale's owners made light of the loss but immediately set out on arranging another race for similar stakes between the two ships along the same course.  On the return from Shanghai, the Challenger beat the Nightingale  by more than a week.

That ended the Nightingale's efforts to be No. 1.

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PASSENGER TRADE TO AUSTRALIA

In the spring of 1853, the Nightingale was chartered to carry mail, passengers and freight to Melbourne, Australia, from London.  From there she was to proceed to China where she would load tea and silk for London.  At the time, the Gold Fever was rampant in Australia and it didn't take long to sell the accommodations.

--Old B-Runner

From Tea Clipper to Slaver to U.S. Warship, The USS Nightingale-- Part 2: An Extreme Clipper

The Nightingale was designed and built and the Hanscomb Shipyard in Eliot, Maine, in 1851 by Samuel Hanscomb, Jr.,  receiving its final fit out in nearby Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

She was what was referred to as an Extreme Clipper type of ship whereby cargo room was sacrificed for speed.  The bow was lengthened above the water, drawing out the sharpening of the forward body with the greatest beam further aft.  Extreme clippers were built for speed and most constructed between 1845 and 1855.

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STATISTICS:

TONNAGE:  1066 tons

DRAFT:  36 feet

LENGTH:  177 feet

BEAM:  36 feet

PROPULSION:  Sails

--Old B-Clipper

From Tea Clipper to Slaver to U.S. Navy Ship: The Tale of the Nightingale-- Part 1

I have been writing about this ship in my last four posts and in connection with Lt. John Julius Guthrie, USN, of North Carolina, who commanded the Nightingale's prize crew on its way back to the United States.  Guthrie later was a Confederate naval officer after the war started.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Nightingale (1851) was originally a   tea clipper before becoming a slave ship until captured by the USS Saratoga in Africa in 1861; the U.S. Navy then purchased her and it became a warship.

During the war, it served as a  supply ship and collier (carried coal) for Union blockading ships.  After the war she was sold and went on to a long career in Arctic exploration  before foundering in the North Atlantic in 1893.

Built by Samuel Hanscomb, Jr. of Eliot, Maine.  Cost $43,500, in 1851.

As tea clipper, her route was China to London to New York.  Carrying passengers, she went  from Boston and New York to Australia.

--Old B-Runner