The Flying Cloud, a clipper ship, was the masterpiece of Donald Mckay the foremost marine architect and shipbuilder of his time. She was launched in East Boston in 1851. The Flying Cloud acquired a reputation for sailing faster than any other ship of her time. On one record breaking occasion she made the passage from New York to San Francisco in 88 days, a feat never again achieved by a sail powered ship. Flying Cloud met an unfortunate end when she ran aground in 1874, could not be rescued, and was burned to salvage metalwork.
