Clara Clarita was a fast screw

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

 steamer originally built as a luxury steam yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 for New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 financier

Financier

Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

 Leonard Jerome

Leonard Jerome

Leonard Walter Jerome was a Brooklyn, New York, financier and grandfather of Winston Churchill.- Early life :...

 (grandfather of British Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 Sir Winston Churchill). On her trial trip, Clara Claritas original engine proved so totally ineffective it was removed before the vessel entered service and replaced by machinery from a different supplier. Jerome sold the yacht after only a short time and she was converted into a towboat, becoming the fastest such vessel in New York Harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

, before being converted into a fireboat

Fireboat

A fireboat is a specialized watercraft and with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment....

 in the same locality.

In the 1870s, Clara Clarita underwent a third conversion, into a passenger steamer, in which role she set an all-time speed record for a steamer on Penobscot Bay

Penobscot Bay

Penobscot Bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River. There are many islands in this bay, and on them, some of the country's most well-known summer colonies. The bay served as portal for the one time "lumber capital of the world," namely; the city of Bangor...

. Her final conversion was into an oceangoing tug, some time after which her crew and captain were presented with a heroism award for a rescue at sea. The vessel was abandoned in 1908 after a long and varied 44-year career.

Construction and design

Clara Clarita was built for Leonard Jerome in 1864 at Williamsburg, New York

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...

 by Lawrence & Foulks

Lawrence & Foulks

Lawrence & Foulks was a 19th-century American shipbuilding company based in New York. Established in the early 1850s, the company built 144 vessels of all types over the course of some fifty years, but is best known for its production of high-speed wooden-hulled steamboats and steamships...

, a company with a reputation for building fast and elegant steamers. Her construction was supervised throughout by W. W. Vanderbilt, Chief Engineer of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company

Pacific Mail Steamship Company

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848 as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants, William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland...

. The vessel was named after Leonard Jerome's wife Clara and/or his daughter Clarita, also known as Clara.

Clara Claritas frames and outer planking were of white oak

White oak

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...

, the latter 2½ inches thick. The cabin hatches and combings above deck were mahogany

Mahogany

The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....

, "plainly but beautifully finished". The vessel was 120 feet (36.6 m) in length along the keel

Keel

In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

, and 130 feet (39.6 m) on deck, with a beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

 of 22 feet (6.7 m) and hold depth of 10 feet (3 m). She had a high bow, two raking masts, schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

-rigged, and a single raked smokestack. For protection, she was armed with two steel 12-pounder Wiard

Wiard rifle

The Wiard rifle is a semi-steel light artillery piece invented by Norman Wiard. About 60 were manufactured between 1861 and 1862, at O'Donnell's Foundry, New York City: "although apparently excellent weapons, [they] do not seem to have been very popular"....

 boat howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

s with brass carriages. Overall, she was described as a vessel "of an exquisite model, every graceful line proclaiming her speed."

Interior

Clara Claritas interior was designed by one of America's leading shipjoiners, William Rowland, the "Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti , born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.-Early life:...

" of his trade. Below deck, the steamer contained sleeping berths, two cabins, one forward and one aft, a pantry and "a dainty little wash-room aft". The panelwork in the after cabin was white with "faint pink tints" and gold highlights, while the forward cabin was "handsomely furnished". The berths were fringed with green silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 curtains lined with canary-yellow satin

Satin

Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...

, and a black walnut

Black Walnut

Juglans nigra, the Eastern Black walnut, is a species of flowering tree in the hickory family, Juglandaceae, that is native to eastern North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central...

 beaufet held the silverware.

In her memoirs, Jerome's daughter Jennie (later Lady Randolph Churchill and the mother of Sir Winston Churchill) recalled the "dismay" on her mother's face when she first saw the ship's extravagant velvet

Velvet

Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...

 and silver fittings, installed as a result of the free rein extended by Jerome to the upholsterer. Total cost of the vessel was $125,000.

Original engine controversy

While Clara Clarita was under construction, Jerome was persuaded by a number of acquaintances to avail himself of the services of E. N. Dickerson, a prominent patent lawyer with some novel engineering ideas. Impressed by Dickerson's claim that he could adapt an ordinary land engine to power the Clara Clarita, saving both space and weight at no cost in performance, Jerome decided to hire him.

For the adaptation, Dickerson purchased a $5,000, 50 hp stationary horizontal engine, with a 16-inch cylinder and 36-inch stroke, built by the Fishkill Landing Machine Works. Dickerson took eight months to adapt the engine to the yacht, at an overall cost of $16,178.08. On Clara Claritas trial trip, Dickerson's engine adaptation proved a complete failure. After Dickerson failed to return to rectify the problems, Jerome hired two qualified engineers, who, after another trial, agreed that the machinery was unfit for service.

Because Dickerson was also known for his vocal criticism of the Chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Steam Engineering

Bureau of Steam Engineering

Bureau of Steam Engineering was set up by act of 5 July 1862, receiving some of the duties of the former Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repair. It became, by the Naval Appropriation Act of 4 June 1920, the Bureau of Engineering...

, Benjamin Isherwood

Benjamin F. Isherwood

Benjamin Franklin Isherwood was an engineering officer in the United States Navy during the early days of steam-powered warships. He served as a ship's engineer during the Mexican–American War, and after the war did experimental work with steam propulsion...

, whose warship engine designs for the ongoing Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 Dickerson claimed were slow and inefficient, the failure of Clara Claritas engine soon came to public attention. After Dickerson was perceived to be attempting to shift the blame to others for the failure of his engine adaptation in a letter to the New York Times, his claims were rebuffed in the pages of the Times by several parties, including Jerome himself. Jerome described Clara Claritas initial trial trip in the following terms:

We started from the Continental Works down the river. The day was fine, everything was in order, the model of the boat was pronounced perfection, and we started off with flying colors.

Her machinery alone remained to be tried. To the best of my recollection we made one mile and a quarter in just two hours and a half. It was ... a brief if not a pleasant trip, to all on board—including myself—especially considering that I had waited eight months for the adaptation of this machinery. I could have had fifty engines built during this time notwithstanding the "Government pressure". We should have proceeded further down the river, but at Corlear's Hook we were driven back—by the tide.

Jerome's account, including his estimated speed of only ½ mph, was corroborated by two further letters to the Times, from E. Riggs and Clara Claritas commander, Captain Alex Smith. In his response, also published in the Times, Dickerson did not deny the abysmal performance of his engine adaptation, confining his comments instead to a denial of the charge that he had lied in his previous letter. The spectacular failure of the engine was not lost on Dickerson's enemies in the Navy Department, some of whom quickly published a satirical piece on him entitled Uncle Samuel's Whistle And What It Costs. The piece was later reproduced in Frank M. Bennett's book The Steam Navy of the United States.

Re-engine

After the failure of Dickerson's engine, Jerome went to a leading marine engineering firm, the Novelty Iron Works of New York, for a replacement. The Novelty Works supplied a pair of single-cylinder, inverted direct-acting engines with 22-inch bore and stroke, designed by J. V. Holmes and built under the supervision of W. W. Vanderbilt. The engines, described as "beautiful specimens of workmanship", were made more compact by the use of the engines' frame as the surface condenser, while the air-pump gearing was arranged to balance the moving parts. The engines operated a single four-bladed iron screw propeller, with a diameter of 9 feet and pitch of 13 feet.

In a new trial trip on 28 July 1864, the engines attained a rate of 96 rpm

Revolutions per minute

Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...

, equivalent to about 12 mph, while maintaining a "remarkably smooth and regular" action. It was noted however that the engines could be expected to "run much faster" in future.

Jerome ownership, 1864–65

In July 1865, about a year after Jerome took possession of the Clara Clarita, a public clamour arose for the repair of the Gulf of St. Lawrence submarine telegraph cable, linking Newfoundland with the North American mainland, in time for the arrival of a new telegraph cable then being laid between Great Britain and Newfoundland by the steamship . Jerome decided to make his yacht Clara Clarita available for the task.

Accordingly, Clara Clarita departed New York with two cable experts and their assistants on 23 July, arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, on the 28th, having shown herself on the voyage to be "an excellent sea-boat". At Halifax, some brief preparations were made before the vessel continued on to Aspy Bay on Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

, where the cable retrieval operation began. Clara Claritas return was awaited with great anticipation, but when she finally arrived back in port on 11 August, it was with the disappointing news that the cable was damaged beyond repair. Clara Clarita returned to New York a few days later via Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

.

Jerome's enthusiasm for yachting is said to have been considerably dampened by his experiences with Clara Clarita. In early November, after owning the vessel for only some 20 months, he sold her to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company

Pacific Mail Steamship Company

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848 as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants, William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland...

 for use as a towboat.

New York towboat and fireboat, 1865–early 1870s

Clara Clarita was converted into a towboat at the Novelty Iron Works, after which, Pacific Mail employed her to tow its Atlantic Line vessels in and out of dock. In her new role, Clara Clarita soon established a reputation for herself as the fastest towboat in New York Harbor. In May 1870, the vessel was listed as a $30,000 asset in a Pacific Mail report.

Clara Clarita came into the possession of the New York Harbor Protective Company in 1870, when she was converted into a fireboat

Fireboat

A fireboat is a specialized watercraft and with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment....

. In August 1870, Clara Clarita was towing a burning ferryboat out of harm's way when the tow rope burned through, allowing the ferry to collide with a schooner and set it on fire. In a later landmark ruling, the courts ruled that although the damage was caused by the ferry not the tug, and regardless of whether or not the schooner was anchored improperly, the tug was still at fault through negligently using a rope rather than a chain to tow the ferry.

Passenger steamer, 1870s

By 1873, Clara Clarita had undergone another conversion, to a passenger steamboat, although she retained the heavy brass nozzles from her fireboat days. At this time, she was acquired by the Fox Island and Rockland Steamboat Company of Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 as competition for a rival steamer Ulysses, which had proven faster than the company's existing steamer Pioneer on the Vinalhaven to Rockland

Rockland, Maine

Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,297. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination...

 route. Clara Clarita quickly drove the challenger away with her superior speed, and as long as she remained on the route, was a popular vessel among passengers. Her owners however, considered her a "coal hog" and she was soon dispensed with for a more economical vessel. In this period of her career, Clara Clarita recorded the fastest ever time by a steamer across Penobscot Bay

Penobscot Bay

Penobscot Bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River. There are many islands in this bay, and on them, some of the country's most well-known summer colonies. The bay served as portal for the one time "lumber capital of the world," namely; the city of Bangor...

.

Maine tugboat, 1880s–1897

By the mid-1880s, Clara Clarita had passed into the hands of the Knickerbocker Steam Towage Company and been converted into an oceangoing tug. Her primary duty with this company would most likely have been towing barges filled with ice blocks cut from the Kennebec River

Kennebec River

The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...

 to New York City. Along with the Ice King, Clara Clarita was one of the company's largest tugs.

On 22 August 1887, the steamboat City of Richmond struck a rock near the entrance to Millbridge and was immediately beached to prevent her sinking. Clara Clarita was despatched with wrecking pumps from her homeport of Bath, Maine

Bath, Maine

Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...

 the same day to help refloat the vessel. City of Richmond was successfully hauled off the following day and towed to Mitchell's cove, where the damage was assessed as less than at first thought.

Massachusetts tugboat, 1897–1908

Probably about 1897, Clara Clarita was sold to the Boston Towing Company, after which she was homeported briefly at Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...

 and finally at Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. She appears to have been utilized in a variety of roles for this company.

Spanish-American War

Following the outbreak of the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 in April 1898, Clara Clarita was assigned to tow the ageing Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

-era monitor

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

  to a defensive station at Boston. On 3 May, Lehigh was towed to shelter in Vineyard Haven by Clara Clarita due to threatening weather in Vineyard Sound. The two vessels set off for Boston once more the following day, but Clara Clarita blew a boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

 tube and was obliged to return to port. According to one report, Lehigh continued on without the tug's assistance, while another states that both Clara Clarita and Lehigh returned to port for a quick repair to Claritas boiler tube, which was expected to be completed in a few hours.

Various duties

In June 1898, Clara Clarita was used to tow "a string of eighteen new knock about yachts" from Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,808 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and Devereux Beach...

 to New York. In August, Clara Clarita towed two specially-outfitted, chemically refrigerated barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

s, Fillid and J. K. Manning, to Burgeo

Burgeo

Burgeo is a Canadian town located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.The town is approximately 75 miles  east of Channel-Port aux Basques....

, Newfoundland, for the purpose of loading herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

 and squid

Squid

Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...

 bait for American fishing bankers. The Newfoundland authorities however prohibited the transaction on the grounds that it would "completely revolutionize the purchase of bait" from Newfoundland by Americans. This decision cost the companies involved an estimated $50,000, who were described as "very foolish" for not seeking the approval of the local authorities beforehand. The following year, in November, Clara Clarita departed Boston with steam pumps and a lighter

Lighter (barge)

A lighter is a type of flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods and passengers to and from moored ships. Lighters were traditionally unpowered and were moved and steered using long oars called "sweeps," with their motive power provided by water currents...

 bound for Swan's Island, Maine

Swan's Island, Maine

Swan's Island is an island town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is named after Colonel James Swan of Fife, Scotland, who purchased this island and some surrounding areas and organized their colonization in the 18th century. The population was 327 at the 2000 census. The town is...

, to salvage the coal cargo of the ship Pottsville which had sunk there.

Rescue at sea

In December 1902, while towing an oil barge from Rockland to Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

, the Standard Oil

Standard Oil

Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

 tug Astral was wrecked on Mount Desert Rock

Mount Desert Light

Mount Desert Light is a lighthouse on Mount Desert Rock, a small island about south of Mount Desert Island, and is part of the US state of Maine...

, Maine. The revenue cutter  managed to tow the barge and its crew to port on the night of 12 December, but due to heavy seas was unable to effect a rescue of Astrals crew, and was forced to return to Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

 to re-coal. Clara Clarita, which had been in the vicinity preparing to salvage a sunken schooner, was called upon to stand by while the Woodbury was absent.

On the 15th, the crew of Clara Clarita effected the rescue themselves, braving the hazardous conditions by twice sending one of the tug's boats to retrieve Astrals crew from the Rock. The following January, Clara Claritas captain, Alfred Sorenson, and two of his crew received heroism awards for the Astral rescue from the Massachusetts Humane Society. Since Sorenson had already received the Society's gold medal for an earlier rescue, he received a gold clasp, while the other two crew members received a bronze medal and $5 each.

Cathedral columns

In March 1899, the Bodwell Granite Company of Vinalhaven, Maine was contracted to supply eight massive 50 feet (15.2 m) granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 columns for New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, then in the process of construction. By 1903, the first of the columns was ready. A specially constructed barge, the Benjamin Franklin, was built to transport the columns, two at a time, from Vinalhaven to New York. Clara Clarita was assigned the honor of towing the barge.

The first transport mission went smoothly enough, with Clara Clarita delivering the first two 130-ton columns after an eight-day voyage to the 134th Street Pier, Hudson River

Hudson River

The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

, New York, on 10 July 1903. A later shipment in November however, nearly came unstuck after Clara Clarita ran into a gale off Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

 and the barge carrying the columns was almost sunk, forcing both vessels to put into Newport to await an improvement in the weather. After the delivery of all eight columns, it took more than a year to install them at the Cathedral site and begin work on the walls.

After a long and varied career spanning some 44 years, Clara Clarita was abandoned by her owners in 1908. She is said to have retained her yachting "speed wheel

Controllable pitch propeller

A controllable pitch propeller or variable pitch propeller is a type of propeller with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change their pitch...

" to the last. In 1982, a color lithograph of the vessel was donated to the Farnsworth Art Museum

Farnsworth Art Museum

The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry Lane, Frank Benson, Childe Hassam, and Maurice...

.