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138 painted black from the water-line up, and carried a finely carved and gilded flying eagle for a figurehead, while her stern was ornamented with the arms of New York. She was manned by a crew of 30 able seamen, 6 ordinary seamen, 4 boys, 2 boatswains, a carpenter, a sailmaker, 2 cooks, a steward, and 4 mates, and was commanded by Captain Philip Dumaresq, who had gained a high reputation while in command of the Antelope, Akbar, and Great Britain.

Captain Dumaresq was born at Swan Island, near Richmond, on the Kennebec River. His father had settled there on an estate which came to him through his mother, who before her marriage was the beautiful Rebecca Gardiner, of Gardiner, Maine, and a daughter of the Rev. John Sylvester Gardiner, the first rector of Trinity Church, Boston. Unlike most American boys, who used to go to sea, young Dumaresq had no special desire for a life upon the ocean, but was sent on a voyage to China by his parents, under the advice of a physician, on account of his delicate health. He soon grew robust, and at the age of twenty-two took command of a vessel, afterwards becoming one of the most celebrated and widely known of all the American clipper ship captains.

When the Surprise arrived at New York to load for San Francisco, the New York Herald declared that she was the handsomest ship ever seen in the port, and a large number of persons gathered to see her placed at her loading berth by the steamer R. B. Forbes, which had towed her round from Boston.