Down Easter (3m).
L/B/D:
223.1 × 41 × 26 dph (68m × 12.5m × 7.9m). Tons:
1,684. Hull:
wood. Built:
Goss & Sawyer, Bath, Me.; 1877.
Built for Charles Davenport & Company, Florence was named in honor of Captain John R. Kelley's daughter, who was the model for the ship's figurehead. A Down Easter of good speed and crossing three skysail yards, she was built for and spent much of her career in the California trade sailing between ports in Europe and the east and west coasts of North America, with occasional ports of call in South America, Australia, and Asia; her cargoes included coal, wheat, and lumber. Captain Kelley served only one voyage and was succeeded by R. L. Leonard. In 1885, Captain F. C. Duncan took command, living aboard with his wife and five children (two of them born aboard) until the ship was sold thirteen years later. William E. Mighell of San Francisco operated Florence in the coal and lumber trades between the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and Australia. Four years later, the ship went missing after sailing from Tacoma, Washington, en route for Honolulu with coal; she is believed to have foundered off Cape Flaherty in a storm.
Matthews, American Merchant Ships.
