Clippers Driver and Ocean Queen lost in the Atlantic
- When
- 1856
- Where
- Atlantic Ocean
- Episodes
- 1
In February 1856, the American clipper ships Driver and Ocean Queen departed Liverpool and London respectively. Both vessels vanished without trace in the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in significant loss of life. The Driver carried 377 passengers and crew, while the Ocean Queen's fate remains less documented in the provided sources.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. Driver was a clipper ship constructed in 1854 at Newburyport, Massachusetts, for David Ogden et al. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th-century standards, carried limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area; the term does not denote a specific sailplan. Clippers were mostly built in British and American shipyards.
Loss. The Driver was lost at sea with no known survivors after departing Liverpool. The death toll for the Driver was 377. The Ocean Queen also disappeared without trace. A possible sighting of the Driver was reported by the crew of the ship Amazon on 28 April 1856, but no definitive confirmation of the ships' fate or exact location of loss is provided in the sources.
People involved
- David Ogden · Party for whom Driver was constructed (one of several, 'et al.')
- Barnes · Individual who died in hospital after Driver's arrival in Liverpool; identity unresolved
- Crew of ship Amazon · Witnesses
Sources
- Driver (clipper) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-12
- Atlantic Ocean Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22
- Clipper Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.