MACKAY, CLARENCE HUNGERFORD (1874-1938), American capitalist, was born at San Francisco (Calif.). on April 17, 1874. He received his education in Europe and at the age of 20 entered his father's office in New York. He was elected presi dent of the Mackay companies, organized in 1903, and owning all the capital stock of the Commercial Cable Company, and a ma jority of the stock of various cable, telegraph and telephone com panies in the United States, Canada and Europe, including the Postal Telegraph Cable Company. In 1921 the Mackay companies operated some 35o,000m. of wires and 29,000m. of cables. As a war measure President Wilson took over the wires of the two com panies as from Aug. I, 1918, and placed them under the control of Postmaster-General Burleson. Mr. Mackay opposed many of the postmaster-general's policies, and was removed from control, but was reinstated after the return of the wires to the owners in 1919.
McKAY, DONALD (1810-1880), American ship-builder, was born in Shelburne, N.S., on Sept. 4, 181o. After a boyhood spent amid maritime surroundings, he emigrated to New York city at the age of sixteen. There he worked in the ship-yards of Isaac Webb, Brown and Bell, and others; and after an apprenticeship of ten years, became a master shipwright. He then removed to
Newburyport, Mass., where he established his own yard, and in 1840 built the "Delia Walker" for John Currier, which resulted in their forming a partnership. They built three ships, among them the packet-ship "Courier," in 1842, the first ship designed by McKay. Attracting the favourable attention of Enoch Train, founder of the Train line of packet-ships, he opened a ship-yard in East Boston in 1845, at the foot of Border street, where he be came one of the greatest ship-builders of his time. Though he was not the originator of the clipper hull, his "Flying Cloud," 1851, was one of the most notable of clipper ships, sailing from New York city to San Francisco via Cape Horn in 89 days. He died at Hamilton, Mass., on Sept. 20, 1880.
See A. H. Clark, The Clipper Ship Era (two) ; R. C. McKay, Don ald McKay and The Ships He Built (Boston, 1925) ; 0. Thorndike Howe and F. C. Matthews, American Clipper Ships, 1833-1858 (Salem, 1926-27).