"[1] Sweepstakes was built at the height of the clipper ship boom, in 1853, when there was a high demand for quick transportation to the California Gold Rush.

[2] Just the year before, in autumn of 1852, "four splendid new clipper ships put to sea from New York, bound for California" in "the most celebrated and famous ship-race that has ever been run": Wild Pigeon, John Gilpin, Flying Fish and Trade Wind.

[2] The clipper bow of Sweepstakes was an unusual form, with an upright, curved stem, a straight keel, and a rockered, arched forefoot.

Chambers & Heiser offer[ed] to sail the Sweepstakes, a clipper ship of 1600 tons, partially launched on June 18 from the ship-yard of Messrs. Westervelt & Sons, in this city, a race of 3000 miles, say 1500 out and return, each ship to pay an entrance of $10,000; the race to be subject to such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the New York Yacht Club.

[7] Sweepstakes' ports of call included New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Manila, Macao, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Bombay.

[1] In the preface to his autobiography, Master of the Show, Augustus Pitou, a Broadway producer[8] who spent fifty years in theater as a manager, playwright, and actor,[9] claimed to have sailed to Australia aboard Sweepstakes as a cabin boy.