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A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant
sailing vessel A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ca ...
, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total
sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails ma ...
area. "Clipper" does not refer to a specific sailplan; clippers may be schooners,
brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...
s,
brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...
s, etc., as well as
full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three s ...
s. Clippers were mostly constructed in British and American
shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
s, although France, Brazil, the Netherlands and other nations also produced some. Clippers sailed all over the world, primarily on the trade routes between the United Kingdom and China, in transatlantic trade, and on the New York-to-San Francisco route around
Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramír ...
during the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
. Dutch clippers were built beginning in the 1850s for the tea trade and passenger service to Java. The boom years of the clipper era began in 1843 in response to a growing demand for faster delivery of tea from China. This continued under the stimulating influence of the discovery of gold in California and Australia in 1848 and 1851 and ended with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.


Origin and usage of "clipper"

The term "clipper" most likely derives from the verb "clip", which in former times meant, among other things, to run or fly swiftly.
Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
, the English poet, used the word "clip" to describe the swift flight of a falcon in the 17th century when he said "And, with her eagerness the quarry missed, Straight flies at check, and clips it down the wind." The ships appeared to clip along the ocean water. The term "clip" became synonymous with "speed" and was also applied to fast horses and sailing ships. "To clip it", and "going at a good clip", are remaining expressions. The first application of the term "clipper", in a nautical sense, is uncertain. The
Baltimore Clipper A Baltimore Clipper is a fast sailing ship historically built on the mid-Atlantic seaboard of the United States of America, especially at the port of Baltimore, Maryland. An early form of clipper, the name is most commonly applied to two-ma ...
was in use over the last quarter of the 18th century through to the first half of the 19th century, but under a different name for much of that time. At first, these vessels were referred to as "Virginia-built" or "pilot-boat model"—with the name "Baltimore-built" appearing during the War of 1812. It was not until the final days of the slave trade (''c.'' 1835 -1850)—just as the type was dying out—that the name "Baltimore Clipper" became common. The retrospective application of the word "clipper" to this type has been a source of confusion. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest quote (referring to the Baltimore Clipper) is from 1824. The Dictionary cites
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
officer and novelist Frederick Marryat as using the term in 1830. British newspaper usage of the term can be found as early as 1832 and in shipping adverts from 1835. A US court case of 1834 has evidence which discusses a clipper being faster than a brig.


Definitions

A clipper is a sailing vessel designed for speed, a priority which takes precedence over cargo carrying capacity, or building or operating costs. It is not restricted to any one rig, and while many were fully rigged ships, others were barques, brigs or schooners. Nor was the term restricted to any one hull type. Howard Chapelle lists three basic hull types for clippers. The first was characterised by the sharp and ends found in the Baltimore Clipper. The second was a hull with a full mid-section and modest deadrise, but sharp endsthis was a development of the hull-form of transatlantic packets. The third was more experimental, with deadrise and sharpness being balanced against the need to carry a profitable quantity of cargo. As well as a fast hull, a clipper carried a large sail areaby the standards of any other type of sailing ship, a clipper was greatly over-canvassed. The last defining feature of a clipper, in the view of maritime historian David MacGregor, was a captain who had the courage, skill and determination to get the fastest speed possible out of her. In assessing the hull of a clipper, different maritime historians use different criteria to measure "sharpness". "Sharpness" or "fineness" is explained by comparing a
rectangular cuboid In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron, a six-faced solid. Its faces are quadrilaterals. Cuboid means "like a cube", in the sense that by adjusting the length of the edges or the angles between edges and faces a cuboid can be transformed into a cub ...
with the underwater shape of a vessel's hull. The more material you have to carve off the cuboid to achieve the hull shape, the sharper the hull. Ideally a maritime historian would be able to look at either the block coefficient of fineness or the prismatic coefficient of various clippers, but measured drawings or accurate half-models may not exist to calculate either of these figures. An alternative measure of sharpness for hulls of a broadly similar shape is the coefficient of under-deck-tonnage, as used by David MacGregor in comparing tea clippers. This could be calculated from the measurements taken to determine the registered tonnage, and so can be applied to more vessels. An
extreme clipper An extreme clipper was a clipper designed to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed. They had a bow lengthened above the water, a drawing out and sharpening of the forward body, and the greatest breadth further aft. In the United States, extreme clip ...
has a hull of great fineness, as judged either by the prismatic coefficient, the coefficient of under-deck-tonnage or some other technical assessment of hull shape. It is a term that has been misapplied in the past, without reference to hull shape. As commercial vessels, these are totally reliant on speed to generate a profit for their owners, as their sharpness limits their cargo carrying capacity. A
medium clipper A medium clipper is a type of clipper designed for both cargo carrying capacity and speed. An evolutionary adaptation of the extreme clipper, the medium clipper had been invented by 1851, when the hull type appeared in U.S. shipyards. Medium cli ...
has a cargo-carrying hull that has some sharpness. In the right conditions and with a capable captain, some of these achieved notable quick passages. They were also able to pay their way when the high freight rates often paid to a fast sailer were not available (in a fluctuating market). The term "clipper" applied to vessels between these two categories. They often made passages as fast as extreme clippers, but had less difficulty in making a living when freight rates were lower.


History

The first ships to which the term "clipper" seems to have been applied were the Baltimore clippers, developed in
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / E ...
before the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, and reaching their zenith between 1795 and 1815. They were small, rarely exceeding 200 tons OM. Their hulls were sharp ended and displayed a lot of deadrise. They were rigged as schooners, brigs or brigantines. In the War of 1812 some were lightly armed, sailing under Letters of Marque and Reprisal, when the type—exemplified by ''Chasseur'', launched at
Fells Point, Baltimore Fell's Point is a historic waterfront neighborhood in southeastern Baltimore, Maryland. It was established around 1763 along the north shore of the Baltimore Harbor and the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River. The area has many antique, musi ...
in 1814—became known for her incredible speed; the deep
draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
enabled the Baltimore clipper to sail close to the wind. Clippers, running the British blockade of Baltimore, came to be recognized for speed rather than cargo space. The type existed as early as 1780. A 1789 drawing of —purchased by the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
in 1780 in the West Indies—represents the earliest draught of what became known as the
Baltimore Clipper A Baltimore Clipper is a fast sailing ship historically built on the mid-Atlantic seaboard of the United States of America, especially at the port of Baltimore, Maryland. An early form of clipper, the name is most commonly applied to two-ma ...
Speed was also required for the opium trade from India to China. The fast-sailing vessels used were called Opium Clippers. Some of these were built specifically for the purposemostly in India and Britain. Some fruit schooners were bought for this trade, as were some Baltimore clippers. Vessels of the Baltimore clipper type continued to be built for the slave trade, being useful for escaping
enforcement Enforcement is the proper execution of the process of ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, rules, standards, and social norms. Governments attempt to effectuate successful implementation of policies by enforcing laws and regulations. Ena ...
of the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
and
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
legislation prohibiting the trans-atlantic slave trade. Some of these Baltimore clippers were captured when working as slavers, condemned by the appropriate court, and sold to owners who then used them as opium clippersmoving from one illegal international trade to another. '' Ann McKim'', built in Baltimore in 1833 by the Kennard & Williamson shipyard, is considered by some to be the original clipper ship. (Maritime historians
Howard I. Chapelle Howard Irving Chapelle (February 1, 1901 – June 30, 1975) was an American naval architect, and curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. In addition, he authored many books and articles on maritime history a ...
and David MacGregor decry the concept of the "first" clipper, preferring a more evolutionary, multi-stepped development of the type.) She measured 494 tons OM, and was built on the enlarged lines of a Baltimore clipper, with sharply raked stem,
counter stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...
and square rig. Although ''Ann McKim'' was the first large clipper ship ever constructed, it cannot be said that she founded the clipper ship era, or even that she directly influenced shipbuilders, since no other ship was built like her; but she may have suggested the clipper design in vessels of ship rig. She did, however, influence the building of '' Rainbow'' in 1845, the first
extreme clipper An extreme clipper was a clipper designed to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed. They had a bow lengthened above the water, a drawing out and sharpening of the forward body, and the greatest breadth further aft. In the United States, extreme clip ...
ship. In
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Scotland, the shipbuilders
Alexander Hall and Sons Alexander Hall and Sons was a shipbuilder that operated in Aberdeen from 1797 to 1957. They designed the pointed and sharply raked Aberdeen bow" first used on the '' Scottish Maid'' and which became a characteristic of the "extreme clippers". ...
developed the "Aberdeen" clipper bow in the late 1830s: the first was '' Scottish Maid'' launched in 1839. ''Scottish Maid'', 150 tons OM, was the first British clipper ship. "''Scottish Maid'' was intended for the Aberdeen-London trade, where speed was crucial to compete with steamships. The Hall brothers tested various hulls in a water tank and found the clipper design most effective. The design was influenced by tonnage regulations. Tonnage measured a ship's cargo capacity and was used to calculate tax and harbour dues. The new 1836 regulations measured depth and breadth with length measured at half midship depth. Extra length above this level was tax-free and became a feature of clippers. ''Scottish Maid'' proved swift and reliable and the design was widely copied." The earliest British clipper ships were built for trade within the British Isles (''Scottish Maid'' was built for the Aberdeen to London trade). Then followed the vast clipper trade of tea, opium, spices and other goods from the Far East to Europe, and the ships became known as "tea clippers". From 1839, larger American clipper ships started to be built beginning with ''Akbar'', 650 tons OM, in 1839, and including the 1844-built Houqua, 581 tons OM. These larger vessels were built predominantly for use in the China tea trade and known as "tea clippers". Smaller clipper vessels also continued to be built predominantly for the China opium trade and known as "opium clippers" such as the 1842-built ''Ariel'', 100 tons OM. Then in 1845 '' Rainbow'', 757 tons OM, the first
extreme clipper An extreme clipper was a clipper designed to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed. They had a bow lengthened above the water, a drawing out and sharpening of the forward body, and the greatest breadth further aft. In the United States, extreme clip ...
was launched in New York. These American clippers were larger vessels designed to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed. They had a bow lengthened above the water, a drawing out and sharpening of the forward body, and the greatest breadth further aft. Extreme clippers were built in the period 1845 to 1855. In 1851, shipbuilders in Medford, Massachusetts built the ''Antelope'', often called the ''
Antelope of Boston ''Antelope'' was a medium clipper built in 1851 in Medford, near Boston, Massachusetts. She sailed in the San Francisco, China, and Far East trades, and was known for her fine finish work and for her crew's escape from pirates. She is often call ...
'' to distinguish her from other ships of the same name. This vessel is sometimes called one of the first medium clipper ships. A ship-design journalist noted that "the design of her model was to combine large stowage capacity with good sailing qualities." The ''Antelope'' was relatively flat-floored and had only an 8-inch dead rise at half-floor. The medium clipper, though still very fast, could carry more cargo. After 1854 extreme clippers were replaced in American shipbuilding yards by medium clippers. The '' Flying Cloud'' was a clipper ship that claimed the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco, 89 days 8 hours. (The other contender for this "blue ribbon" title was the medium clipper ''
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
''—there is an unresolvable argument over timing these voyages "from pilot to pilot"). ''Flying Cloud'' was the most famous of the clippers built by
Donald McKay Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting clippers. Early life He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County, on Nova Scotia's ...
. She was known for her extremely close race with the ''Hornet'' in 1853; for having a woman navigator,
Eleanor Creesy Eleanor Creesy (September 21, 1814 – 1900) was an American navigator, who was the wife of Josiah Perkins Creesy, skipper of the '' Flying Cloud'' which set the world's sailing record for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco in ...
, wife of Josiah Perkins Creesy, who skippered the ''Flying Cloud'' on two record-setting voyages from New York to San Francisco; and for sailing in the Australia and timber trades. Clipper ships largely ceased being built in American shipyards in 1859 when, unlike the earlier boom years, only four clipper ships were built; a few were built in the 1860s. The last American clipper ship was "the ''Pilgrim''" launched in 1873 from the shipyards of Medford, Massachusetts, built by Joshua T. Foster. Among shipowners of the day, "Medford-built" came to mean the best.Medford Historical Society & Museum:Medford-Built Sailing Ships, at medfordhistorical.org
Accessed 19 October 2017
British clipper ships continued to be built after 1859. From 1859 a new design was developed for British clipper ships that was nothing like the American clippers; these ships continued to be called extreme clippers. The new design had a sleek graceful appearance, less sheer, less freeboard, lower bulwarks, and smaller breadth. They were built for the China tea trade, starting with ''Falcon'' in 1859, and continuing until 1870. The earlier ships were made from wood, though some were made from iron, just as some British clippers had been made from iron prior to 1859. In 1863 the first tea clippers of composite construction were brought out, combining the best of both worlds. Composite clippers had the strength of iron spars with wooden hulls, and
copper sheathing Copper sheathing is the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat from the corrosive effects of salt water and biofouling through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed b ...
could be added to prevent the fouling that occurred on iron hulls. After 1869, with the opening of the Suez Canal that greatly advantaged steam vessels (see Decline below), the tea trade collapsed for clippers. From the late 1860s until the early 1870s the clipper trade increasingly focused on the Britain to Australia and New Zealand route, carrying goods and immigrants, services that had begun earlier with the
Australian Gold Rush During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of N ...
of the 1850s. British-built clipper ships and many American-built British-owned ships were used. Even in the 1880s, sailing ships were still the main carriers of cargoes between Britain, and Australia and New Zealand. This trade eventually became unprofitable, and the ageing clipper fleet became unseaworthy.


China clippers and the apogee of sail

Among the most notable clippers were the China clippers, also called tea clippers or opium clippers, designed to ply the trade routes between Europe and the
East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...
. The last example of these still in reasonable condition is ''
Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last Clipper, tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, c ...
'', preserved in
dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
at Greenwich, United Kingdom. Damaged by fire on 21 May 2007 while undergoing conservation, the ship was permanently elevated three metres above the dry dock floor in 2010 as part of a plan for long-term preservation. Before the early 18th century, the East India Company paid for its tea mainly in silver. When the Chinese Emperor chose to embargo European manufactured commodities and demand payment for all Chinese goods in silver, the price rose, restricting trade. The East India Company began to produce something desired by the Chinese as much as tea was by the British: opium. This had a significant influence on both India and China. Opium was also imported into Britain and was not prohibited because it was thought to be medically beneficial.
Laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...
, made from opium, was used as a pain killer, to induce sleep and to suppress anxiety. The famous literary opium addicts
Thomas De Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quinc ...
, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and
Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for '' The Woman in White'' (1859), a mystery novel and early "sensation novel", and for ''The Moonstone'' (1868), which has be ...
also took it for its pleasurable effects. The
Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...
area in London was notorious for its opium dens, many of which catered for Chinese sailors as well as English addicts. Clippers were built for seasonal trades such as tea, where an early cargo was more valuable, or for passenger routes. One passenger ship survives, the ''
City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...
'' designed by William Pile of Sunderland. The fast ships were ideally suited to low-volume, high-profit goods, such as tea, opium, spices, people, and mail. The return could be spectacular. The ''
Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 197 ...
'' returned from Shanghai with "the most valuable cargo of tea and silk ever to be laden in one bottom". Competition among the clippers was public and fierce, with their times recorded in the newspapers. The last China clippers had peak speeds of over . However, their average speeds over a whole voyage were substantially less. The joint winner of the Great Tea Race of 1866 logged about 15,800 nautical miles on a 99 day trip. This gives an average speed of slightly over . The key to a fast passage for a tea clipper was getting across the China Sea against the monsoon winds that prevailed when the first tea crop of the season was ready. These difficult sailing conditions (light and/or contrary winds) dictated the design of tea clippers. The US clippers were designed for the strong winds encountered on their route around Cape Horn. Donald McKay's ''
Sovereign of the Seas ''Sovereign of the Seas'' may refer to one of these ships: * , an English Royal Navy warship of 102 guns; later renamed ''Sovereign'' and ''Royal Sovereign'' * ''Sovereign of the Seas'' (clipper), an 1852 clipper ship built by Donald McKay in Bo ...
'' reported the highest speed ever achieved by a sailing ship – , made while running her easting down to Australia in 1854. (John Griffiths' first clipper, the ''Rainbow'', had a top speed of 14 knots.) There are eleven other instances of a ship's logging or over. Ten of these were recorded by American clippers. Besides the breath-taking day's run of the '' Champion of the Seas'', there are thirteen other cases of a ship's sailing over in 24 hours. And with few exceptions all the port-to-port sailing records are held by the American clippers. The 24h record of the ''Champion of the Seas'' set in 1854, wasn't broken until 1984 (by a multihull), or 2001 (by another monohull).


Decline

The American clippers sailing from the East Coast to the California goldfields were working in a booming market. Freight rates were high everywhere in the first years of the 1850s. This started to fade in late 1853. The ports of California and Australia reported that they were overstocked with goods that had been shipped earlier in the year. This gave an accelerating fall in freight rates that was halted, however, by the start of the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
in March 1854, as many ships were now being chartered by the French and British governments. The end of the Crimean War in April 1856 released all this capacity back on the world shipping markets - the result being a severe slump. The next year saw the Panic of 1857, which had effects on both sides of the Atlantic. The United States was just starting to recover from this in 1861 when the American Civil War started, causing significant disruption to trade in both Union and Confederate states. As the economic situation deteriorated in 1853, American shipowners either did not order new vessels, or specified an ordinary clipper or a medium clipper instead of an extreme clipper. No extreme clipper was launched in an American shipyard after the end of 1854 and only a few medium clippers after 1860. By contrast, British trade recovered well at the end of the 1850s. Tea clippers had continued to be launched during the depressed years, apparently little affected by the economic downturn. The long-distance route to China was not realistically challenged by steamships in the early part of the 1860s. No true steamer (as opposed to an auxiliary steamship) had the fuel efficiency to carry sufficient cargo to make a profitable voyage. The auxiliary steamships struggled to make any profit. The situation changed in 1866 when the
Alfred Holt Alfred Holt (13 June 1829 – 28 November 1911) was a British engineer, ship owner and merchant. He lived at Crofton, Aigburth in Liverpool, England. Holt is credited with establishing the long distance steamship by developing a type tha ...
-designed and owned '' SS Agamemnon'' made her first voyage to China. Holt had persuaded the
Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
to allow higher steam pressures in British merchant vessels. Running at 60  psi instead of the previously permitted 25 psi, and using an efficient
compound engine A compound engine is an engine that has more than one stage for recovering energy from the same working fluid, with the exhaust from the first stage passing through the second stage, and in some cases then on to another subsequent stage or even st ...
, ''Agamemnon'' had the fuel efficiency to steam at 10 knots to China and back, with coaling stops at Mauritius on the outward and return legs - crucially carrying sufficient cargo to make a profit. In 1869 the Suez Canal opened, giving steamships a route about shorter than that taken by sailing ships round the Cape of Good Hope. Despite initial conservatism by tea merchants, by 1871 tea clippers found strong competition from steamers in the tea ports of China. A typical passage time back to London for a steamer was 58 days, while the very fastest clippers could occasionally make the trip in less than 100 days; the average was 123 days in the 1867–68 tea season. The freight rate for a steamer in 1871 was roughly double that paid to a sailing vessel. Some clipper owners were severely caught out by this: several extreme clippers had been launched in 1869, including ''
Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last Clipper, tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, c ...
'', ''Norman Court'' and ''the Caliph''.


Surviving ships

Of the many clipper ships built during the mid-19th century, only two are known to survive. The only intact survivor is ''
Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last Clipper, tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, c ...
'', which was preserved as a
museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
in 1954 at Greenwich for public display. The other known survivor is ''
City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...
''; unlike ''Cutty Sark'' she was reduced to a hulk over the years. She eventually sank at her moorings in 1991, but was raised the following year and remained on dry land for years. ''Adelaide'' (a.k.a. S.V. ''Carrick'') is the older of the two survivors, and was transported to Australia for conservation.


Clipper ship sailing cards

Departures of clipper ships, mostly from New York and Boston to San Francisco, were advertised by clipper ship sailing cards. These cards, slightly larger than today's postcards, were produced by letterpress and wood engraving on coated card stock. Most clipper cards were printed in the 1850s and 1860s, and represented the first pronounced use of color in American advertising art. Relatively few (perhaps 3,500) cards survive today. With their rarity and importance as artifacts of nautical, Western, and printing history, clipper cards are highly prized by both private collectors and institutions.


See also

*
List of clipper ships The period of clipper ships lasted from the early 1840s to the early 1890s, and over time features such as the hull evolved from wooden to composite. At the 'crest of the clipper wave' year of 1852, there were 200 clippers rounding Cape Horn. ...
*
Clipper route The clipper route was the traditional route derived from the Brouwer Route and sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route ran from west to east through the Southern Ocean, to make use of the s ...
* Packet boat *
Sail-plan A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.> In the English language, ships were usually describe ...
*
Windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...


People associated with clipper ships

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List of people who sailed on clipper ships Captains *Garibaldi—Italian national hero. Captained a Peruvian clipper. * Gemmill - Scotland, then USA * William D. Gregory, captain of the clipper '' Tejuca'', which sank during a hurricane in 1856. * Joseph Warren Holmes—American sea cap ...
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Joseph Warren Holmes Captain Joseph Warren Holmes (April 1, 1824 – December 12, 1912) was an American sea captain noted for sailing around Cape Horn 84 times and Cape of Good Hope 14 times without a shipwreck or loss of a crewman. He had a 63-year career at sea, ...
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Samuel Hartt Pook Samuel Hartt Pook (January 17, 1827 – March 30, 1901) was a Boston-based American naval architect and son of Samuel Moore Pook (1804-1878), the noted clipper ship naval architect. Clipper ships Pook designed several very fast clippers ...
* William Jardine *
Donald McKay Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting clippers. Early life He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County, on Nova Scotia's ...
* John (or "Jock") "White Hat" Willis


Notes


Footnotes


References

*Carl C. Cutler, ''Greyhounds of the Sea'' (1930, 3rd ed. Naval Institute Press 1984) * Alexander Laing, ''Clipper Ship Men'' (1944) * David R. MacGregor, ''Fast Sailing Ships: Their Design and Construction, 1775–1875'' Naval Institute Press, 1988 * Oxford English Dictionary (1987) . * Bruce D. Roberts, ''Clipper Ship Sailing Cards,'' 2007, Lulu.com. . * Bruce D. Roberts, ''Clipper Ship Cards: The High-Water Mark in Early Trade Cards,'' The Advertising Trade Card Quarterly 1, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 20–22. * Bruce D. Roberts, ''Clipper Ship Cards: Graphic Themes and Images,'' The Advertising Trade Card Quarterly 1, no. 2 (Summer 1994): 22–24. * Bruce D. Roberts, ''Museum Collections of Clipper Ship Cards,'' The Advertising Trade Card Quarterly 2, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 22–24. * Bruce D. Roberts, ''Selling Sail with Clipper Ship Cards,'' Ephemera News 19, no. 2 (Winter 2001): 1, 11–14. *


Further reading


Overview and introduction

* * – Beautifully illustrated introduction, by a member of Donald McKay's family * – Basic reading, a favorite of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on American Expansion, 1820–1890
digitized source materials from
Mystic Seaport Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the craf ...
, via Library of Congress American Memory *


American clipper ships

* – The definitive narrative history, useful for checking discrepancies between sources * – The comprehensive reference for design and construction of American-built clipper ships, with numerous drawings, diagrams, and charts. Gives examples of how each design feature varies in different ships. * Articles on individual ships, broader coverage than Crothers


Clipper ships by type

* * – British and Australian clippers * * – One of the few comprehensive books on these ships


External links


''City of Adelaide'' Clipper Ship
one of the few surviving clippers
Westward by Sea
Library of Congress collection of sailing cards.
The Shipslist: Baltimore Clipper
at the New-York Historical Society {{Authority control Merchant sailing ship types Sailing rigs and rigging