Clipper Ship History

History

Clipper is the name used to describe a ship that is a very fast sailer. Clipper ships were not a specific design, they were a state of mind. In the 19th century clipper ships were fast, sleek, and state of the art.

The American economy was booming in the late 1840's. San Francisco was the Golden Gate to Western America even before the first gold strike in 1848. As shipping rates soared from $10 to $60 a ton and the market for Chinese tea skyrocketed, it was much more lucrative to build and operate ships that looked more like racing vessels than cargo carriers.

For a seagoing, cargo-carrying sailing vessel, the clipper ship was remarkably fast. Claims for speeds from 16 to 18 nautical mph are common, and exceptional speeds of up to 20 knots have been documented.

The size of the American clipper ships of the 1850s, many of them built by Boston naval architect Donald McKay, ranged in length from about 46 to 76 m (about 150 to 250 ft), with the most common length being approximately 56m (about 185 ft). Only six noted American clipper ships were longer than 76 m (250 ft), and the longest, McKay's Great Republic, was 92 m (302 ft) long, the largest clipper ship ever built.

American clipper ships normally carried crews of 25 to 50 sailors, and established many remarkable and long-standing records. Some of these records include those of McKay's Yankee clippers the Lightning, which established a world record by sailing 436 nautical mi in one day, and the James Baines, which set a transatlantic record of 12 days 6 hr from Boston to Liverpool and an around-the-world record of 133 days. Other clipper records were set by the Nightingale, which sailed from Shanghai to London in 91 days; the Sea Witch, Canton to New York in 81 days, and the Challenge, Hong Kong to San Francisco in 33 days.

American clipper ships generally were strongly built; iron was strapped over the frames and on the sides of the inner keel, or keels, in many instances. While they suffered extensive damage in spars, rigging, sails, and topside fittings because of hard driving, which made maintenance costly, clippers typically lasted well. Some record-holding clipper ships had an active life of up to 48 years.

The clipper era ended when the transoceanic carrying trade was affected by the reduced freight rates made possible by the introduction of the steamship. Afterwards only sailing vessels capable of carrying very large freight cargoes could be operated profitably.

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