CLIPPER

A 'clipper' was a very fast multiple-masted sailing ship of the 19th century. Generally narrow for their length, limited in their bulk freight carrying capacities, and small by later 19th century standards, the clippers had a large relative sail area. "Clipper ships" were mostly products of British and American shipyards, though France, the Netherlands (the Dutch-built ''Telanak'', built in 1859 for the tea and passenger trade to Java) and other nations also produced a number of them. Clippers sailed all over the world, primarily on the trade routes between the United Kingdom and her colonies in the east, in the trans-Atlantic trade, and in the New York-to-San Francisco route round Cape Horn during the California Gold Rush.

Contents

Origins

The China Clippers and the Epitome of Sail

Decline

Notable clipper ships

See also

External links

References

Origins

of sail. These clippers, when fully rigged and riding before a tradewind, were acknowledged to be the fastest of all sail vessels, with peak average speeds even exceeding 16 knots. When the last China Clippers were retired, they ended the age of the fastest commercial sailing vessels made by man. Their speeds have been improved upon many times by modern ocean yachts, but never by any commercial sail vessel.

Decline

Decline in the use of clippers started with the economic slump following the Panic of 1857 and continued with the gradual introduction of the steamship. Although clippers could be much faster than the early steamships, clippers were ultimately dependent on the vagaries of the wind, while steamers could reliably keep to a schedule. The ''steam clipper'' was developed around this time, and had auxiliary steam engines which could be used in the absence of wind. An example of this type was ''Royal Charter'', built in 1857 and wrecked on the coast of Anglesey in 1859. The final blow was the Suez Canal, opened in 1869, which provided a huge shortcut for steamships between Europe and Asia, but was difficult for sailing ships to use. With the absence of the tea trade, some clippers had no chance of survival but to go into the wool trade, operating between Britain and Australia.
Although many clipper ships were built during the middle of the 19th century, ''Cutty Sark'' was, perhaps until recently, the only survivor. ''Falls of Clyde'' is a well-preserved example of a more conservatively designed, slower contemporary of the clippers, which was built for general freight in 1878. Other surviving examples of clipper ships of the era are not as well preserved, for example ''City of Adelaide'''' (a.k.a. S.V. ''Carrick'')[1].
In 2000, a new clipper, ''Stad Amsterdam'', was built; she is not a replica of any one ship, but an attempt to combine what its builders consider the "best" qualities of the clipper ships.

Notable clipper ships

Main articles: List of clipper ships

See also

★ William Jardine

★ Donald McKay

★ Packet ship

★ Sail-plan

★ Clipper route

★ ''Cutty Sark''

External links

★ Oil paintings of clipper ships by Bruce Von Stetina

★ The "Telanak"

★ Clipper Ship cards

★ Clipper Ship Cards (from The Trade Card Place)

★ The Shipslist: Baltimore Clipper

★ "Baltimore Clippers - Pirates of the Chesapeake": career of ''Chasseur''

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 ISBN 0-87021-895-6 index

★ Oxford English Dictionary (1987) ISBN 0-19-861212-5.

★ 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.

★ Villiers, Capt. Alan, 1973. ''Men, Ships and the Sea'' (National Geographic Society)