Clipper

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Clipperton_Island :: Clipper

A clipper was a very fast multiple-masted sailing ship of the 19th century. Generally narrow for their length, limiting 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 Britain and its colonies in the east, in the trans-Atlantic trade, and in the New York-to-San Francisco route round The Horn during the Gold Rush.

Origins

The often quoted derivation of the word, that the vessels "clipped" time off a voyage, is probably incorrect. However, the example of the other class of vessel built for speed, the cutter, reminds us that the cutting notion may have been seen as relevant. One of the meanings of clip, from the seventeenth century onward, possibly from the sound of wings, is to fly or move quickly. The term clipper was originally applied to a fast horse and most likely derives from the term clip, meaning speed, as in "going at a good clip". The term clipper seems to be much the same as flier. The Oxford English Dictionary gives its earliest English quotation as from 1830. Cutler reports that the first newspaper appearance was in 1835, but that by then the term was apparently familiar.

In the United States the term "clipper," described the Baltimore Clipper, a topsail schooner that was developed in Chesapeake Bay before the Revolution and was lightly armed in the War of 1812, sailing under Letters of Marque and Reprisal, when the type—exemplified by the Chasseur, launched at Fells Point, Maryland, 1814— became known for its incredible speed; a deep draft enabled the Baltimore clipper to sail close to the wind (Villiers 1973). Clippers, outrunning the British blockade of Baltimore, came to be recognized as ships built for speed rather than cargo space; while traditional merchant ships were accustomed to average speeds of under 5 knots (9 km/h), clippers aimed at 9 knots (17 km/h) or better. Sometimes these ships could reach 20 knots (37 km/h). Clippers were built for seasonal trades such as tea, where an early cargo was more valuable, or for passenger routes. The small, fast ships were ideally suited to low-volume, high-profit goods, such as spices, tea, people, and mail. The values could be spectacular. The "Challenger" returned from Shanghai with "the most valuable cargo of tea and silk ($2,000,000) ever to be laden in one bottom." The competition among the clippers was public and fierce, with their times recorded in the newspapers. The ships had low expected lifetimes and rarely outlasted two decades of use before they were broken up for salvage. Given their speed and maneuverability, clippers frequently mounted cannon or carronade and were often employed as pirate vessels, privateers, smuggling vessels, and in interdiction service.

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) clipper cards survive today. With their stunning appearance, rarity, and importance as artifacts of nautical, Western, and printing history, clipper cards are highly prized by both private collectors and institutions. See the links below to learn more about clipper ship sailing cards.

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 the Royal Charter, built in 1857 and wrecked on the coast of Anglesey in 1859. The final blow came in the form of the Suez Canal, opened in 1869, which provided a huge shortcut for steamships between Europe and Asia, but which was difficult for sailing ships to use.

Although many clipper ships were built during the middle of the 1800s, Cutty Sark is arguably 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 the City of Adelaide (aka S.V. Carrick)^*.

Notable clipper ships

Aerial clippers

Trans-oceanic flying boats, above all the Boeing 314 were established under the name of "flying clipper", from the early 1930s. To send mail or goods by one of these flights was, in the 1930s, to clipper it.

External links

The "Telanak"
Clipper Ship cards
Clipper Ship Cards (from The Trade Card Place)
The Flying Clippers
The Shipslist: Baltimore Clipper
"Baltimore Clippers - Pirates of the Chesapeake": career of Chasseur
Clipper Wind ^*

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 0870218956 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)

Sailboat types | Ship types