The last great days of sail

The clipper ship David Crockett was built at Mystic, Connecticut, in
1853. She was one of many famous clippers, the fastest sailing ships
ever built. The David Crockett rounded Cape Horn forty-eight
times—more times than any other sailing ship in history.

The last great days of sail

The clipper ships were among the most beautiful—and the
fastest—sailing ships ever built. They were long, low, and slim. Their
towering masts carried great clouds of billowing sails. They were called
\”clippers” because it was said they \”clipped off” miles as swiftly as
a barber clips off hair.

One of the first clipper ships was the Rainbow. It was launched in New
York in 1845. Many seamen felt that the Rainbow was too slim and light
to stand the pounding of a stormy sea. They said she would turn over
from the weight of all her spars—the masts and wooden crosspieces that
held the sails. But none of these things happened. The Rainbow proved
to be so fast that other shipbuilders were soon making ships just like
her.

Clipper ships quickly began to set new speed records. They made voyages
from New England to China and Australia in half the time it took other
ships. In 1854, the clipper ship Champion of the Seas sailed 465 miles
(748 kilometers) in twenty-four hours. That was the fastest that any
ship had ever sailed. Not until twenty-five years later did a steamship
go faster.

Clipper ships carried cargo, and sometimes passengers, to and from most
parts of the world. For a time they were \”queens” of the sea. But their
time was short. By the 1860’s they were being replaced by bulkier ships
that were slower, but could carry more cargo and needed fewer sailors.
And in the 1860’s and 1870’s, steamships began to take the place of
sailing ships. The clippers were among the last of the great sailing
ships.