A clipper is a type of mid-nineteenth-century merchant sailing ship built for speed rather than cargo capacity, with a hull that was narrow and sharp for its length by the standards of the day and that carried an unusually large total area of sail. The design emerged in 1843 in response to demand for fast delivery of tea from China to Europe, and clippers went on to dominate the China tea trade, carry opium into China, race prospectors and goods to the California and Australian gold rushes, and carry emigrants to Australia, all trades where a premium was paid for speed. Clippers' commercial era was brief: the opening of the Panama Railroad in 1855 and the Suez Canal in 1869 shortened steamship routes enough that sailing ships built for speed alone lost their advantage, and by the late 1860s the type had gone into decline. Famous clippers raced one another on well-publicized voyages, and the type remains closely associated with the romance of nineteenth-century sail.
Facts
YearMarks the start of the clipper era's boom years, driven by the China tea trade; the Baltimore clipper predecessor type dates to the late 18th century. SignificanceClippers carried the fastest sailing trade between Britain and China, across the Atlantic, and around Cape Horn during the California gold rush, before the era ended once the Panama Railroad and the Suez Canal shortened the same routes. 1 Manufacturer or BuilderBuilt mostly in British and American shipyards, with Donald McKay of Boston the most celebrated American builder; his Flying Cloud was the most famous clipper. 1 FAQs
Why did steamships end the clipper's trade after the Suez Canal opened?
The canal cut about 3000 nautical miles from the steamer route and let steamships beat clippers by weeks.
The Suez Canal opened in 1869 and gave steamships a route about 3,000 nautical miles shorter than the one sailing ships took around the Cape of Good Hope. Steamers had already become practical on the China run after the SS Agamemnon's first voyage in 1866, and by 1871 tea clippers faced strong competition from them in the Chinese tea ports. A typical steamer passage back to London took 58 days, while the fastest clippers could occasionally manage it in under 100 days and the average in the 1867 to 1868 tea season was 123 days. The steamer's freight rate in 1871 was roughly double what a sailing vessel was paid, which hurt owners who had launched new extreme clippers in 1869.
Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Clipper
WikipediaNotable clippers section
Flying Cloud was the most famous of the clippers built by Donald McKay.
Introduction section
The era ended with the opening of the Panama Railroad in 1855 and the Suez Canal in 1869.
In Group: Clippers and Merchant Sailing Ships, Lead sentence
A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed.
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