Best Friendship Human Life Ship Voyage
Clipper ships were by far the fastest ships of the Great Age of Sail. Any way you look at it, their name is derived from their speed. An old saying says that they are called clippers because they clip time off your voyage. The more generally agreed story is that it comes from the use of “clip” as an adverb to indicate speed, as in “going at a good clip”. Wherever the name comes from a clipper is a fast ship. Every ship that rates the name clipper is built for speed with a sharp narrow bow, and a lot of sail relative to the size of the ship.
The clipper is an American invention, and they were initially not cargo carriers, but rather pilot ships, privateers, or navy ships. The famous Baltimore Clipper of 1812 is the best example of the early clippers. When America annexed California the golden age of the clipper began. Fast ships that could carry goods around the Horn of South America through the passage first used by Ferdinand Magellan became desirable. With the gold rush of 1849 a gold rich California was the place to go with a fast ship with a small hold laden with luxury goods. From the developing seaport of San Francisco sailing west to China for tea and silk also became popular for clipper ships. A China Clipper set a record probably only broken by inflation bringing back a cargo worth over 2 million dollars on a single voyage. Two million was a fortune five or ten times over in the 1850's.
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