Danny Carter, age 13, of Reno, Nevada, for his question:
WHEN WAS THE CLIPPER SHIP FIRST USED?
Most beautiful and romantic of all sailing ships back in the 1800s was the clipper ship. The first one was built in the United States during the 1840s.
The name of the sailing ship came from "clip," meaning to move swiftly. Using slender hulls and many sails, unlike the slow and bulky galleons, East Indianmen and packet ships that went before it, the clipper ships were definitely designed for speed.
The first clipper ships were designed to sail from the East Coast, around the tip of South America, to China and bring back tea. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 and in Australia in 1851 hastened the clipper's development as fortune seekers and supplies were rushed to the gold fields.
The success of the American clipper ship led the British to build a fleet of clippers to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.
Donald McKay, a Canadian, became the greatest designer of clipper ships. His shipyard in East Boston, Mass., turned out more than 30 of them.
McKay's first clippers measured about 200 feet long and could carry 1,500 tons. He steadily increased the size of his ships. In 1853, he launched the "Great Republic," the largest wooden ship ever built. It was about 335 feet long, had four masts and could carry more than 4,500 tons.
Most of the clippers had as many as six rows of sails to a mast. Some ships had as many as 35 sails. Driven at top speed, clippers could cut through the water at 20 knots. They could race from New York City, around South America and up to San Francisco in less than 100 days.
Early in the 1800s, just before the clippers came into their own, most trade between America and European countries was handled by ships called packets. Packet ships sailed on regular schedules and offered many comforts for passengers.
To meet the schedules and the competition, the packets had to sail as fast as possible. But the ships themselves were ordinary sailing vessels that did not have especially sharp lines for speed, as did the later clipper ships.
The speed of the packets came from their captains, who drove the ships furiously night and day in all weather. The eastward crossing from New York City to Liverpool, England, took from three to four weeks. The westward crossing took longer: from five to six weeks, because the ships had to sail against the westerly winds.
The first packets measured about 100 feet long. By the 1840s, just as the clippers came along to replace them, the packet had grown to be about 160 feet long.
Before the packets came along, ships sailed only if they had full loads of cargo and passengers. In addition, the weather generally had to be favorable. Packet ships sailed at a scheduled time, fully loaded or not and regardless of the weather.
The packets were first used in 1818 by the Black Ball Line. The service was so successful that other American lines, such as the Red Star and Swallow Tail, quickly followed.