A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th-century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Clipper" does not refer to a specific sailplan; clippers may be schooners, brigs, brigantines, etc., as well as full-rigged ships. Clippers were mostly constructed in British and American shipyards, although France, Brazil, the Netherlands, and other nations also produced some. Clippers sailed all over the world, primarily on the trade routes between the United Kingdom and China, in transatlantic trade, and on the New York-to-San Francisco route around Cape Horn during the California Gold Rush. Dutch clippers were built beginning in the 1850s for the tea trade and passenger service to Java.
Captain Robert Bennet Forbes, was an American sea captain, China merchant and ship owner. He was active in ship construction, maritime safety, the opium trade, and charitable activities, including food aid to Ireland, which became known as America's first major disaster relief effort.
60 State Street is a modern skyscraper on historic State Street in the Government Center neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Completed in 1977, it is Boston's 19th tallest building, standing 509 feet tall, and housing 38 floors.
Northern Light was an American clipper ship. In 1853 she sailed from San Francisco, California to Boston, Massachusetts via Cape Horn with Captain Freeman Hatch at the helm in a record-setting 76 days, 6 hours. The record still stands for a single hull vessel. In 1993 the record was soundly broken by a multi-hull sailing vessel Great American II with no cargo. Sailing around Cape Horn is widely regarded as one of the most challenging routes in yachting, due to extreme weather, strong currents, and a historical reputation for mountainous seas and frequent severe storms.
Cremorne was a clipper ship of Sutton and Co.'s Dispatch Line and Coleman's California Line. She sailed between New York and San Francisco. Her services were advertised in sailing cards.
Seminole was a later clipper ship, built by Maxon & Fish at Mystic, Connecticut, in 1865.
White Swallow was an extreme clipper built in Boston in 1853 for the California trade.
Witchcraft was a clipper built in 1850 for the California and China trade. She made record passages from Rio de Janeiro to San Francisco, and from San Francisco to Callao, Peru.
Carrier Dove was an 1855 medium clipper. She was one of two well-known clippers launched in Baltimore that year, the other being Mary Whitridge.
Herald of the Morning was one of the few clipper ships with a passage to San Francisco in less than 100 days.
Lookout was an 1853 clipper known for her passages from New York to San Francisco, and as an offshore and coastal trader in the lumber and coal trades.
Antelope was a medium clipper built in 1851 in Medford, near Boston, Massachusetts. She sailed in the San Francisco, China, and Far East trades, and was known for her fine finish work and for her crew's escape from pirates. She is often called Antelope of Boston to distinguish her from the extreme clipper Antelope of New York launched in 1852.
Ocean Telegraph was a clipper ship that was built in Massachusetts in 1854 and was last known of in Gibraltar in 1923. She was in US ownership until 1863, when UK interests bought her and renamed her Light Brigade.
James Otis Curtis was an American shipbuilder who built ships in Medford, Massachusetts. He built wooden ships that were either powered by sail or by screw and steam.
Paul Curtis was an American shipbuilder who built ships in Medford, Massachusetts.
A medium clipper is a type of clipper designed for both cargo carrying capacity and speed. An evolutionary adaptation of the extreme clipper, the medium clipper had been invented by 1851, when the hull type appeared in U.S. shipyards. Medium clippers continued to be built until 1873, when Pilgrim, one of the last known medium clipper ships to be built, was launched by Joshua T. Foster from the shipyards of Medford, Massachusetts.
Shooting Star was an extreme clipper built in 1851 near Boston, in Medford, Massachusetts. She was the first "real clipper" to be built in Medford, and sailed in the San Francisco, China, and Far East trades. According to Howe and Matthews, she was known as "one of the fastest of the small clippers".
Thatcher Magoun was a shipbuilder who specialized in large ships and brigs, 250-tons and larger, built for the China trade. His reputation, according to the maritime historian Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, was "second to none among American shipbuilders." He was also called the "Father of Shipbuilding on the Mystic River."
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