Stormalong was said to be a sailor and a giant, some 30 feet tall ; he was the master of a huge clipper ship known in various sources as either the Courser or the Tuscarora, a ship so tall that it had hinged masts to avoid catching on the moon.

An early example, which is today known as an opium clipper, was the Transit of 1819.

The first attempt at building a larger swift vessel was in America with the Ann McKim, 494 tons OM, built on the enlarged lines of a Baltimore clipper, with sharply raked stem, counter stern and square rig.

Although the Ann McKim was the first large clipper ship ever constructed, it cannot be said that she founded the clipper ship era, or even that she directly influenced shipbuilders, since no other ship was built like her ; but she may have suggested the clipper design in vessels of ship rig.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, the shipbuilders Alexander Hall and Sons developed the " Aberdeen " clipper bow in the late 1830s: the first was the Scottish Maid launched in 1839.

The Scottish Maid, 150 tons OM, was the first British clipper ship.

Then in 1845 the Rainbow, 757 tons OM, the first extreme clipper was launched in New York.

From 1851 or earlier another type of clipper ship was also being built in American shipyards, the medium clipper.

From 1859 a new design was developed for British clipper ships that was nothing like the American clippers.

The steam clipper was developed around this time, and had auxiliary steam engines which could be used in the absence of wind.

Although many clipper ships were built in the mid-19th century, Cutty Sark was, perhaps until recently, the only survivor.

The clipper bow on carriers was an American peculiarity, Japanese ships did not feature it and British ships had the similar but differently-shaped " hurricane bow ," whose purpose was, like the clipper bow, to improve hydrodynamic efficiency and, unlike the clipper bow, protect the hangar deck from spray.

The medium clipper, though still very fast, had comparatively more allowance for cargo.

The modern clipper ship's hull uses a design very much like the canoes used by the Quileutes.

A moonraker, also known as a moonsail, hope-in-heaven, or hopesail, is a sail flown immediately above the skysail ( see sail-plan ) on the very top of the royal mast on large, square rigged sailing ships of the clipper era.

A clipper is a fast sailing ship.

In 1849 the discovery of gold in California created a demand for speed that resulted in the creation of the clipper ship — a fast sailing ship with multiple masts and a square rig.

Average trajectory of a ClipperAn Alberta clipper ( also known as a Canadian Clipper ) is a fast moving low pressure area which generally affects the central provinces of Canada and parts of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the United States.

James ' voyage is notable as she was the first woman to single-handedly sail the clipper route, eastabout and south of the three great capes ; and she completed a fast ( although not without outside assistance ) circumnavigation in just 272 days.

The clipper route, which is the fastest sailing route around the world, follows the ACC around three continental capes-Cape Agulhas ( Africa ), South East Cape ( Australia ) and Cape Horn ( South America ).

Some were lightly armed in the War of 1812, sailing under Letters of Marque and Reprisal, when the type — exemplified by Chasseur, launched at Fells Point, Baltimore in 1814 became known for her incredible speed ; the deep draft enabled the Baltimore clipper to sail close to the wind.

Departures of clipper ships, mostly from New York and Boston to San Francisco, were advertised by clipper ship sailing cards.

See the links below to learn more about clipper ship sailing cards.

In 1818, the Black Ball Line opened a regularly scheduled New York – Liverpool service with clipper ships, beginning an era when American sailing packets dominated the North Atlantic saloon-passenger trade that lasted until the introduction of steamships.

Birthplace of Freeman Hatch, who in 1853 set the world record ( which still stands ) for a single-hull wooden sailing vessel from San Francisco around Cape Horn to Boston aboard the clipper ship Northern Light.

Together with his partners ( Westervelt & MacKay and Westervelt & Sons ) he designed some of the fastest and most successful sailing packets, clippers and steamships ever built, among these the screw sloop and the clipper, as well as many vessels for foreign governments and Royal Houses.

* Challenger ( clipper ), a clipper sailing ship built in London in 1852

The voyage was also a race against the clock as Sir Francis wanted to better the typical times achieved by the fastest fully crewed clipper ships during the heyday of commercial sail in the 19th century ( the first recorded solo circumnavigation of the globe was achieved by Joshua Slocum in 1898 but it took him three years with numerous stops-Slocum also took up the harder challenge of sailing east to west, against the prevailing wind ).

The clipper sailing ship Dunedin, owned by the New Zealand and Australian Land Company ( NZALC ), was refitted in 1881 with a Bell-Coleman compression refrigeration machine — this steam powered freezer unit worked by, compressing air, then releasing it into the hold of the ship.

; 5 March 1858: The Wild Wave, a 1500 ton clipper ship sailing from San Francisco, is wrecked on Oeno's reef.

United States naval architects or ship designers introduced the faster and larger sailing frigates and sloop-of-wars of the early United States Navy which influenced the later merchant ships and clipper ships.

The circumstances preceding the mutiny on the Bounty and Jack London's story " Make Westing " poignantly illustrated the difficulty it caused for mariners seeking to round Cape Horn on the clipper ship route between New York and California.

" Clipper Ship Lightning ( clipper ) | Lightning " – an American clipper ship of the 1850s

" Opium clipper " Water Witch, a British ship built in 1831

Hornet ( clipper ) | Hornet – an American clipper ship of the 1850s

American clipper ship, painted in typical style by Chinese artist

She did, however, influence the building of the Rainbow in 1845, the first extreme clipper ship.

The square rig, which reached its maximum development in the clipper ships and trading barques of the late 19th and early 20th century, relies on rectangular sails hung beneath yards, themselves suspended from the masts and set " square " ( i. e., at a right angle to ) the keel of the ship.

Great clipper ships of the 19th century, however, bypassed Ipswich in favor of the deep-water seaports at Salem, Newburyport, Quincy, and Boston.

In 1805 the Middlesex Canal linked the Charles and Mystic Rivers to the Merrimack River in Lowell, and during the 19th century, 10 shipyards along the Mystic River built more than 500 clipper ships.

* Robert Waterman ( sea captain ), an American 19th century clipper ship captain.

The 19th century clipper ships in the Economic history of China ( pre-1911 ) | China trade required a great deal of labor to operate.

Gipsy Moth IV is a ketch that Sir Francis Chichester commissioned specifically to sail single-handed around the globe, racing against the times set by the clipper ships of the 19th century.