clipper ships
Fast merchant vessels
Clipper ships were fast sailing vessels of the mid-nineteenth century, built for speed rather than cargo capacity.
Their narrow hulls and towering masts made them ideal for time-sensitive trade routes—carrying tea from China or racing prospectors to California during the Gold Rush.
The clipper ships could make the journey in half the time.
Steam power made them obsolete within decades.
- bowspritForward-projecting ship pole
- tea tradeBusiness in brewed leaves
- Age of SailEra of wind-propelled ships
- shipwrightsCraftsmen who build vessels
- Cutty SarkPreserved Victorian clipper
California Gold Rush · merchant fleets · tall ships · wooden hulls · opium trade · celestial navigation · sea shanties · schooners · shipping lanes · port cities · global commerce · harbor pilots · nautical charts · sailing · spice trade · freight rates · harbor · swift
- maritimeships, boat, boats, anchors, sailor
- transportationcar, bus, airplane, train, plane
- maritime historysailors, ships, seamen, sailing ships, celestial navigation
- nauticalanchor, anchor chain, anchors, boat, boats
- Ocean Voyagescruise ships, cargo ships, freighters, tankers, container ships
- shippingshipping, cargo ships, container ships, freight, package
clipper shipssteamships
Engine-driven water vessels
steamers · paddle steamers · ironclads · ocean liners · oil tankers
clipper shipscolliers
Coal miners or transporters
tubs · merchantmen · galleons · freighters · tankers
clipper shipscontainer ships
Vessels transporting standardized freight boxes
supertankers · oil tankers · factory ships · cruise ships · aircraft carriers