During the present year (1851) a tri umph of American over English ship building has been achieved, in the case of t im yacht, the schooner America, built and owned by Mr. Stevens, of New-York, which sailed for and obtained the prize (value £100) of the Royal Yacht Club of England at the regatta which came off at Cowes on 22d August, 1851. The yacht came in 52 minutes ahead of the foremost English vessel. She has since been sold for $25,000, being about $5,000 more than it cost in New-York. She has a clipper build, with a low, black hull, and two masts of extreme rake without extra rope. Her bow is very sharp, and scooped away outward, swelling toward the stern. The sides gradually spring outward till v. little forward of the mainmast, where she has her greatest beam, being 22 feet 8 inches there. The stern is broad, wide, and full, affording great accommodation above deck and below. The bulwarks are not higher than 10 inches. Standing at the stern and looking forward, the deck is nearly of a wedge shape, or like the sec tion of a carrot, the bow being as sharp as the apex of a triangle, and the stern be ing little less than the extreme breadth of the beam. She is of 171 tons burthen.
In the year ending June, 1850, the merchant ships which left port in the United States amounted to 18,195, of which 6,379 were American, and 9,816 foreign. The tonnage of these vessels
was 4,361,202 tons. From New-York alone the number of ships cleared was not less than 2,818 of 1,106,070 tons. In 1850 there were built and launched from New York 28 steamships and 30 sailing ves sels.
The following statement shows the number and tonnage of the vessels built in each state and territory of the United States, for the year ending on the 30th of June, 1850. It is taken from the Report of the Secretary of the Treasuryrans ma R mitting the annual report of the Register of the Treasury of the commerce and navigation of the United States for the fiscal year.
Of the vessels comprised in the table, there were two hundred and forty-seven ships, one hundred and seventeen brigs, five hundred and forty-seven schooners, two hundred ad d ninety sloops and canal boats, and one hundred and fifty-nine steamers. The largest number of ships built in any state was one hundred and twenty.seven, in Maine ; and the largest number of steamers, thirty-four, in Ken tucky. The largest tonnage set afloat during the year is that of Maine, and the next largest of New-York. Of the one hundred and fifty vessels built in Mary land, one hundred and twenty-five were schooners.