CLIPPER ( probably con nected with Dutch klepper, fast horse. from kleppen, to run swiftly, and thus with Eng. clap). A sailing vessel built with very sharp lines. more or less raking masts. and great spread of canvas, with a view to speed; a development of a model for the mercantile marine. first built in this country at Baltimore, and called the Baltimore Clipper. The clippers. becoming famous for quick runs. and oc casionally making better time than the steamers, were especially employed in the South American trade. in the China- trade (for tea and opium ), and in the early California trade, via Cape TIorn. For many years the 'fruit clippers' were cele brated for their rapid passages; and the `opium clippers' and 'slavers' attained an unenviable no toriety for speed. A 'clipper ship,' as compared with the ordinary sailing ship. is longer. and gen erally of less beam in proportion to her length ; very sharp at the bows, whieh are hollowed more or less below the water-line; gracefully fined away toward the stern, which is almost always elliptical; and, in fact, the comparison of the race-horse to the beast of harden holds good in comparing the clipper to the ordinary sailing snip. The first American clipper was the Rain bo•, a vessel of 750 tons, built in 1843 for the China trade. The largest of these craft was the Great Republic, 325 feet in length, 53 feet beam, ft nd 37 feet depth of hold, of 4000 tons capacity.
The Aberdeen builders and Nr. Scott Russell, in England, built some of the most magnificent clipper ships that have sailed the ocean. Among the fastest passages are those made by the Fly ing Cloud in 1851, New York to San Francisco in 89 days and 18 hours, making 374 miles in one day. This record, however, was reduced by the Comet, which made the same trip in S3 days; in 1854, by the Lightning, Boston to Liverpool, 2827 miles, in 13 days, and Melbourne to Liverpool, 12,190 miles, in 04 clays; in 1805, by the :Vigil( in °ale from Melbourne to New York, 12,720 miles, in 73 days; the Thornton, Sandy Hook to Liver pool, 3000 miles, in 13 days, 9 hours; this record was equaled by the Dreadnaught in 1859; 1809, the Golden Gate, an iron clipper ship, from Liver pool to San Francisco, 13,800 miles in 100 days. The clipper, which was at its prime during the period from 1810 to 1855, at the advent of the steamship underwent numerous transformations as the ends of commerce demanded a greater cargo-carrying capacity at the expense of speed, and as a type gradually passed away; changes were made in the lines and rig, and smaller crews were carried, with the object of increasing ton nage capacity and competing with steamships by lower freight-rates. The effect of the model, how ever, was shown in many subsequent ships and yachts.