Transport & space · c. 1845

Clipper ship

Sharp, narrow sailing ships set speed records in the last great age of sail.

American and British clippers from the mid-1840s traded cargo space for speed with fine hulls and vast sail area. Flying Cloud sailed New York to San Francisco in 89 days in 1851. They carried tea, gold-rush passengers and wool until steam and the Suez Canal made them obsolete.

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