THE CLIPPER SHIP ERA.*
THERE can be no doubt that the clipper era was the most remarkable instance of shipbuilding skill in history. .It sprang up suddenly on the discovery of gold in California, that is to say, well within the memory of many living, and it lasted barely twenty-five years, by which time most of the clippers had been burnt, or wrecked, or had foundered at sea.
• The Clipper Ship Era. By A. H. Clark. London: Putnam. [7a. 61. nat.)
There was the introductory era associated with the name of "Nat" Palmer, the father of the great skippers, as some may call him; the Californian era, the great era, to which is attached the names of the Flying Cloud' and Captain Creesy ; the Australian era, and the Tea Clipper era. The ' Red Jacket' belonged to the Australian service, but her most famous passage was en her first voyage, when she went from Sandy Hook to the Rock Light, Liverpool, in thirteen days one hour. The fastest British-built clipper was probably the ' Melbourne,' which made, when running her easting down, 5,100 miles in seventeen days. The China tea-clippers never exceeded 1,000 tons register, and could not be sailed through stormy seas at the pace at which the great Californian clippers were driven, but they were the perfection of merchant vessels, says Mr. Clark. Certainly the most famous race of all was between the five tea-clippers in 1866, when the Taeping ' beat the 'Ariel' on a voyage of ninety-nine days by twelve minutes. The Serica ' was but four hours later, and the three actually went up the river on the same tide. The 'Fiery Cross' and the Taitsing ' took one hundred and one days. Mr. Clark does ample justice to all these wonderful vessels, and amid the many names and statistics of the voyages he gives us an occasional and, all too rare, most graphic sketch of some of the more exciting moments in those stiffing days. Nor does he forget the men who made and sailed these beautiful vessels. They were the very best that New England could produce, men of whom their Puritan ancestors might well have been proud. Of the builders Donald McKay was the foremost, and Samuel Hall was not far behind. McKay built forty-two clippers, designing them in the shipyards, and seems to have possessed a genius for creating these splendid craft. His wife is still living. The portraits add much to the interest of this really fascinating book.
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