New-York tribune., 1910-12-24

seh Clirper Ships. t-heif cNHSiS, Iouio
ers, Commanders end Crews, BY Artnsi
Clark With fhirty--yo illustrations
svo. pp xii. 4oi. 6. ?. Putnams sons
The a,Jt.or Of this book himself served
IS an officer on enc of the best known Of
the American clipper ships whose history
he tells: he was acquainted with several
Of their captains. saw many or them
h,,ilr at the Boston yards, and himseif
commanded in later days several vessels,
both sail and steam. What he has to tell
Is. therefore, not merely matter OF
careful compilation from records, but
first hand knowledge, the result being
that his pages. apart from their hlstorl-
cal knowledge their detailed lists OF
ships ane record trips, has human note
that makes them of interest TO larger,
non-nautical public. He writes Of COM
nanders and crews, Of conditions aboard
during the long voyages under sail, OF
the romance OF q vanished sea HE
Paving due measure OF attention to Brit
fish as well as to American ships ana
their records, he is led into the past TO
find the causes Of the supremacy held
by our flyers during a quarter of cen
fury, and thus, first of all, finds the best
models for sailing vessels in French
built ships The monopoly held by the
British East India Company obliterated
all need of competitive speed; and in the
early days OF transatlantic freighting
the British owners appear TO have been
long in awakening TO the Importance OF
reduced time in Liverpool-New York
voyages. 1t was the American tea clip
pers, enormous time savers, and there
fore money makers. preferred for that
reason by British merchants. which set
British owners and commanders to do
their best
The main part Of Mr.. Clark's work is,
however, devoted to the achievements Of
the clipper service from our Atlantic
ports to San Francisco in the days Of
.he gold fever. Those were the days Of
ocean racing such as the world has never
seen before or since. There was the
race between the clippers Flying Fish
and John GilpiH from Sandy Hook TO the
Golden Gate. the one doing the trip in
ninety-two. the other in ninety-thre
days:
When We reflect that this match was
n
and that the difference Of time was only
twsnty-four hours, one is impressed with
the perfection TO which the models Of the
vessels had been brought and with
tie skill Of their captains. The average diff
ference of sailing between these two ships
was less than six seconds per mile over
the entire distance. Few races over thirty
mile courses have been sailed by yachts
more evenly matched. No racing yachts
have ever been handled with greater care
pnd skill than were these clipper ships over
courses OF thousands of miles.
Technical details of construction,
measurements, etc. may be passed over
here though part Of the superiority of
the American merchant feet over the
British lay in just this. that owing to
lighter construction the Americans, with
a smaller total tonnage, had a greater
carrying. capacity in addition 10 their
superior speed. In the early days OF
tlse California rush, with a freight rate
Of 500 ton the clippers more than paid
for their cost with their first trip. In
teresting also. are Mr.. Clark's data con-
oerning the enormous earnings of the
masters of the British East India COM
ranv in the good old days.
TIE record for 4 quick trip between
New York and San Francisco was won
l7v the FLYING Cloud-eighty-nine days
? performance which she repeated three
wears later. I'm 1854. This record has
never been broken. and was equalled
only once. in 1860. hy another clipper,
the Andrew Jackson
The author writes enthusiastically of
the American commanders Of these YES
sels. and remembers the mates whose
duty il was 10 serve out Delaying pin
soup" and -hsndspike hash TO the vii
lanous crews of the Liverpool packets,
the -so-called Liverpool Irish" whose
only virtue was that they were capital
sailors Discussing the crews of the
California packets he says:
Strictly speaking there have never been
any American sailors as class. that IS,
no American merchant ship of considerable
tonnage was ever manned by native-born
Americans Neither have Americans
ever followed the sea all their lives before
the mast. Some Of the small Salem ships
and perhaps q few of the Nantucket whai-
ers Of a century ago may possibly have car
ried entirely American crews. but, II SO.
.he rner did not remain long in the fore
castle
One Salem ship, for instance. furnished
out Of its American crew forty-five cap
tairs. twenty chief mates and six second
mates, the original cabin boy rising
through all the grades to command her
81 last The best crews of the American
merchant marine during the first half OF
the last century were Scandinavians,
bic seamen in the fullest sense Of the
word which includes discipline Dur
ing the gold fever the crews Of the clip
rers were however. largely composed Of
scum. intent only on getting passage to
the land OF promise. By the time the
equator was reached the American Off
GERS invariably had persuaded them TO
see the beauty OF obedience and work.
They deserted the moment San Fran
cisco was reached. and the return crew
was often Il possible, of worse calibre-
The author discusses Jack af1oat and
ashore with fullest understanding. and
recosnfzeS his traditional right to grum-
BILE even though he had to object to
fresh food End insist On salt junk for
2 pretext The sea lawyer" not the
one Of the fo'csle, but he Of the water
front. comes in for his share of reminis-
eence. together with the harpies that
rreved upon the sailorman. His condi-
.ion has indeed been improved since
then.