The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-06-27

farer or Shlpbullder Will agree With this
statement 1t has been illustrated more
than once by craft built in our local
yards.
The clippers all had concave lines or
what is commonly called hollow bows. 1t
is said of one of our American clippers
sold to an English firm that slabs of wood
were used to fill out the hollows forward.
The famous, or perhaps should say the
notorious, schooner yacht Wanderer, was
built on this model, and was thus de-
scribed in newspaper of her day: Her
bow is very long and very sharp, with
concave line fully three feet deep; that is,
a straight line extended from the cut
water to the round or curve of the side
would measure three feet from its mid
die to the planking.' A picture of her
in an old scrap book shows the hollow
bow very plainly.
Capt. Clark says: "The origin of the
word clipper is not quite clear, though it
seems to be derived from the verb clip,
which in former time meant, among
other things, to run or fly swiftly.
Dryden uses it to describe the flight of
falcon:
"Some falcon stoops at what her eye designed,
And, with her eagerness the quarry missed,
Straight flies at check, and clips it down. the
wind"
The word survived in the New Eng
land slang expression TO clip it, and
going at good clip or "a fast clip are
familiar expressions there to this day.
1t therefore seems reasonable to sup
pose that when vessels of a new model
were built, which were intended, in the
language of the times, to clip it over the
waves rat er than plough through them,
the improved type of craft became
known as clippers because of their speed.
1t is probable that the swift privateers
built at Baltimore during the War of
1872 became known as Baltimore clip
.pers,' and while the first application of
the term in a nautical sense is by no
means certain, it seems to have had an
American origin"
In looking over an old scrap book.
made some sixty years ago, l found this
item from Notes and Queries, London
publications:
The use of the word clipper as applied
to vessels is somewhat wide of the orig
TLo ri in
merely hackney, or horse adapted for
the road. The owners of such animals
naturally valued them in proportion to
their capabilities for road service, among
which great speed in trotting was con-
sidered one of the chief. Fast trotting
horses were eagerly sought after, and
trials of speed became the fashion. A
horse, then, which was pre-eminent in
this particular was termed a clipper,
j. e., hackney par excellence.
In 1851 the California clipper era
began and thirty-one ships were launched
in that year. One of this number, and a
type of them all, was the Flying Cloud,
built by Donald Mckay. She was 1,7s3
tons register, and measured: length, 225
feet, breadth, 40 feet, inches, depth,
21 feet, inches, with 20 inches dead
rise at half floor. Her main yard was 81
feet and her mainmast SO feet in length;
and, like all the large clippers of her day,
she carried three standing skysail yards;
royal, topgallant and topmast studding
sails at the fore and main, square lower
studding sails with swinging booms at
the fore; single topsail yards, with four
reef bands in the topsails; single reefs in
the top-gallant sails, and topsail and top
gallant bowlines. Some of the clippers
carried moonsails and royal studding-
sails. All these ships were very hand
somely finished. The most expensive
woods were used in the cabins, and many
of the figure heads were works of art
They were painted black from the meta
up, some having a gilt band. Thei,
bulls were strongly built, coppered ane
copper-fastened.
Capt. Clark says Of the ships built il
1851: $50 great was the excitement
over the news from California that al