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THE STATELY CLIPPER AND HER GLORY.
The American clipper ship was the result of an evolution which can be traced back to the swift privateers which were built during the War of 1812.

In this type of vessel the shipyards of Chesapeake Bay excelled and their handiwork was known as the "Baltimore clipper," the name suggested by the old English verb which Dryden uses to describe the flight of the falcon that "clips it down the wind." The essential difference between the clipper ship and other kinds of merchant craft was that speed and not capacity became the chief consideration.

This was a radical departure for large vessels, which in all maritime history had been designed with an eye to the number of tons they were able to carry.

More finely molded lines had hitherto been found only in the much smaller French lugger, the Mediterranean galley, the American schooner.
To borrow the lines of these fleet and graceful models and apply them to the design of a deepwater ship was a bold conception.