14 BULLETIN 127, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



and the Invincible, of 2,150 tons. It is said of the Challenge, that 

 " when lying at the foot of Pine Street (New York), her bowsprit at 

 high tide reached over the roofs of the stores ; crowds went down to 

 see her." 



As has been indicated, the speed of the great clippers was phe- 

 nomenal. When they were favored with strong trade winds they 

 often " ran for days or weeks in succession at an average speed of 

 from 12 to 15 miles an hour." It was not exceptional for them to 

 make 300 miles in 24 hours. The Red Jacket averaged 325 miles a 

 day for a week ; the Flying Cloud is credited with sailing 427^ miles 

 in 24 hours ; the Australian packet ship, James Bains, built in Boston 

 by Donald McKay, on one occasion sailed 420 miles in 24 hours; 

 while it is said that the Sovereign of the Seas attained the remark- 

 able record of 437 miles in 24 hours, when on a passage from the 

 Hawaiian Islands to New York, which she made in 82 days. This 

 day's run was, up to 1880, according to Hall, " the fastest time ever 

 made by any vessel, sailer or steamer, on the deep sea. The average 

 time of the fast Atlantic steamers does not exceed 400 miles a day, 

 and there is no record better than that made recently by the Alaska, 

 which on one occasion made 419 miles a day." 



So far as regards size, the Great Republic, of 5,923 gross tons, was 

 the culmination of clipper ships. She was built by Donald McKay 

 at East Boston in 1853 and rigged with four masts, but, having been 

 partially burned while loading at New York for her first voyage, 

 she was cut down one deck and rigged like an ordinary ship with 

 three masts. With this rig she did not develop high speed. 



The sailing ship of the present day is strictly a freight-carrying 

 vessel, and cargo capacity is a primary qualification. Still the lessons 

 learned by American builders in the construction of clippers has 

 enabled them to turn out ships which, while having large capacity, 

 are so symmetrically formed and so well rigged that their speed is 

 only second to the ocean racers that preceded them. Thej' are not 

 excelled by any wooden vessels afloat, but modern commerce demands 

 ships of iron and steel. These demands must be met, and the con- 

 structive material of our foreign-going sailing ships must come from 

 our rich mines rather than from the magnificent forests that formerly 

 supplied it. With this exception, the sailing ship must necessarily 

 remain substantially what she is to-day, for the field of experimenta- 

 tion in design and rig has been pretty thoroughly exhausted. 



The settlement and development of the interior of the United 

 States gave birth to a peculiar style of naval architecture which 

 the environment of the colonists called into existence. The most 

 feasible method of reaching a market for the products of the fertile 

 fields and forests of the West was by the great rivers that wound 



