6 BULLETIN 127, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



when the Cleopatra of 518 tons, which had been three years on the 

 stocks (the delay in building being due to the war between the 

 United States and England), was launched. As early, however, as 

 the beginning of the nineteenth century, a few ships were built in 

 Massachusetts of 500 or 600 tons, but these were exceptional and for 

 many years continued to be among the largest ships afloat. 



In 1841 the Rappahannock of 1,113 tons was built at Bath, chiefly 

 for the cotton carrying trade. Her great size, however, was to some 

 extent disadvantageous, and it is a matter of historical record that 

 her arrival at New Orleans generally caused a decline in cotton 

 freights. 



In the meantime the demands of the passenger traffic between 

 Europe and America had led to the construction of comparatively 

 large, swift sailing ships of which more extended mention will be 

 made elsewhere. These were followed by the great sailing clippers 

 of the " forties " and " fifties " which were unrivaled in the world 

 for size, beauty, and speed. 



Although the clipper practically disappeared from the ocean in 

 consequence of the general introduction of steam vessels, and the 

 building of the Pacific Railroad across the American continent, the 

 ships which have been built in recent years have often been as large 

 or larger than those employed in the palmiest days of the sailing 

 packet service. Thus, the Rappahannock^ built at Bath in 1890, was 

 3,185 tons register; while the Shenandoah^ another Bath built ship 

 of more recent date, was still larger. 



The most noticeable innovation, however, in the American merchant 

 sailing marine, is the remarkable increase in size of schooner-rigged 

 vessels. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the schooners 

 employed in the merchant service were usually comparatively small, 

 and even those carrying square sails on the foremast and designated 

 as topsail schooners, were often no larger than from 75 to 100 tons, 

 old measurement. In recent years the tendency has been to abolish 

 the use of square sails and to increase the size of schooners to a 

 degree which might not have been anticipated in the wildest dreams 

 of the naval architect of 1850. This, too, has been accompanied by 

 a change in the rig to the extent of adding more masts, with corre- 

 sponding sails, until seven-masted schooners are not unknown and 

 four-masted schooners with a cargo capacity of from 1,500 to more 

 than 2,000 tons, larger than ordinarj?^ sailing ships, are so common 

 in American waters that their appearance no longer provokes re- 

 mark. As a rule, these are wooden vessels engaged in the coastwise 

 and lake traffic. 



It has been said that " the first three-masted schooner built in the 

 United States was the Magnolia, built at Blue Hill, Me., by George 

 Stevens and Jere Faulkner for Capt. Daniel Clough, who was her 



