Merchant Brigantine of About 1818-28, Built at Baltimore, Maryland, by Flannigan. Redrawn from 

 a plan, by Hillman, formerly in the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture. 



in the coffee trade to Brazil and in the West Indian 

 trade, both of which the Bakimore shipowners were 

 able to retain, in a lartjc measure, diirins; the first half 

 of the f 9th century. 



\'essels with the old sharp hull form continued to 

 be used, however, as the model proffered to John N. 

 Cushing, Sr., in 1845 by a Baltimore builder, now in 

 the Watercraft Collection (see p. 67), bears witness. 



In 1832 the ship Aiiii McKim was fiuilt at Baltimore, 

 a vessel on the old sharp schooner model, 143 feet 

 between perpendiculars, 31 feet beam, and 15 feet 

 moulded depth; and she attracted very little attention 

 when launched, the local references to the event show- 

 ing that she was not viewed as anything particularly 

 unusual. Indeed, she was not, for ship-rigged vessels 

 of even more extreme designs had been built years 

 before, not only at Baltimore but elsewhere. Some 4 

 years earlier, for exaaiple, the very extretne ship 

 United States had been built by Eckford at New York 

 for his own account; and of course, sharp-model ships 

 had been built as early as the Revolution. However, 

 because the lines of the builder's model of the Ann 

 Mchim had been published, and because the vessel 

 had been sold to New York, where she won a reptita- 

 tion for speed, some modern historians, lacking access 

 to the lines of earlier sharp-model ships and basing 

 their argument on the existence of the lines of the 

 ship and her ownership in New York, have been led to 

 assume the Ann McKim either to have been the "first 

 clipper ship" or to have influenced the demand for 

 such ships or, at least, to have Ijeen an innovation in 

 some respect. 



Modifications of the Baltimore clipper models were 

 very popular at Philadelphia, New York, and Boston 

 in the early 19th century. At New York, in particu- 

 lar, there were active shipyards operating, with con- 

 tracts for small \-essels requiring fast sailing. These 



yards turned out schooners, brigantines and brigs that, 

 while resembling the Chesapeake Bay vessels, were of 

 a local character. The New York built clippers were 

 admired for their fine workmanship and finish; their 

 hull form was characterized by a very high bilge and 

 rather more depth of keel outside the rabbet than 

 would be average in the southern vessels. The her- 

 maphrodite Apprentice, built at New York in 1839. is 

 typical of these New York vessels. Though rather 

 wide she is sharp ended and well formed; Ijy the date 

 of her building the position of the greatest sectional 

 area, the midsection, was being slowly moved aft. 

 She was 80 feet 6 inches at rail, 23 feet 10 inches 

 moulded beam, and drew about 10 feet 5 inches 

 loaded. The first vessel built by William H. Webb, 

 the noted New York clipper ship builder, on his own 

 account was the small brig Malek-Adhel, for the Pacific 

 Ocean trade. This brig was a New York clipper 

 model of the size of the Apprentice and of somewhat 

 similar proportions; she was a v'ery fast sailer. 



It may appear strange that Baltimore and the Chesa- 

 peake region, because of the great reputation of the 

 Baltimore clipper, did not become the building center 

 when the great boom in clipper-ship construction be- 

 gan. That it did not was due to the basic structure of 

 the shipbuilding industry there. Baltimore was never 

 the chief building area on the Chesapeake; the indus- 

 try was carried on along the shores of the Bay, in small 

 towns and villages, partictilarly on the Eastern Shore 

 of Marsland and Mrginia. These country yards were 

 all relati\ely small, with small crews, a factor that 

 limited the size of vessels they could readily build. 

 The Baltimore yards were larger and could build 

 larger vessels but they often suffered for lack of suffi- 

 cient labor. The Maryland and Virginia shipwrights 

 preferred to work in their villages, where they could 

 engage in part-time farming, fishing, or hunting. 



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