l&aiMMMM 



isssssaSiSiiL 



Medium Clipper Coeur de Lion, buUt at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1854. From a painting in the Water- 

 craft Collection (USNM 309517). Painted by the Chinese artist Chong Qua with great clarity of detail. The 

 picture, as is usual in clipper ship portraits, slighdy exaggerates the rake of bow and overhang of stern. {Smith- 

 sonian photo .^^635.) 



She was a fine-lined ship having a rather large 

 midsection with little dead rise, a long, sharp and 

 convex entrance, and a rather long and fine run. 

 This ship might well be described as being as typical 

 as any clippers could be in a class having so exten- 

 sive a variation in design. Though the Fearless is 

 said to have been somewhat less heavily sparred than 

 some of her sisters, she was a very fast vessel and also 

 held some notable passage records: Manila to Boston 

 in 86 days in 1855 and San Francisco to Manila in 

 36 days in 1856. 



As an example of a medium, or half, clipper the 

 Coeur de Lion will serve; this fine ship was built at 

 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1854 by George 

 Raynes, who designed and built a number of other 

 fine vessels of this class, as well as at least two extreme 

 clippers. The Coeur de Lion had a large midsection 

 with some rise in the floor; the entrance was short. 



moderately sharp, and convex; and the run was also 

 short but well formed. This ship was heavily sparred 

 and sailed well but held no passage records. Vessels 

 of the class of the Coeur de Lion differed very little in 

 model and in potential maximum speed from some 

 of the better down-Easters built after the Civil War, 

 except that the vessels of the clipper-ship period were 

 usually more heavily canvassed and carried a larger 

 crew, even though smaller in size. 



The building of extreme clippers and clippers for 

 all practical purposes ended with the depression of 

 '57, which nearly destroyed shipbuilding all along 

 the coast. The Civil War, following before the effects 

 of the depression had worn off, and the destruction of 

 much American shipping by British-built commerce 

 raiders, were sufficient to depress the commercial 

 shipbuilding industry in America for years afterward. 

 It should be stated, however, that the clipper-ship 



36 



