15 



verify the song about returning with "a pocket full of 



rocks." 



At about this time the need of quick passages and 

 clipper ships became apparent. In September, 1850, a 

 contract was made with East Boston parties to build a 

 clipper of eleven hundred tons, and she was built, rigged 

 and fitted so as to sail on Jan. 10 following, with a full 

 cargo. She was one of the Glidden & Williams line, and 

 the freight was one dollar per foot. She was named for 

 Capt. John Bertram, who had manifested so much energy 

 and spirit in this new trade. The croakers said the vessel 

 was "thrown together," and would not last long; but she 

 was sold eighteen years ago and has been running ever 

 since. On the 12th of last month she was in New York, 

 and the captain, her present owner, wrote to a gentleman 

 in this city, asking for a portrait of Capt. Bertram to hang 

 in her cabin. This was the first clipper built for the Cal- 

 ifornia trade ; but she was soon followed by the " Witch 

 of the Wave " and four others, averaging fifteen hundred 

 tons each. 



In 1853, Messrs. Bertram and others, with Flint, Pea- 

 body & Co., established the ice trade ; but afterwards this 

 article was introduced from Sitka (Russia) at lower cost 

 than from Boston, and so this trade was destroyed. 



In June, 1851, a great fire occurred, destroying prop- 

 erty to the amount of four million dollars, and burning 

 out Messrs. Flint, Peabody & Co., who lost heavily, 

 having no insurance. 



As illustrating the changes which have taken place in 

 the commerce of San Francisco, the San Francisco alma- 

 nac for 1859 gives a statement of the amount paid as 

 freight to, and the number of tons of cargo carried by, 

 and the vessels consigned to, a single house, Messrs. Flint, 

 Peabody, & Co., agents for Messrs. Glidden & Williams' 

 line between Boston and California, commencing with the 



