What do you think?
Rate this book
The Seafarers
The Clipper Ships
American shipbuilders first produced clippers in 1840 and they were the fastest, most beautiful wooden sailing ships the world had ever seen. This work celebrates these ships that set records that would last forever.
Hardcover
59 people want to read
About the author
A.B.C. Whipple
28 books8 followersAddison Beecher Colvin Whipple was an American journalist, editor, historian and author. Before his retirement he was editor of Life's International Editions and executive editor of Time-Life Books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 25, 2010
A.B. Whipple's story-telling style excels in in
The Clipper Ships
. Whipple's recounts the design, building and exploits of such notable clippers as the
Sea Witch
, the
Flying Cloud
, and the
Cutty Sark
, turning this maritime history into a page-turner. A great work and a good read. The illustrations and period paintings in this Time Life series compliment Whipple's work.
July 22, 2011
This book is chock full of beautiful maritime paintings and fascinating stories. You would be surprised how invested one can become in a ship race from 150 years ago; I was on the edge of my seat.
March 26, 2010
"To see a clipper knife through wind-swept seas on a sprint from New York to San Francisco or between London and Hong Kong was to witness the quintessence of sailing. In winds that would cause others to reef sail, clipper captains flew every possible scrap of canvas, until the masts quivered at breaking point. Clippers rode tempests like sea birds, making some 400 miles a day and setting records that would last forever."
November 20, 2019
A fascinating read which answered many of my questions regarding the journey of my ancestors to Australia in the 1870's. I'm not sure exactly what type of ships they travelled on from Scotland and England to Australia, but there was enough background and general information in this book that I gained a reasonable understanding of what their trip would have been like and what the state of travel was at the time. I also wish I had read this book before I visited the Cutty Sark back in 1989. It would have made the visit far more interesting. That the Cutty Sark had as captain an amateur photographer also tied in with my interest in photography - including its historical development.
Quotes of interest to my genealogical research:
p 130: In 1869, when she was a-building, merchants who dealt in foreign goods were turning more and more to steamships to transport their cargoes. About the only ports then beyond the reach of steamships were those of Australia and the Far East - too distant for steamers to reach on the supply of coal they could carry from Europe. However, shippers were about to get a new gateway to the Orient: The Suez Canal was being dug to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. .... A narrow, shoal-strewn passage of no use to sailing vessels, the canal promised to make the tea trade a viable proposition for steamers by eliminating the circuitous run around the Cape of Good Hope; it would shorten the distance between the British Isles and China by almost 4,000 miles.
p149 Australia, which still lay beyond practical reach of steamers, was exporting more than a million tons of wool annually to the textile factories of England. ... Under Captain Moore, the Cutty Sark set off from London for a wool cargo in July 1883.
p152 Ships on the Australia run sailed east around the world, going outbound around the Cape of Good Hope, and home by way of the fearsome Cape Horn.
p161 By 1895 larger sailing ships built of steel - the windjammers - were proving sturdier and more economical that the dainty clipper ships; they could carry six times the tonnage with fewer than twice as many crewmen. Even more threatening were the steamers. With improved reciprocating engines, steamers became safer and more dependable. They could be relied on to maintain speed over a long distance and in all kinds of weather.... Nor were fueling problems the restraint they once had been: The establishment of new coaling stations enabled steamships to reach almost anywhere in the world. Toward the middle of the 1890s steamers were encroaching on the wool trade, just as they had on the tea trade a decade and a half before.
Quotes of interest to my genealogical research:
p 130: In 1869, when she was a-building, merchants who dealt in foreign goods were turning more and more to steamships to transport their cargoes. About the only ports then beyond the reach of steamships were those of Australia and the Far East - too distant for steamers to reach on the supply of coal they could carry from Europe. However, shippers were about to get a new gateway to the Orient: The Suez Canal was being dug to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. .... A narrow, shoal-strewn passage of no use to sailing vessels, the canal promised to make the tea trade a viable proposition for steamers by eliminating the circuitous run around the Cape of Good Hope; it would shorten the distance between the British Isles and China by almost 4,000 miles.
p149 Australia, which still lay beyond practical reach of steamers, was exporting more than a million tons of wool annually to the textile factories of England. ... Under Captain Moore, the Cutty Sark set off from London for a wool cargo in July 1883.
p152 Ships on the Australia run sailed east around the world, going outbound around the Cape of Good Hope, and home by way of the fearsome Cape Horn.
p161 By 1895 larger sailing ships built of steel - the windjammers - were proving sturdier and more economical that the dainty clipper ships; they could carry six times the tonnage with fewer than twice as many crewmen. Even more threatening were the steamers. With improved reciprocating engines, steamers became safer and more dependable. They could be relied on to maintain speed over a long distance and in all kinds of weather.... Nor were fueling problems the restraint they once had been: The establishment of new coaling stations enabled steamships to reach almost anywhere in the world. Toward the middle of the 1890s steamers were encroaching on the wool trade, just as they had on the tea trade a decade and a half before.
February 1, 2020
An interesting book about a class of ships that briefly were the dominant form of commercial ship during a few decades of the nineteenth century. I bought it for the bibliography, but it's a beautifully illustrated book and very suitable for young adults.
September 9, 2020
Splendidly fascinating!
March 11, 2011
The poetry of canvas.
September 21, 2018
Nothing wrong with the writing, it's actually very enthralling. I just didn't enjoy the topic.
September 9, 2019
Kinda interesting, many photos. Was hoping for a bit more about ship construction and less extensive detailing about various ships' travels.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews