Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship

by Steven Ujifusa

“A fascinating, fast-paced history…full of remarkable characters and incredible stories” about the nineteenth-century American dynasties who battled for dominance of the tea and opium trades (Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award-winning author of In the Heart of the Sea ).

There was a time, back when the United States was young and the robber barons were just starting to come into their own, when fortunes were made and lost importing luxury goods from China. It was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business—one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea to New York from Canton could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one’s goods arrived first to market, so they might fetch the highest price.

“With the verse of a natural dramatist” ( The Christian Science Monitor ), Steven Ujifusa tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores. They were visionary, eccentric shipbuilders, debonair captains, and socially ambitious merchants with names like Forbes and Delano—men whose business interests took them from the cloistered confines of China’s expatriate communities to the sin city decadence of Gold Rush-era San Francisco, and from the teeming hubbub of East Boston’s shipyards and to the lavish sitting rooms of New York’s Hudson Valley estates.

Elegantly written and meticulously researched, Barons of the Sea is a riveting tale of innovation and ingenuity that “takes the reader on a rare and intoxicating journey back in time” (Candice Millard, bestselling author of Hero of the Empire ), drawing back the curtain on the making of some of the nation’s greatest fortunes, and the rise and fall of an all-American industry as sordid as it was genteel.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Maritime, Audiobook, China, Business

448 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 2018

About the author

Steven Ujifusa is an historian and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous articles on architecture and urban history for PlanPhilly.com and PhillyHistory.org. When he is not writing, he enjoys singing, photography, rowing on the Schuylkill River, and travel. A native of New York City and raised in Chappaqua, New York, Steven received his undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and a joint masters in historic preservation and real estate development from the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves on the advisory council of the SS United States Conservancy, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving the great ship and preserving her historical legacy.

"A Man and His Ship" is his first book. "The Wall Street Journal" named it as one of their top ten nonfiction books of 2012.

Reviews

[Daniel Ligon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always a bit cautious when a little-known author is compared to a well-known one. Just because a publisher says that Steven Ujifusa writes like David McCullough or Ron Chernow (two of my favorite authors) doesn't make it so! In this case, however, the comparison is not a stretch. Ujifusa is an excellent writer, and he picked a fascinating subject. His story covers not just the design, building, and races of the clipper ships, but their purpose. Much of the book is devoted to a historical examination of the China trade in the mid-1800's, along with the colorful characters who made and lost fortunes in that trade. You may not be particularly interested in ships or sailing (I'm not), but if you like well-written history, the odds are good that you'll enjoy Barons of the Sea.

I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher and was not required to write a positive review.

[Joshua Rigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books about clipper ships and the age of sail. This one is possibly the best.

Ujifusa is both comprehensive in his treatment of the clipper trade, and intentionally focused on the prominent east coast families who helped found it. Famous names get bandied about like Forbes and Delano, and it quickly becomes apparent just how important these ships and the companies that built them were to American progress in the mid 19th century.

Barons of the Sea portrays the inflection point of U.S. involvement in international trade. It threads the routes between the Opium Wars, China, the United States, the California gold rush, and Australia with steady vigilance.

Unlike other writers of historical nonfiction, this author is not afraid of accessibility. He goes to great pains, and in fact, appears to relish in the perceived historical details of the characters he describes.

What results is a very readable book about a fascinating portion of American maritime history. I recommend it.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A snapshot of the: politics, economics, familial dynasties and technologies involving international and domestic seaborne commerce in the early history of the American Republic and ending shortly after the American Civil War.

My dead tree copy was a moderate 450-pages. It had a 2018 US copyright.

Steven Ujifusa is an American naval historian and author of non-fiction. He’s written two (2) books. This is the first book I’ve read by the author.

This book attempts to describe some of the forces affecting the history of the early days of the American Republic. The story is anchored on the development of The Clipper Ship . Clippers, especially the high-performance 'Extreme Clippers', were a uniquely American transportation technology developed to support American international and later domestic commerce of the period. The closest modern comparison between clipper ship transportation and commerce with today may be with the civilian supersonic aircraft. It was an advanced technology that was eventually Betamaxed by wide-body aircraft. In a similar way clipper ships were superseded by steamships. However, I felt the more important story was the: drugs, money and insider dealings of the China trading, clipper ships owners who founded several wealthy, American dynasties whose names are still recognizable today.

This book will be of value to folks who have an interest in naval history, particularly the history of American merchant shipping in the late 18th Century and into the mid-19th Century. This was the period before the great, American, continental, domestic economy opened. The anecdotes on merchant: sailing, businesses and family-life added colour to the narrative. However, a firm understanding of international history of the period, and a nautical vocabulary would be very helpful in reading this book. For example, It was changes in British (the world major power) mercantile law and diplomacy that truly opened The China Trade. In addition, I thought the book’s Appendix on sailing ship construction and operation to be too brief to be useful to a novice.

In general I felt the author was only partially successful in keeping the many dimensions of the narrative clear. For example, the wooden ships construction and operation tech of the Clippers was quiet complicated. The genealogies and machinations of the ship owning, American,China Traders who founded dynasties and the shipwrights who built extreme clippers was likewise complicated in a different fashion. And finally, I thought that some opportunities were lost. For example, the point that the The China Trade has always been a source of American wealth, he never identifies the developing international commerce as a form of tech in the narrative, nor did he draw any parallels with contemporary technologies and American interests. The author allowed his story to grow too large for his book. It ended-up somewhat muddled. However this book would be an useful adjunct to someone interested in American: mercantile, naval, and social history in the 50-years before the Civil War.

Readers looking in books somewhat related to modern American merchant shipping and commerce, might want to read Looking for a Ship or The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger . In addition, I'd recommend Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age as background reading on the important China Trade for this book.

[David V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received as an ARC from the publisher. Started 4-18-18. Finished 4-25-18. A well-documented (over 40 pages of notes) book about the Clipper ship era in the U.S. during the second half of the 1800's. This was a period of history that I knew very little about, but it was fascinating. The competition between ship designers and builders to be the fastest from the East coast to England; to China; then to Japan; then to the gold fields near San Francisco. The opium traffic to China; the less than honorable actions of Commander Matthew Perry in the opening of Japan to Western traders. The effect of the Civil War on shipbuilding, and the conflict between ship safety and profit making. Good sea captains and tyrannical ones; qualified crews vs the dregs of the wharves who get "shanghaied" into servitude. The multi-millionaires and their philanthropy' much of it still existing to this day.

[Dale Dewitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing read! It gives such a great picture of the shipping barons and the lengths they would go to in order to be the fastest delivery agents in order to make their fortune. These were all self-made men who's families would turn into dynasties.

[Randal White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting history of the clipper ship era, and the competition between merchants to have the fastest vessels to deliver goods first. It's an area that I knew very little about.

[Cindy Vallar · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were our Gothic cathedrals, our Parthenon; but monuments carved from snow. For a few brief years, they flashed their splendor around the world, then disappeared with the finality of the wild pigeon.

This quote from Samuel Eliot Morison opens the final chapter in this account of merchants, ships, and shipwrights of the nineteenth century in their quest for speed and profits. (339) Their designs were based on the “Baltimore clipper,” like Isaac McKim’s Ann McKim (1833), but with less drag, less rake, more speed, and more elegance and grace. They initially sailed to China to trade for tea, porcelain, silks, and spices. Later they ventured around the tip of South America to deliver goods to California after gold was discovered in 1848. Making money and delivering cargo faster than anyone else were these men’s primary objectives. In the process, they revolutionized global trade, transformed a remote outpost into a burgeoning region, and aided in the spread of opium.

First and foremost, this is a story about merchants like Warren Delano II, John Murray and Robert Bennet Forbes, and Abiel Abbot Low. They acquired assets that allowed them to deal in exports and imports. They owned the ships and oftentimes the cargoes they carried. They hired shipwrights like Donald McKay and John Willis Griffiths to build their ships, as well as those vessels’ captains: Charles Porter Low, Nathaniel Palmer, and Joshua Creesy to name a few.

It is also a story about the places and cultures to which their ships sailed. Initially, China was an insular country, the government unwilling to trade with Westerners until Jorge Alvares visited Canton in 1513. By the mid 1800s, merchants from many European countries and the United States were purchasing Chinese goods. Warren Delano II belonged to a good, established family, but he lacked money. When he ventured to China in 1833 as a young bachelor, he had two goals he wished to achieve. He wanted to acquire enough funds to make him independently wealthy – $100,000 that would require living in China for at least five years – and to become a member of the prestigious firm of Russell & Company. What he soon realized was that living in China was very different from living in America and it could quite dangerous for foreigners. He wasn’t permitted to learn Chinese. He had to operate according to many strict dictates. He had to live in a section of Canton in a compound allotted to those who brokered goods for export. Wives of these men, if they came, had to live in Macao, as they were never permitted on the mainland. One Chinese merchant headed the Cohong (a guild of traders) and was personally responsible for the foreign merchants. Wu Ping-Chien (whom Westerners called Houqua), mentored some of these foreigners, including Delano. While the Chinese had much to offer in the way of exports, Westerners had little to offer in return, except money and opium. The illegal importation of this addictive drug led to a shortfall of silver in China and many became addicts unwilling to work. Eventually the government intervened and Houqua was arrested. While the Americans tacitly acquiesced to China’s demands, the British did not and the First Opium War soon erupted.

Aside from the cultural and personal aspects of this account of the “barons of the sea,” this book is also a tale of the ships. The sooner merchant ships returned home to New York or Boston, the sooner the tea could be auctioned. This not only led to greater profits, but also increased a firm’s reputation. This is why men like Delano and Low sought ships with greater speed and cargo capacity. For example, when Oriental arrived in London in 1850 – the first Yankee clipper to do so – she did so in 97 days, a vast improvement from the usual six months which British ships normally took to go from China to London. Her cargo sold for $48,000, a vast sum when compared to the $10-$12 an average working man earned in one month.

Prior to this time period, ship design had remained fairly stable for 200 years. Ships that sailed to China and India were called “Indiamen” and a typical one averaged 175 feet in length, 30 feet in width, and possessed a deep draft and rounded topsides. Beginning in the 1830s, the shipwrights and merchants began to revolutionize the design to create Yankee clippers. But the men who built these vessels didn’t agree on what designs were best. Captain Nathaniel Palmer favored ships with sharp bows and flat bottoms that he believed would average 12-13 knots when laden with tea. John Willis Griffiths, who never went to sea, designed vessels with V-shaped bottoms because his draftsman’s mind believed this would make them faster. One of his ships, Sea Witch, traveled 264 miles each day for ten days during a monsoon. Her best single day’s distance was 302 miles.

These Yankee clippers underwent even more radical changes once the merchants turned their attention to the California trade. Donald McKay’s designs and skill turned the building of such ships into an art. Stag Hound, built in 1850 for the California runs, could carry 1,500 tons of cargo and her sails consisted of 9,500 square yards of canvas. She was the first of the extreme clippers. But McKay went on to design even bigger ones. Sovereign of the Seas’ tonnage exceeded 2,400 and she measured 252 feet in length, while the Great Republic as designed would carry 4,555 tons and be longer than today’s football field.

Memnon, one of Delano’s ships, traveled 15,000 miles from New York to San Francisco Bay in 123 days. Until then the journey around Cape Horn often took over 200; covered wagons leaving Independence, Missouri to go overland averaged six months. It didn’t take long before the various merchants began competing with one another. Their ships were “majestic clippers, flying before the wind like great birds of prey, their vast spreads of canvas stretchws taut, their deep sharp bows piercing wave after wave.” (6) In 1851 three clippers left New York bound for San Francisco. Captain Charles Low commanded N. B. Palmer, owned by the Lows and named for Captain Nathaniel Palmer, on her maiden voyage. Moses Grinnell’s Flying Cloud was captained by Josiah Creesy, whose wife served as his navigator. The third ship, Challenge, was owned by N. & G. Griswold and cost over $150,000 to build. She had three decks instead of the normal two and her masts rose more than 200 feet above the weather deck. Her captain was Robert Waterman. There could be only one winner, and the race became one that involved rough weather, major repairs at sea, sabotage, mutiny, and ended with the arrest of one of the captains and his first mate.

As with all things, though, the time for Yankee clippers ebbed. Fewer men wanted to earn their livings at sea. As California grew and developed, her citizens became more self-sufficient and no longer had need for ships to bring them necessaries. They could make or grow these items themselves and purchase them for far lower prices than the East Coast merchants charged. Confederate raiders took their toll on Northern shipping during the Civil War. Steam ships were becoming more and more plentiful. Finally, the sinking of SS Central America in 1857 proved fatal not only to the 420 male passengers and crew aboard, but also to the American economy. Lost during the hurricane was the nine tons of California gold and specie that she carried. The loss, valued at around $2,000,000, resulted in more than just a run on banks. Fewer and fewer ship owners could afford the beautiful, graceful vessels that had brought great wealth to men who became pillars of nineteenth-century American society and whose influence on our culture and politics lasted far into the next hundred years.

These are the stories that Steven Ujifusa weaves together in his book. He includes an inset of photographs, an appendix with ship and sail diagrams, a section of notes that double as a bibliography, and an index. He also defines unfamiliar terms at the bottom of the pages where the words occur. Barons of the Sea is informative, entertaining, and enthralling. It’s a voyage not to be missed, whether you’re fascinated with sailing ships, the tea trade or the gold rush, or just history in general.

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents a history of sorts about the glory age of the Clipper Ship, which developed under American ship designers and investors to service the needs for fast trade to China and later to California after the gold rush, along with some additional routes. The focus of the book is on this specific type of fast sailing ship although the focal unit in the story is more variable. There are the US investors and traders associated with the US China trade around the time of the Opium Wars between 1840 and 1860. Their names attest to the persistence of riches once achieved and include the Delano, Forbes, and Low families. This is a fascinating line of the story since the Opium part of the China trade fueled the accumulation of wealth that placed these families squarely in the US elites but which these families vigorously sought to downplay when it came time to write family histories. This is also about ship designers and the competition among them to build larger, faster, and more profitable ships to make the long dangerous run around Cape Horn and either up to San Francisco or across the Pacific to China.

The story is also an economic story of the interaction of technology and commerce that produces a golden age for a type of vehicle or product that persists as long as its enabling conditions persist. The Clipper Ships had limits to their construction and they became increasingly irrelevant as economic conditions in China changed, as the California economy became more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports, as steam engine technology improved, and as the transcontinental railroads were extended. For a few decades, however, the Clipper Ships were a source of great prestige and greater wealth.

While the book is a history book, it reads like a volume of historical fiction, such as Amitav Ghosh’s recent trilogy on the Opium Wars. Family drama and tragedy, intrigues, and politics are woven into a series of interrelated family plot lines and which would make a fine miniseries. The author is a professional historian and accomplished speaker although he is not university affiliated. This is hopeful to me in showing how careers can develop through quality research, good writing, along with some capable promotion.

The time period and subject matter is not extensively covered in more popular histories, since US business and economics at the time was more self-contained and focused on the emergence of conflicts associated with the Civil War (eventually) or with the westward expansion. In the history of American tycoons, Astor gets covered quite a bit, although those who followed him seem less well known, even though everyone has heard of many of the families.

It is a quick read and very well written. It makes me want to go back and reread Melville and Dana.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today people are fascinated by the "Tall Ships" when they come into a port- people come from miles around to walk their decks and imagine what it might have been like to sail the open waters in these small (to us) wooden ships with their giant sails. But it wasn't all that long ago that these ships ruled the waves. Barons of the Sea tells the uniquely American story of the race to build bigger and faster clipper ships in search of money and fame.

The first part of Barons sets the stage for the building race by giving the reader an intimate look at early 1800s shipping in China. Confined to one port, allowed to deal only with a few specific Chinese individuals, British and American trading was a young bachelor's game- building connections, working hard, playing hard. Americans followed the British lead of smuggling opium into China, then using the money from those sales to buy large shipments of goods like tea to bring back to New York or Boston and sell for often huge profits. I had never read anything specific on the trade, the attempts of the Chinese to stop the opium shipments, or the Opium Wars that followed and was fascinated by the story. Just as interesting was following the few young men Barons focuses on, men who became some of the first millionaires in America. With names like Low, Aspinwall, Forbes, and Delano, men whose children and grandchildren would build universities, rule society, and become politicians (you may have heard of at least one, Franklin Delano Roosevelt), those stories all begin with the opium trade.

The close knit band of friends and rivals from China came back to America to build their families and send others back to China to increase the company fortunes. But they recognized that the faster a shipment could reach America, the more money they would make. So began the golden age of clipper ship building, as each tried to break the speed records of the other, adjusting ship designs to get as much speed as possible while still fitting large consignments of goods in the hulls. When the gold rush sent thousands rushing to California, these same men knew that whoever could get to San Fransisco fastest would earn the most money, as basic goods in California were selling for five to ten times the price they were on the East Coast.

Barons fo the Sea is an interesting exploration of the 19th century trading and economic battles through the focus on a handful of leading men and their daring captains who attempted the dangerous voyages. Those interested in maritime history, 19th century America, and early trading in China will especially appreciate the careful research and writing of this fascinating look into American history.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Trey Shipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Fascinating story about risk-takers who sailed to China in the mid-1800's to trade tea, silk, and porcelain to get rich. How rich? Forbes family rich. Aspinwall rich. Delano rich. And their secret to making big money? They were also smuggling opium.

Then when gold was discovered in California, they began working another lucrative trade. They carried supplies from New York to San Francisco. A single pair of boots would sell for $50 (about $1,400 today). But to get there, they had to sail around the treacherous tip of South America, with 60-knot arctic gales and crushing waves. The Clippers had masts as tall as 200 feet above the deck. Imagine climbing up that high in strong winds with the boat pitching wildly while you stand barefoot on a length of rope while you adjust the sails. Ujifusa put a lot of great details in this book. Great stories. I highly recommend.

[Triumphal Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I did receive a physical copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.*

Clipper ships are some of the most iconic and recognizable sailing ships that were ever built and Steven Ujifusa’s work Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World’s Fastest Clipper Ship puts the spotlight directly on these magnificent vessels. International and national American commerce on the high seas of the mid 19th century is explored alongside the wonder that clipper ships instilled in an awestruck population looking to prove itself against the rest of the world. The up and coming American merchant dynasties who owned these ships are also covered and the author certainly does not shy away from some of the darker sides of making a profit during this era.
There were only a few noticeable downsides to the book. First would be the slow introduction of actual clipper ships into the narrative. The first quarter or so of the book deals largely with the economical context that the clipper ship era entered into in regards to international trade across the oceans. The biographical backdrop of some of the prominent players, most notably Warren Delano II (grandfather to President Franklin Roosevelt), was also told at this time. While some setting is definitely needed, it did feel like the clipper ships took quite a while to be actually introduced in the narrative. The only other major aspect of the book that could have been fleshed out a little more would be the stories of some of the other countries that also engaged in clipper ship trade. While clipper ships were a largely American innovation, other countries also tried their hands with the design. This may have included British clippers that were only hinted at as well as the history of Dutch clippers.
That being said, there are many more highlights to to this work. It may have taken some time for the clipper ships to enter into the story, but, once they do, they take front and center stage and essentially become the main characters. This creates a lively narrative centered on the ships rather than simply the tycoons that owned them. When the world record is set for the fastest voyage from New York to San Francisco sailing around Cape Horn, the reader is rooting and cheering for Flying Cloud rather than the ship’s captain. Now, these high speed records came at a price and the author reveals the grim realities of how this was sometimes accomplished. Depending on the captain, some crews could be worked mercilessly and crew deaths and mutinies were certainly not unheard of. Another enjoyable aspect of the book is that the spotlight does get shown on some other lively characters of the clipper trade and not just the wealthy merchantmen. Most notable include Donald McKay, the eccentric Canadian born American clipper ship builder and designer who constructed many of the most notable clippers such as Flying Cloud and the largest clipper ever built, Great Republic. Another favorite is Nathaniel Palmer, a rugged Antarctic explorer and clipper captain.
Overall, Steven Ujifusa’s Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World’s Fastest Clipper Ships is full of insight on the clipper ship era and is conveyed in an enjoyable narrative. The clippers take the forefront of the story and demonstrate why they are the iconic ships of the Golden Age of Sail.
4.5 out of 5 stars. (It was originally going to be 4 starts, but the terrific diagrams and illustrations in the back of the book were quite helpful in understanding different parts and aspects of clipper ships and were highly appreciated!)

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent telling of the clipper ship era and the barons of the sea in that era-family names you would recognize such as Delano.Lowe, Russell, Forbes,Mintern, and Perkins Creesy.In the grand tradition of David McCullough and Ron Chernow, the sweeping story of the nineteenth-century American dynasties who battled for dominance of the tea and opium trades.

There was a time, back when the United States was young and the robber barons were just starting to come into their own, when fortunes were made and lost importing luxury goods from China. It was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business—one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea to New York from Canton could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one's goods arrived first to market, so they might fetch the highest price.

Barons of the Sea tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores. They were visionary, eccentric shipbuilders, debonair captains, and socially-ambitious merchants with names like Forbes and Delano—men whose business interests took them from the cloistered confines of China's expatriate communities to the sin city decadence of Gold Rush-era San Francisco, and from the teeming hubbub of East Boston's shipyards and to the lavish sitting rooms of New York's Hudson Valley estates.

Elegantly written and meticulously researched, Barons of the Sea is a riveting tale of innovation and ingenuity that draws back the curtain on the making of some of the nation's greatest fortunes, and the rise and fall of an all-American industry as sordid as it was genteel.

[Isis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I was expecting more about building new types of clippers than about the history of the people who engaged in the China trade. I lost interest about halfway through.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which we learn that some of he United States' wealthiest and most connected families built their fortunes through essentially smuggling opium into China. The book itself is more focused on how families like the Forbes and Delano, as in Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lows developed ever faster clipper ships to out compete the British in serving the China market for opium and the U.S. market for tea. (All of this occurring near the end of the age of sail and during the dawn of steam vessels.) The drug aspect resonated for me as lately I've been reading about how our current pharmaceutical companies are building their fortunes on selling opiates and psychotropic drugs to adults and kids. The Chinese resisted the sale of opium to their people but their institutions and, ultimately, their military were not strong enough to keep the opium and western traffickers out. At his point it isn't clear that an addicted nation, ours, or our own institutions will be strong enough to stop the pharmaceutical trade in overprescribed drugs to our people. We are actually doing it to ourselves. As Lilly Allen sang back in 2009 in "Everyone's at It", "From grown politicians to young adolescents / Prescribing themselves Anti-depressants . . ./ The kids are in danger, they're all getting habits/ 'Cause from what I can see, everyone's at it" So now I've not really given this book its due as I've taken one theme in the book, and not the main one, and made it my focus. This book really is a great book for anyone interested in the early and growing trade between the US and China and how US economic power grew in the early and mid-19th century through advances in ship building and the US's laissez faire lack of regulation on trade. Really a quite fascinating aspect of American history during this period.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barons of the Sea is the type of non-fiction book I really enjoy, one that gets into the topic itself but puts frames the topic by exploring adjacent, supporting issues. In this case, the book is about the evolution of the deep ocean merchant trade from the early to late 1800s. At the tail end of this period is the introduction of steam powered ocean-going vessels. Before that, however, there is a period of time which saw the rapid evolution of a class of vessels called clipper ships.

From a maritime history perspective, Mr. Ujifusa covered the topic well. I learned about shipbuilders, merchant houses, sea routes, trade good, and ship captains. I got lost a bit when learning about the intricacies of ship construction and how different classes of ships are rigged, their various masts and spars, and other technical details. If I cared about clipper ships, I feel like this book was an excellent resource. However, I'll admit there were times I felt overwhelmed with the detail.

That being said, I did rate this book 4 out of 5 stars because of all of the rest of the book which was included. I learned about the opium trade, China and how its trade was subjugated through the Opium Wars. I saw how global events like the discovery of gold in California and Australia drove merchant companies to expand their business model and how some were driven into speculation (and bankruptcy). The book started with an introduction to the Delano family, including the grandfather of the future president and where part of their wealth originated. Overall, the book ended up being much more than just a book about clipper ships, but a book about how the arms race to build the biggest/fastest clipper ship was a microcosm of greater global trends of that period of world history. It was great and, as I mentioned, the kind of non-fiction book I really enjoy.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. This book oscillate between narrative history and regular nonfiction, in a way that just didn't work. It either totally followed Warren Delano, or about five separate men. The prologue made me think that it would focus more on Delano than it did, which ended up being misleading, as it only really followed him for a period of the book.
I think the little prologue should have been changed to either part of a boat race, or have been deleted altogether. Alternatively, the book could have been restructured to be more of a narrative history, following Delano from his beginnings to the return to China, and examine clipper ships through that lens.
This book, because of the oscillation, feels slightly disjointed. I think if it wanted to be narration, it could have focused more on the men who built and made money off the ships, as well as the races, while if he wanted it to be more of a description of this period, he could've described the time period of the clipper ships and the major changes in building.
The book itself was interesting, and I enjoyed all the different points of focus, from where the men hung out in Canton to the lives at Algonac. Ujifusa does not make angels of these men who traded in opium, acknowledging their hypocrisy in detesting slavery while kidnapping men to work the ships.
On the other hand, I give a lot of credit to the notes at the end, and the care Ujifusa took to differentiate facts from fiction. He includes a number of quoted primary sources and news articles that gave an idea of the populace's thoughts on these ships.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a remarkably interesting book following the fortunes of the American shipping magnates of the first half of the nineteenth centuries and the progenitors of several major American fortunes and the grandparents of FDR. As a person who felt he knew a lot about the subject beforehand this book taught me much I did not know. Such as how the existence of the European trading company monopolies had retarded the development of naval architecture. Since all the profits accrued to one company there was no need to speed up the delivery times to compete with other firms. The Americans, new to the trade, knew that the first ship to market with tea could command a profit, and so designed the clipper ships which cut the time from Canton to New York in half, from six months to three. I also did not understand the role the Opium trade played in this development either. American merchants broke the British East India Company monopoly by buying opium from the Ottoman Empire and using their faster ships to bring it to market. It was also interesting to learn how much longer the Chinese sense of racial superiority outlasted their material superiority. Even after the British defeated them in the Opium War the Chinese continued to refuse Western women access to the Chinese mainland for fear that the western barbarians would breed there. This is why Macau and Hong Kong were both Islands, not for defense, since the military power of the west had long eclipsed that of the Chinese Empire, but because of racially restrictionist laws of China.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a brief period of history the United States challenged and, for a short time, deposed British dominance in commercial oceanic trade and naval architecture. Like all technologies the epitome of excellence comes at the end of that technology's dominance. Think of the piston-driven aircraft of World War II and you'll know what I mean.

The extreme clipper ships, of this book's title, come at a time when the US and the UK vied for profits from the opium and tea trade with Qing Dynasty China. Opium from India, for the British, and Turkey, for the Americans, was illegally traded for tea under the auspices of corrupt Qing officials and trade associations. The money made many men, on both sides of the trade, very wealthy.

It was the tea component of this commerce which spurred the building of clipper ships. The first and freshest shipment of Chinese tea to Great Britain or the United States made the greatest profit. In this the US shipping companies excelled with the advent of the clipper ship.

The theater of operation for Yankee clippers shifted to domestic trade when gold was discovered in California. Once again, he who got the goods through the Gold Gate to pioneer San Francisco made the biggest profit.

The halcyon age of the great clipper ships lasted only a decade. Long enough to make great fortunes for some and to financially ruin the obsessed. But the doom of the beautiful ships was chugging onto the horizon.

[Miriam Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steven Ujifusa is a shipping historian, an expert in the history of clipper ships. Primarily, he is a lover of the ship, its design, and its speed, which Barons of the Sea describes in great detail. He also tells the stories about the captains of the shipping industry, including Warren Delano II and the Forbes brothers, who amassed such great fortunes in the years following the Revolution that they became the pillars of the American establishment for decades to come. Delano, for example, was the grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

These men believed that speed was of utmost importance in getting tea from China and later, goods to California. Thus they designed and built “the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargoes to American shores.” They also nefariously transported opium from India to China, where it was against the law.

While Ujifusa is a meticulous historian, he is also a great teller of tales. Before the book is over, we know all the details of the brief moment in American history when clipper ships ruled the seas. The moment, according to Ujifusa, was brief because it was soon eclipsed by steamships, railroads, and the telegraph. For their moment, however, the US clipper ships were the “most revolutionary machines in the world.”

History and shipping buffs will love Barons of the Sea. I received this from the publicist, and my copy will go to my history-loving brother.

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite way to learn history: through the lives of those who lived or made it. This fascinating look at the brief age of clipper ships and the men whose business interests financed them is a doorway into the China trade, Opium Wars, American and Australian gold rushes, settling of San Francisco, and the building of the Panama railroad.The narrarive centers mostly around Franklin Delano Roosevelt's grandfather, Warren Delano, whose trading in opium and other goods did not interfere with his devotion to his family and his ambition to provide them with a secure estate. Though opium ruined many lives, it did not seem to disturb the consciences of Delano and his colleagues, whose fortunes were made in part by its import. (Tea was a less injurious commodity.) The account of the voyage of the clipper ship Challenge around Cape Horn and the brutality used against her sailors was an eye-opener. I wonder how many men in the history of sailing were callously buried at sea or left to drown in a ship's wake after falling overboard. Heaven only knows.

[DAY RADEBAUGH · Rating 1 out of 5]

Save your time and money. This book is a a bloated inflation of a simple narrative that should have been covered in half the space. Labelled a "Bestseller" by the Los Angeles Times, it is no more than a typical example of the poor quality of contemporary publishing. The detail of the people involved is not very interesting, and you find yourself skimming the pages for relevant facts. The review blurbs stress "A fascinating, fast-paced history"; it is only occasionally fascinating, and it is certainly not fast-paced.

Worse, the publication of this book has not been well executed. For example (page 48) we learn that "Opiate addition was rampant in Europe and America, as well". On page 113 we have a sentence that is simply bad grammar: "Naval designers realized that could be the stronger the keelson, the trimmer and more elegant the ship's lines".

Does anyone proofread this stuff?

[Lovely Loveday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barons of the Sea tells a story of the engaging and interesting history of the clipper ship era. The competition between merchants to have the fastest vessels to deliver goods first while not damaging the goods or the ships. An excellently written story that covers not only the design and building but the races of the clipper ships. There is a large section of the book that is devoted to the historical examination of the China trade in the mid-1800's. Barons of the Sea shares the colorful characters who made and sometimes lost their fortunes in trade. Ujifusa has really done his research and it shows in his writing with a long list of sources including photos, detail descriptions, and drawings. Barons of the Sea is an interesting read that is sure to draw you into another world and another time.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story about the race to build the fastest commercial ships in a time of great change, when steam boats were battling for supremacy and commercialism drove people to be involved with nasty trades and practices throughout the world in the name of money over people. It is as much the story of people as of technological changes.

I wish there was an epilogue or conclusion that gave more exact dates of the "extreme clippers" and what specific designs made them different than other ships instead of just scattering it throughout the book. I learned a lot and it connected events and trends I was aware of in the 19th century but linked them in a way I had not really thought about before.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read. The book was following Warren Delano's family, friends and business partners. In the beginning, the author introduced Warren Delano and why he had to go back to China. Then, the book went back to the young Warren. Who he was, from what family. How he rose into prominence and how he became adopted 'son' of Hoqua, the Chinese merchant. Despite many references, the book was read like a novel. It told that people in the old day often did an apprenticeship to other family and how important the connection was. There were also mention about politic (from American's pov), but it wasn't the focus. It merely served as a background motif of the actions taken. Overall, it's a good book, but I expected more illustrations.

[Ovi Sacasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly well researched historical book about 19th century sailing ships , their masters, their owners and the commercial trading they were used for.

Steven Ujifusa spent a few years familiarizing himself with sailing ships, the sail terminologies and histories. Hence , he imparts the reader with amazing information not only about life at sea but with historical events of the time that affected shipping and everyday life. In the US and abroad.

Amazingly less known history is also here from drug trading on a commercial, national scale to racing the ocean greyhounds called clippers across the world to increase profits.

Highly recommended to all interested in world history and maritime sailing ships of the era.

[Karen Stensgaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

For lovers of beautiful tall sailing ships, this book is full of details into the lives of the creators and captains as well as the dangerous voyages around the globe. Clipper ships raced and cut through the water at a clip, hence the name, but this book presents so much information you will want to take your time to get through it. The author definitely did a thorough job with a long list of sources including fascinating photos and drawings. His website (www.stevenujifusa.org) includes some old film footage from a clipper at sea. This book with so many details about life onboard a clipper will definitely come in handy for my future novels in the Aquamarine Sea series.

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of the period when sail power was dominant just prior to the advent of steam power. The book is mostly about the Ships and the Families that dominated the trade it is also an interesting insight into the opium trade from China. This is the drug war that most have forgotten about and how Great Britain in particular wreaked destruction on China over its perceived rights to continue the trade. The vast wealth created shows the origins of "Old Money" that funded the industrial development of the US and Great Britain. In many ways the nature of world trade has not changed much sine those halcyon days of sail.

[Michael Dean Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yankee,, New York, & Mid-Atlantic shipbuilders have a passion for speed, maneuverability & profit. The history of America’s clipper ships has another valued champion in our quest for expanded understanding of US history. What we do not find in “How America First Met China” is here in Steven Ujifusa’s outstanding contribution to historical reading! An excellent read that will challenge the reader without whitewashing history. Add this to my list of must reads. Well researched an documented, you will find yourself at the end of one component to your appreciation of the highs and lows of history and the people who made it.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent history of the birth and later decline of clipper wooden sailing ships. But it is equally the story of the families who built, sailed and died on these ships. I was unaware of the key role of the Delano family - whose child Sarah Delano would marry James Roosevelt and eventually her child would become another famous American, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the process, I learned a lot about the dynamics of sailing ships - the remnants of which are today’s tall ships that visit Boston Harbor.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting topic. Learned a lot about the clipper ship and the quest for speed. The book could have been better edited. Chapters often had repeated facts. There was redundancy as if he did not proof his own work. And the end just sort of fizzed out..could have drawn comparisons to the modern era of internet, car travel, planes etc where the quest for speed was preshadowed by the tesla equivalent of a clipper ship.