Clipper

The clipper was a sharp-hulled, heavily sparred fast sailing ship of the mid-nineteenth century, built for high-value cargoes where speed paid: tea from China, opium, Australian wool, and California gold-rush passengers. American yards led the type in the 1840s and 1850s before British composite clippers like Cutty Sark dominated the tea trade. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the rise of the steamer ended the clipper era within a generation. The annual tea races remain a celebrated chapter of the Age of Sail.