Wool Clipper

A wool clipper is a fast composite-hulled or iron sailing ship of the 1860s to 1890s built for the Australian wool trade, racing fleeces from Australian ports to London to reach the early-year wool auctions. Ships like Cutty Sark (1869) and Thermopylae ran the route via the Cape of Good Hope, with passages of around 70 to 90 days. The wool clipper era followed the China tea-clipper trade and outlasted it on the Australian run before steam through the Suez Canal ended sail’s advantage.