Yankee Clipper
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
New England fast sailing packet of the mid-nineteenth century.
Yankee clipper names the fast American-built clipper ships of roughly 1845 to 1860, sharp-hulled square-riggers from New England and New York yards that ran the China tea and California gold-rush trades. Donald McKay’s Boston-built ships, including Flying Cloud (1851), set records: Flying Cloud twice logged New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn in about 89 days. The term later attached more loosely to American sailing packets and, in the 20th century, to a Pan American flying boat.
Source: American clipper ships c. 1845 to 1860 (Flying Cloud, Donald McKay, 1851); standard maritime-history reference.