Clipper Ships

"Red Jacket": In the ice off Cape Horn, on Passage from Australia, to Liverpool, August 1854

Clippers were built in Maine in the 1850’s, with 54 having been constructed from 1851 to 1854.  Depending on how you define “Clipper,” William Hutchinson Rowe counts ninety from 1850 to 1856.  Since some very fast ships were known as “clippers,” regardless of some technical features, Rowe declares, “And so casting close definition and technical…

Sewall, Arthur

(1896-1900) was born in Bath, son of one of the City’s first shipbuilders, in whose shipyards he worked learning the trade. In 1854, he and his brother Edward formed E. & A. Sewall continuing their father’s business. It became Arthur Sewall & Co. when his brother died. Arthur Sewall’s firm built 80 ships over 50…