Editing Sailing ship (section)

==== Clippers ====
{{Main|Clipper}}
The term "clipper" started to be used in the first quarter of the 19th century. It was applied to sailing vessels designed primarily for speed. Only a small proportion of sailing vessels could properly have the term applied to them.<ref name="Gardiner and Greenhill 1993"/>{{rp|33}}

Early examples were the schooners and brigantines, called [[Baltimore Clipper|Baltimore clippers]], used for blockade running or as privateers in the [[War of 1812]] and afterwards for smuggling [[opium]] or [[Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves|illegally transporting slaves]]. Larger clippers, usually ship or barque rigged and with a different hull design, were built for the [[California Gold Rush|California trade]] (from east coast USA ports to San Francisco) after gold was discovered in 1848 {{endash}} the associated shipbuilding boom lasted until 1854.<ref name="MacGregor 1993">{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=David R |title=British and American Clippers: A Comparison of their Design, Construction and Performance |date=1993 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |location=London |isbn=0-85177-588-8}}</ref>{{rp|pages=7, 9, 13.14}}

Clippers were built for trade between the United Kingdom and China after the [[East India Company]] lost its monopoly in 1834. The primary cargo was tea, and sailing ships, particularly tea clippers, dominated this long-distance route until the development of [[SS Agamemnon (1865)|fuel efficient steamships]] coincided with the opening of the [[Suez Canal]] in 1869.<ref name="MacGregor 1983">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date= 1983|title=The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833-1875 |url= |location= |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |isbn=0-85177-256-0}}</ref>{{rp|pages=9–10, 209}}

Other clippers worked on the Australian immigrant routes or, in smaller quantities, in any role where a fast passage secured higher rates of freight{{efn|Freight: the price paid for carrying a cargo}} or passenger fares. Whilst many clippers were [[Full-rigged ship|ship]] rigged, the definition is not limited to any rig.{{r|MacGregor 1993|pp=10-11}}

Clippers were generally built for a specific trade: those in the California trade had to withstand the seas of Cape Horn, whilst Tea Clippers were designed for the lighter and contrary winds of the China Sea. All had fine lines,{{efn|The fineness of a ship's hull is best described by considering a rectangular cuboid with the same length, breadth (beam) and depth as the hull of the ship. The more material that you have to carve away to get the shape of the ship's hull, the finer the lines.}} with a well streamlined hull and carried a large sail area. To get the best of this, a skilled and determined master was needed in command.{{r|MacGregor 1993|pp=16-19}}