The American-Built Clipper Ship, 1850-1856: Characteristics, Construction, and Details - Hardcover

Crothers, William L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0070145016 ISBN 13: 9780070145016

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US, 1996

Synopsis

With the sweep of its bow, its graceful lines, and its cloud of canvas, the clipper ship sparked a romance with the American public that still endures 150 years later. During the 1850s, intense intercity rivalries arose around locally built clippers, as they reached and maintained speeds that were unheard of previously. Ships were suddenly christened with romantic names, and the interiors of passenger-carrying vessels reached a new level of embellishment. The product of 35 years of research, The American-Built Clipper Ship presents in exquisite detail 152 clippers that comprise the culmination of the shipbuilder's art. Every facet of clipper-ship design and construction is covered, from felling timber to details on interior finish work. Extraordinarily crisp and detailed drawings by the author, who retired from the design department of the Philadelphia Naval yard, illustrate this magificent work. No other single source covers so many vessels in such detail.

About this title

Review:

. . .impressive detail. . .Appealing to more than the casual reader, Crothers takes the ships apart literally plank by plank with drawings and accompanying text.''

From the Back Cover:

With the sweep of its bow, its graceful lines, and its clouds of canvas, the clipper ship sparked a romance with the American public that still endures 150 years later.

The public fervor surrounding locally built clippers generated intense intercity rivalries--and a new type of thinking. Ships suddenly were christened with romantic names; interior decor of passenger-carrying vessels reached a new level of embellishment. Pushed by their masters, who drove them as no ships had been driven before, clippers reached and maintained speeds that were previously unheard of, setting records for sailing ship passages that were never to be surpassed. Their heyday was astonishingly brief--by the 1860s giving way to safer, more commodious, iron steamships, which were not at the mercy at the wind.

The product of more than 35 years of exacting research, "The American-Built Clipper Ship" presents in exquisite detail 152 clippers that comprise the culmination of the shipbuilders' art. Every facet of clipper ship design and construction is covered, including wood species, scantlings, fastenings, midship sections, interior living areas, and details of scarphs, keels, stem- and stern-post assemblies, frames, timbers, and bracing--all included in some 160 intricately drawn illustrations by a man whose unequaled work has earned him a national following among modelers and maritime museum directors. This is possibly the most complete reference on clipper ship construction ever published. No other single source covers so many vessels in such detail.

"The American-Built Clipper Ship" will be an invaluable resource for historians, model builders, and maritime artists, as well as for any newcomer who isonly now learning how addictive the subject can become.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0070145016
• ISBN 13: 9780070145016
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 530