It should be remembered that both the American and the British clippers were dependent upon the form of their lines for stability; this problem in their design was therefore a far more intricate and difficult one to deal with than that of producing stability by hanging a huge mass of lead below the body of a hull, as is the custom with our modern racing yachts.
Yachting is the grandest of sports when yachtsmen handle their yachts themselves, and there are a good number of yachtsman who are excellent seamen and navigators. It is pleasant to recall that in the race for the Emperor’s Cup in 1905, four of the competing yachts were sailed and navigated by their owners; and although there is far too much wasteful extravagance and enervating luxury in yachting, still, the increasing number of yachtsmen who show a keen interest and are amateur experts in the design, construction, rigging, and sailing of their yachts, is an encouraging sign for the future of the sport.
Nevertheless, it must be frankly admitted that yacht racing, even across the Atlantic, in comparison with the old clipper ship racing, resembles snipe shooting as compared with hunting big game in the wilds of Africa, while the gold and silver yacht racing cups appear as mere baubles beside the momentous stake of commercial supremacy for which the clippers stretched their wings.
CHAPTER XXII
THE FATE OF THE CLIPPER SHIPS
WE have already seen how, about the year 1855, the extreme clippers were succeeded in the United States by a class of vessels known as medium clippers. These vessels were not so sharp and did not carry as heavy spars or so much canvas as the old clippers, but they could carry more cargo and could be handled with fewer men. This made them more profitable when the demand for speed and the rates of freight had declined, and the extreme clippers were unable to command any higher rate than the medium clippers. After the Civil War ship building for the oversea carrying trade steadily declined, though it was not until 1893 that the last American wooden sailing ship, the Aryan, was launched. During these thirty-eight years a good many ships were built, and by degrees a new type of vessel, designed to carry large cargoes at moderate speed, was developed, which enterprising agents advertised as clippers; but those who had known the real clippers were not deceived. Many of the old names survived; thus there were a second Memnon, another Rainbow, Sea Witch, Oriental, Eclipse, Comet, Northern Light, Ringleader, Invincible, Witch of the Wave, Blue Jacket, Charmer, Sovereign of the Seas, Lightning, and Andrew Jackson which should not be mistaken for the famous clippers after which they were named.
One may well ask what became of all the splendid clipper ships? The fate of some of them has already been told in these pages, others have disappeared from one cause or another, as time went on, until now scarcely one is left. During the Civil War many of them were sold and sailed under foreign flags, their names were changed and their identity all but lost.
Of the more famous early clippers, the Houqua foundered in a typhoon in the China seas in 1865 while under command of Captain McKenzie. The Sea Witch made her last voyage to San Francisco in 1852 and then returned to the China trade for which she had been built. On her voyage to China in 1855 Captain Fraser was murdered at sea by his chief mate, and the vessel put into Rio Janeiro, where Captain Lang took command. On the homeward voyage from Amoy to Havana with a cargo of coolies, the Sea Witch was wrecked and became a total loss on the eastern coast of Cuba, March 26, 1856. The Samuel Russell was wrecked in the Gaspar Straits in 1870, under command of Captain Frederick Lucas.
The Stag-Hound was burnt off the coast of Brazil in 1863, her United States ensign, which the captain brought off and returned to the owners in Boston, being the sole relic. The Surprise, under command of Captain Charles Ranlett, struck a sunken rock while beating into Yokohama Bay and became a total wreck, February 4, 1876; the Game-Cock was condemned at the Cape of Good Hope in 1880.
The Staffordshire was lost off Cape Sable, while bound from Liverpool for Boston in December, 1854. She struck on a ledge during a thick fog and foundered in deep water. Two days before her wreck Captain Richardson had fallen on deck and fractured his spine, and while he lay helpless in his berth, Joseph Alden, his chief mate, reported that the ship was sinking. Captain Richardson gave directions to the mate for saving the women and children passengers, but declined assistance for himself. His last words were: “God’s will be done,� and as the vessel settled deeper and deeper in the water and the waves closed in upon her deck, the brave spirit of her captain returned to God who gave it, to join the innumerable host of heroes and martyrs of the sea.
The Flying Cloud was sold to James Baines in 1863 and was destroyed by fire at St. John, N. B., in 1874. The Flying Fish was wrecked in November, 1858, while coming out of Foo-chow, bound for New York with a cargo of tea, and was abandoned to the underwriters, who sold her to a Spanish merchant of Manila. She was subsequently floated and rebuilt at Wampoa, her name being changed to El Bueno Suceso. She sailed for some years between Manila and Cadiz, and finally foundered in the China Sea. The Typhoon was sold to the United States Government during the Civil War, and was finally broken up. The Northern Light was abandoned at sea, December 25, 1861, after being in collision while bound from Havre for New York.