This work offers a new and comprehensive account of the fastest and most beautiful sailing ships ever built. It explores the quest for speed on the seas from the early 1800s through the fast-paced times of the 1850s spurred on by the California Gold Rush of 1849. Not only are the career details of such noted ships as the Flying Cloud and Challenge discussed in detail, but they are also put in context with the times in which they operated. Their builders in East Coast states from Maine to Florida are discussed in detail, as are the men, and a woman in one instance, who commanded and manned these ships. The book documents the roles that owners and shipping agents played, what kinds of cargo the ships carried worldwide and the unusual trades in which they participated.

Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China. Indeed, the furious trade in furs, opium, and bêche-de-mer—a rare sea cucumber delicacy—might have catalyzed America’s emerging economy, but it also sparked an ecological and human rights catastrophe of such epic proportions that the reverberations can still be felt today. Peopled with fascinating characters—from the “Financier of the Revolution” Robert Morris to the Chinese emperor Qianlong, who considered foreigners inferior beings—this page-turning saga of pirates and politicians, coolies and concubines becomes a must-read for any fan of Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower or Mark Kurlansky’s Cod.

Three eyewitness accounts of a lethal attack by a sperm whale against a whaling ship in the Pacific in 1819, the incident that inspired Melville's Moby-Dick — as well as the 2015 movie In the Heart of the Sea. Illustrated with 12 wood engravings.

The American-Built Clipper Ship presents in 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. Detailed drawings illustrate this work.

Part of a series of detailed reference manuals on American economic history, this volume traces the development and rapid growth of transportation across the USA in the mid-1800s.

An intriguing collection of insider information on little known aspects of commonly used business techniques, instruments, policies, and personalities that influenced the rise of the world's most successful business system. Bulls, Bears, Boom, and Bust: A Historical Encyclopedia of American Business Concepts translates the language of business in an engaging, compelling way. From mercantilism to microchips, indentured servants to venture capitalists, William Penn to Bill Gates, this one-of-a-kind lexicon provides general readers with an accessible introduction to the vernacular of the American business community, while providing business professionals with a handy resource for quick authoritative answers. Divided into five chronological sections, Bulls, Bears, Boom, and Bust ranges from colonial times to the present, charting the dramatic history of business innovations and institutions in the United States. It contains over 200 topical entries that define business-related terms and explain their relevance to American business and economic history. In addition, each section provides information about the people behind the signature developments in American business (innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs, namesakes of familiar companies, key political figures).

Brothers William Donnell Crooker and Charles Crooker were among the most prominent mid-nineteenth-century shipbuilders in Bath, Maine, itself one of the most prominent shipbuilding cities in the world during that time. This colorful history of the Crookers' company by the great-great grandson of William Donnell provides a thorough overview of a family, its contributions to shipbuilding, and the historic sweep of shipbuilding in the area, as well as a fascinating glimpse into everyday life in Maine during this time. Today, a small portion of Maine's twenty-first-century shipbuilder, Bath Iron Works, occupies land that was once the Crooker yard.

Comprehensive, profusely illustrated book documents early-20th-century sailing: boat types around the world, racing boats, odd and experimental vessels, more. Over 380 illustrations and photographs. Indexes. Bibliography.