Baltimore Clipper (Generic)

Type

Schooner

Period

19th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: A Baltimore Clipper is not one ship but a generic type name for the fast, sharp-hulled schooners (and some brigantines) built on the mid-Atlantic seaboard, especially around Baltimore, Maryland, from the late 18th century onward. A Baltimore clipper is a fast sailing ship historically built on the mid-Atlantic seaboard of the United States, especially at the port of Baltimore, Maryland, and the name is most commonly applied to two-masted schooners and brigantines. The type is a favorite among scratch-builders for its plain, purposeful profile and its role as a War of 1812 privateer. Specifications: Their hull lines tended to be very sharp, with a V-shaped cross section below the waterline and strongly raked stem, stern posts, and masts. Typical vessels ran 80-110 feet with displacements under 200 tons, a low freeboard, short deep keel, and a two-masted topsail schooner rig with a taller foremast than mainmast to carry a large spread of canvas in light Chesapeake winds; hulls were usually painted black without figureheads or ornate trailboards, a plain look popular with scratch-builders. Service History: The type descended from Chesapeake "sharp-built" schooners; one predecessor was the Chesapeake schooners that were mainstays of the bay industries in the late 1700s, boats that were "sharp built," having a fast sailing hull used for letter-of-marque service or privateering. The type's fame peaked in the War of 1812, when Baltimore Clippers received true recognition for their role in the War of 1812 when Captain Thomas Boyle commanded the Chasseur, which captured 45 British merchant ships in a five-month period. After 1815, limited cargo capacity pushed many of these fast schooners into smuggling and other illicit trades as steam power eventually rendered the type obsolete. Notable Facts: Because no original vessels survive, the design lives on through modern reproductions. Pride of Baltimore, the first Baltimore Clipper to be built in 150 years and the first tall ship to represent a city and a state, was commissioned on May 1, 1977. After that ship was lost at sea in 1986, Pride of Baltimore II was built to serve as a sailing memorial to the original Pride and was launched from her Inner Harbor birthplace on April 30, 1988. Pride of Baltimore II is a topsail schooner built to the lines of an 1812-era Baltimore Clipper and serves as Maryland's working symbol of the Chesapeake Bay region, educating the public on the state's maritime history. The featured reference image is a period-style public-domain drawing captioned as a Baltimore Clipper privateer schooner of the War of 1812 era, useful for modelers studying the type's characteristic rake and rig rather than any single named vessel.