A Clipper on the Open Seas - Denzil Smith - Kingfisher - Framed Print - 11"H x 14"W

A Clipper on the Open Seas - Denzil Smith - Kingfisher - Framed Print - 11"H x 14"W

Denzil Smith was a British artist known for seascape and ship paintings.

A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the middle third of the 19th century. They were fast, yacht-like vessels, with three masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area. Clipper ships were mostly constructed in British and American shipyards

The boom years of the clipper ship era began in 1843 as a result of a growing demand for a more rapid delivery of tea from China. It continued under the stimulating influence of the discovery of gold in California and Australia in 1848 and 1851, and ended with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

The term "clipper" most likely derives from the verb "clip", which in former times meant, among other things, to run or fly swiftly^.