Glenn Knoblock's The American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920 brings together a monograph on the history of the clipper ship with reference material heavily freighted with facts on specific ships and builders. Engravings and line drawings appear every two or three pages: ships in full sail, yes, and with these portraits of personages from the text, details of hulls or rigging, the occasional photogravure, and newspaper clippings and contemporary ads. A pleasure to flip through, pausing to follow up a name or passage catching my eye, but slow going when read from cover to cover.

Knoblock presents a straightforward history of Gold Rush pressures for fast coast-to-coast passage in North America, leading to innovations in wooden sailing craft and rigging culminating in the clipper design. The bubble-economy sustaining the clipper was short-lived, however, and even in the clipper's heyday the steamships destined to replace it were already over the horizon.

Knoblock's style isn't always smooth or literary, though there are flashes; I'm reminded of high school textbook prose. But, he makes the most of his breadth of knowledge: terminology, common maritime practices such as smoking rats or slushing yardarms, the career paths of clipper captains "through the forecastle" or "in the cabin window", each make its appearance at a suitable time in the narrative. Plenty to learn from on repeated readings, whether dipping in for pleasure or following up a reference in the Aubrey-Maturin canon.

For the most part the monograph is fit into Part One and the reference material into Part Two. The monograph proceeds chronologically while emphasizing details from American shipyards, but takes care to fit these facts into a broader nautical context. The second part is organized by the State of the Union in which individual clippers were built, and treats each ship in its own subsection. Interestingly, this appendix uses a two column layout which would best suit the monograph, given the oversized page and the discomfort of scanning across long paragraphs. Also, there are sections in Part One (lists of names, or materials, shipnames or voyage times) best presented in tabular form but are here relegated to a lengthy paragraph, in series with endless commas. While it makes sense to incorporate that material here and not relegate it to an appendix, as it refers directly to some aspect of the text, for the sake of readability it really should be set off in a sidebar at the very least, better still in a table.

Overall, an impressive achievement which merits improvement via editing and design. As is, a book I'm very happy to have on the shelves along with my Patrick O'Brian and Richard Dana. ( )

A straightforward, detail-filled history of the fascinating “greyhound of the seas,” quite possibly the loveliest and most romantic (and romanticized) ships ever built. The book covers the ships’ history and context, with comprehensive information on their construction, as well as sailors, workmen and passengers, captains, merchants and ship owners, and the conditions of life and labor aboard.

A treasure trove of information for the amateur maritime historian, the book is also an enjoyable browse for those who are merely intrigued by the ships.

A detailed history of the ships, the builders, and the sailors. I have only a few complaints: First, I feel that he skips too quickly over the question of what exactly makes a clipper ship different from any other wooden sailing ship of the period. Second, I don't feel he has a very good grasp of the technical details of the rigging and operation of the ships. (For instance, he demonstrates an ignorance of the difference between a 'yard' and a 'yardarm'.) And, finally, in many places (as in, at least once a page) his prose is clunky. But those complaints aside, I can't imagine a more comprehensive guide to the history of the American clipper ship, either as a class or of the individual ships.

The initial title of Glenn A. Knoblock's book is descriptive of its contents: "The American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920." It is the subtitle that the reader should take to heart as he contemplates reading it: "A Comprehensive History, with a Listing of Builders and Their Ships." Comprehensive it is, indeed. If there is any question left unanswered in the mind of the reader about clipper ships, their origin, their construction, their individual builders, their history, their record runs, their cargo, their sometimes tragic ends and on and on after reading the 367 pages of workman-like prose, small print and seemingly unending paragraphs that constitute this opus, I would be surprised!

It is an attractive book, somthing that one can expect from the publisher, McFarland and Company. A companion book by McFarland, and one that could perhaps be considered an introduction to clipper ships, might well be the equally comprehensive "American-Built Packets and Freighters of the 1850s" by William L. Crothers.

Genealogical research had established that my great-grandfather, Richard Charles Hoar, immigrated from England to the State of Utah as an early Mormon convert, sailing from Liverpool on May 16, 1861, with 955 fellow converts, aboard the Monarch of the Seas, arriving in New York Harbor on June 19, 1861. While still aboard ship in the harbor, he married my great-grandmother, Caroline Derricott.

But now, based on the comprehensive information contained in this book, I learn the following details about the ship that were previously not known: The Monarch of the Seas was a clipper ship of 1,971 tons built in 1854 for Lawrence & Giles Company of New York. Based on Mormon Church records, while in American hands this ship made several trans-Atlantic voyages delivering Mormon converts to New York. It was sold to British interests in 1865. It left Liverpool in March of 1866, destination unknown but not transporting Mormon converts, and was lost with all hands.

Seldom does one come across a book that can contribute specific details to one's own personal history! And what an exciting discovery it was!

The author writes in a very straightforward, workman-like prose that is descriptive in nature and easy to understand. Yet he does manage to convey the romance that attaches to the era of the American clipper ship.

The clipper ship represented the high point of technological development and design in wooden sailing vessals and a truly American achievement much copied by other nations. They were fast, but they were also beautiful. They were efficient transports but aesthetic in their appeal. Truly a rare and brilliant combination. But the clipper ship came right at the cusp of historical change in transportion, with the advent of the power-driven ship, as opposed to the wind-driven ship, just over the horizon. Thus the actual age of the clipper was relatively brief but magnificent nonetheless.

A book that will be a valued addition to any library, but most especially to my own, providing, as it does, information that relates directly to my own family history. ( )

What a fabulous book. The author has produced one of the most comprehensive books on the American Clipper Ships I have read in a long time. I found the way he organized the material greatly enhanced this book. My two favorite chapters were the ones on "Clipper Ship Commanders, Crew, and Passengers" and "Shipwrecks and other Noteworthy Clipper Events". The book is densely packed with information and illustrations. It's to bad that there are no photographs available for such a text. Highly recommended!! ( )