Clipper

Clipper is a name familiarly given to a sailing-ship built expressly for speed. Aberdeen was long celebrated for building swift tea-clippers, which since 1860 have been gradually superseded by steamers. The Baltimore clippers were also famous. As to the possible rate of speed, it may be noted that the Lightning, built at Boston, U.S., in 1854, during a voyage from Melbourne to Liverpool ran 2550 English miles in one week, or at the rate of about 15½ miles an hour during the whole period.