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BALTIMORE CLIPPER SHIPS. 605
Baltimore, which Avas at this period, the third commercial city in the
Union, exported tAvo-thirds of the whole amount sent forward by the State,
In the year ending October 1st, 1791, the value of merchandise entered at the
custom house for exportation, Avas $1,690,930; in 1792, $1,782,861; in 1793,
$2,092,660; in 1794, $3,456,421; and with the foreign and domestic produce
together $5,094,248. In the year ending September 30th, 1798, the foreign
and domestic exports amounted to over $12,000,000.
In proportion to the carrying trade, ship-building grew, which has made
our celebrated "Baltimore Clippers" famous. These schooners and. brigs
built on the Chesapeake Bay after the model of what Avas then known as the
" Virginia Pilot Boat," frequently shoAved a speed under sail that is now
seldom attained by the best European steamers, and under experienced and
daring masters, they soon became the sovereigns of the West Indian trade,
and even of some of the European traffics; so that in the hands of intelligent
merchants they Avere the instruments of extraordinary enterprise and success.
No one resource contributed so much to the rise of Baltimore as these swift
" skimmers of the seas," and it is strange that there model Avas for many
years unmatched outside the Chesapeake Bay.1
The tonnage of Baltimore in 1790 consisted of 27 ships, 1 scoav, 31 brig-
antines, 34 schooners, and 9 sloops: total, 102 vessels, containing 13,564 tons.
In the year ending the last day of December, 1797, the shipping amounted to
59,837 tons. According to the first census, taken by the government in 1790,
the population of Baltimore Town, of all descriptions, Avas 13,503; by the
census of 1800 it was 26,114, showing that the city had nearly doubled its population in ten years. Its taxable basis Avhich in 1798 Avas valued at $699,519,
increased in ten years to the sum of $2,522,870, Avhile the United. States government in the same year assessed the value of this same property at $31,276,-
269.
During this period of commercial prosperity we did not pass unobserved
in Europe, and it was there conceived that the youngest of civilized nations
had advanced too rapidly. Great Britain saAV Avith anxiety that her former
colonies had become her most dangerous rivals, and considered it possible that
they might outstrip her in foreign commerce. The war which she had
declared against France Avas made the instrument of our attempted degradation; her hostility was exhibited under the form of numerous interdictions,
blockades and orders in council; she even intended to make us tributary to
her by exacting an enormous transit duty for our domestic productions when
they were carried to the ports of other foreign nations. France and Spain
soon adopted hostile proceedings, under the titles of arrets, counter-orders
and decrees, which they alleged were founded on the principle of retaliation;
and at last we had to make choice between the alternatives of abandoning the
ocean or taking part in the war.
1 The success of the yacht America, at Cowes, pers, Great Republic and Flying Cloud, made three
in 1851, built after their model, revolutionized hundred and seventy-four knots in twenty-four
yacht-building in England. The Boston clip- hours, or nearly eighteen miles an hour.
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000648 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | BALTIMORE CLIPPER SHIPS. 605 Baltimore, which Avas at this period, the third commercial city in the Union, exported tAvo-thirds of the whole amount sent forward by the State, In the year ending October 1st, 1791, the value of merchandise entered at the custom house for exportation, Avas $1,690,930; in 1792, $1,782,861; in 1793, $2,092,660; in 1794, $3,456,421; and with the foreign and domestic produce together $5,094,248. In the year ending September 30th, 1798, the foreign and domestic exports amounted to over $12,000,000. In proportion to the carrying trade, ship-building grew, which has made our celebrated "Baltimore Clippers" famous. These schooners and. brigs built on the Chesapeake Bay after the model of what Avas then known as the " Virginia Pilot Boat," frequently shoAved a speed under sail that is now seldom attained by the best European steamers, and under experienced and daring masters, they soon became the sovereigns of the West Indian trade, and even of some of the European traffics; so that in the hands of intelligent merchants they Avere the instruments of extraordinary enterprise and success. No one resource contributed so much to the rise of Baltimore as these swift " skimmers of the seas," and it is strange that there model Avas for many years unmatched outside the Chesapeake Bay.1 The tonnage of Baltimore in 1790 consisted of 27 ships, 1 scoav, 31 brig- antines, 34 schooners, and 9 sloops: total, 102 vessels, containing 13,564 tons. In the year ending the last day of December, 1797, the shipping amounted to 59,837 tons. According to the first census, taken by the government in 1790, the population of Baltimore Town, of all descriptions, Avas 13,503; by the census of 1800 it was 26,114, showing that the city had nearly doubled its population in ten years. Its taxable basis Avhich in 1798 Avas valued at $699,519, increased in ten years to the sum of $2,522,870, Avhile the United. States government in the same year assessed the value of this same property at $31,276,- 269. During this period of commercial prosperity we did not pass unobserved in Europe, and it was there conceived that the youngest of civilized nations had advanced too rapidly. Great Britain saAV Avith anxiety that her former colonies had become her most dangerous rivals, and considered it possible that they might outstrip her in foreign commerce. The war which she had declared against France Avas made the instrument of our attempted degradation; her hostility was exhibited under the form of numerous interdictions, blockades and orders in council; she even intended to make us tributary to her by exacting an enormous transit duty for our domestic productions when they were carried to the ports of other foreign nations. France and Spain soon adopted hostile proceedings, under the titles of arrets, counter-orders and decrees, which they alleged were founded on the principle of retaliation; and at last we had to make choice between the alternatives of abandoning the ocean or taking part in the war. 1 The success of the yacht America, at Cowes, pers, Great Republic and Flying Cloud, made three in 1851, built after their model, revolutionized hundred and seventy-four knots in twenty-four yacht-building in England. The Boston clip- hours, or nearly eighteen miles an hour. |
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