Portland Public Library

Barons of the sea, and their race to build the world's fastest clipper ship, Steven Ujifusa

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-400) and index

illustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

Barons of the sea

bibliography

1000150656

Steven Ujifusa

and their race to build the world's fastest clipper ship

"There was a time, back when the United States was young and the robber barons were just starting to come into their own, when fortunes were made and lost importing luxury goods from China. It was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business--one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea back home to New York could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one's goods arrived first to market, so they might fetch the highest price--making their sellers some of the first millionaires. Barons of the Sea tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores. They were visionary, eccentric shipbuilders, debonair captains, and socially ambitious merchants with names like Forbes and Delano--men whose business interests took them from the cloistered confines of China's expatriate communities to the sin-city decadence of Gold Rush-era San Francisco and from the teeming hubbub of East Boston's shipyards and to the lavish sitting rooms of New Yorks Hudson Valley estates. Elegantly written and meticulously researched, Barons of the Sea is a riveting tale of innovation and ingenuity that draws back the curtain on the making of some of the nation's greatest fortunes, and the rise and fall of an all-American industry as sordid as it was genteel"--JacketBack when the United States was young and the robber barons were just starting to come into their own, fortunes were made and lost importing luxury goods from China. Teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey home to New York could take six agonizing months. The most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one's goods arrived first to market, so they might fetch the highest price. Ujifusa tells of visionary, eccentric shipbuilders, debonair captains, and socially ambitious merchants and draws back the curtain on the making of some of the nation's greatest fortunes. -- adapted from jacket

Prologue: the patriarch -- The Canton Silver Cup -- Breaking into the family -- Opium hostages -- Yankees in Gotham -- Mazeppa and the problem child -- Captain Nat -- Family pressure under sail -- Memnon: Delano's California bet -- Enter Donald McKay -- Grinnell grabs the Flying Cloud -- At the starting line -- Around the world -- Frightful to look aloft: Sovereign of the Seas -- Great Republic -- Hill and river -- Surprise and danger -- Glory of the Seas -- Keeping it in the family