Read and use both stories to help you answer questions 7-10. Sailing The Seas

Put together wood and canvas. Power them with wind. What do you get? You have created the sailing ship. For thousands of years, the sailing ship was the main way to travel the ocean. Early explorers used their knowledge of astronomy to guide them as they traveled on sailing ships to visit other lands and map the world. People used sailing ships to trade with other countries. People also used sailing ships to travel across oceans to settle new lands.

Beginning in the 1840s, a new type of ship began to sail the seas. It was called a clipper ship. Clipper ships were among the most beautiful sailing vessels ever built. They had long, narrow bodies and tall masts to hold their many sails. When the wind filled their sails, clipper ships seemed to fly across the water.

Clipper ships were built to be faster than other sailing ships. Before clipper ships, it could take 200 days to travel from New York to California. Clipper ships could make the trip in less than 100 days.

Shipbuilders competed to build the fastest clipper ships. Donald McKay was the best designer and builder of clipper ships. He learned to build ships when he was in the navy and then ran a shipyard in Massachusetts. Between the launching of his first ship in 1845 and the closing of his shipyard in 1873, McKay built some of the largest and fastest clipper ships. One of McKay’s ships, the Flying Cloud, set a record for the fastest trip from New York to California. In 1854, it made the trip in 86 days.

Clipper ships were used to transport goods around the world. They carried tea and silk from China to New York and California. Clippers also moved goods produced on the East Coast to gold miners and settlers in California. The cargo on a clipper ship was valuable. One clipper ship, the Challenger, returned from China carrying silk and tea worth $2 million.

In the 1860s, new forms of transportation began to replace the clipper ship. Railroads were built across the United States so people could use trains to ship goods. Steamships were also invented. Steamships had a big advantage over clipper ships and other sailing ships. They did not have to depend on wind for the power to propel them. They had engines powered by steam. Steamships could run in a greater variety of weather conditions, so they were more reliable than clipper ships. Then, as now, traders wanted to beat their competitors. They wanted to arrive at their destinations before anyone else and with the most cargo. So, of course, they turned to steam-powered vessels. In a short time, the age of the sailing ship had ended.