The Challenge

by A.B.C. Whipple

Book Overview

Looks at the development of the American clipper ship, tells the story of a race between the Challenge and the Flying Cloud, and offers a profile of the captain of the Challenge, Robert Waterman This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688071120
• ISBN13: 9780688071127
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great Sailing history book on the Clipper ship era

Like the other reviewer, I found this book in a second hand bookstore and bought it on a whim. It turned out to be a great read. I'd always known that Clipper ships were the fastest sailing merchants, but I had no idea how hard they were to sail fast. Whipple goes into a lot of the history surrounding these boats, the gold rush, the tea trade, the Paris fashion trade with China. All fascinating stuff and well told. Not a page burner but a good book that I enjoyed reading.

A masterful, true tale of sailing, discovery and greed

I knew little about the Clipper Ship era (and frankly had minimal desire to learn about it). I happened upon this book by accident... a fortuitous accident. Whipple relates the events surrounding the Gold Rush, the development of the Clipper Ship and the subsequent expansion of trade routes with the American West.Clipper ships, we learn, were ultra-fast sailing cargo ships designed to round the tip of South America quickly. Bringing supplies and trade goods to San Francisco (and, hopefully, plenty of gold on the return trip), clippers predated both the Panama Canal and the steam ship."The Challenge" itself refers to races between the top clipper ships to make the harrowing trip around the Cape on ever-faster timing.Included in the edition I have are some astounding photographs. My favorite is a stark picture of the Bay... littered with the hulls of thousands of abandoned ships deserted by crews rushing to the gold fields.This book is a masterful monument to a fascinating era that has been largely overlooked.