Vintage Nautical Mousepads & Desk pads

The period of clipper ships lasted from the early 1840s to the early 1890s. At the 'crest of the clipper wave' year of 1852, there were 200 clippers rounding Cape Horn. Up to 400 clipper ships were built, between 1840s to the early 1890 The only intact survivor is Cutty Sark, which was preserved as a museum ship in 1954 at Greenwich. Steamships were water vessels propelled by steam. They started to appear on western rivers in 1807. Robert Fulton built a steamboat using John Fitch's patented version of the steam engine and became known as the “Father of Steam Navigation”. The first steamboat on the Mississippi was called the New Orleans, built in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1811. Steamships could travel at speeds of up to five miles per hour. They revolutionized river travel and trade.