A year later, he launched Sea Witch; it did even better ... All this helped New York and Boston become America’s hubs for clipper-ship production — and helped the nation establish its ...

Capt. Robert Waterman had retired to his farm in Fairfield. He was raising cattle, poultry and lima beans, selling his products to the gold miners. But then came the offer he couldn’t refuse.

In “Barons of the Sea,” the nautical historian Steven Ujifusa chronicles another invention—the clipper ship—and the immense fortunes that both propelled and resulted from its development.

Ujifusa (A Man and His Ship) reconstructs the lavish social milieu of Yankee shipping magnates in this account of how clipper ships unlocked ... monotony and danger of sea voyages, where long ...