Clipper Ships are first built in Boston.

The Surprise is launched from Samuel Hall’s shipyard. The first of the 350 1,000+-ton, three- and four-masted ships (140 of the 350 built the U.S. through the 1860s in Boston), it sets a record in its first voyage, sailing from New York by San Francisco in 96 days. Production of clipper ships peaks in 1855 and then declines, as they are supplanted by iron-hulled, steam-powered ships.