America's early lead As well as the constantly growing China tea trade, the clippers were used on routes from the American East Coast round Cape Horn to San Francisco and across to Japan and China, and the Gold Rush of 1848-9 also created an urgent need for fast passages to California. Previously the size of the payload had been the prime consideration in ship design, but now light weight and speed became the priorities.
除不斷成長的中國茶葉貿易，一八四八到四九年間美國加州淘金熱，加上由美東到舊金山，再經日本到中國的黃金航道日趨熱門，都使得過去以裝載量為主要考量的船運設計，改以輕巧快速為尚。