Captains
- Garibaldi—Italian national hero. Captained a Peruvian clipper.
- Gemmill - Scotland, then USA
- William D. Gregory, captain of the clipper Tejuca, which sank during a hurricane in 1856.
- Joseph Warren Holmes—American sea captain who sailed around Cape Horn 84 times; command of clipper Seminole.
- Nathaniel Palmer—American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer.
- Robert Waterman (sea captain)—Clipper captain famous for making record-breaking times and for being rough on his crews.
Crew members
- Adelbert Ames—Mate on a clipper, seaman on his father’s ship. Became a Union general in the Civil War, Reconstruction era politician, and Spanish–American War general.
- Hobart Bosworth—Cabin boy. Became a famous actor.
- David Bernard Clarke—2nd Mate on the Surrey Official No. 12873 and the Challenger No. 10707 and 1st Mate on the Red Deer No. 47387.
- Richard Henry Dana, author of Two Years Before the Mast
- Michael Healy—Cabin boy on a clipper. Became the first African-American to command a ship of the United States government.
- Benjamin Cheever Howard—Mate on Witchcraft, Golden Fleece, & Rising Son. Letters written from clippers at Bancroft Library & Peabody Essex Museum. Early San Francisco businessman (Howard & Pool).
- Edmund Rice—Apprentice to a clipper captain. Became a Brigadier General in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Passengers
Travellers
- Charles Keeler—American author, adventure, poet, naturalist and advocate for the arts, particularly architecture. Traveled around Cape Horn on the clipper Charmer in 1893.
- Sara Delano Roosevelt—Mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Voyage to China at age eleven on the Surprise, with her mother and six brothers and sisters.
- Corliss P. Stone—Elected Mayor of Seattle, 1872. Arrived on the West Coast on the clipper ship Archer.
Missionaries to China
- Otis Gibson and Elizabeth Chamberlain Gibson. Sailed on a clipper for a mission to China a few months after their marriage.
- James Joseph Meadows—One of the first missionaries of the China Inland Mission.
- Hudson Taylor—Protestant missionary, founder of the China Inland Mission. Spent 51 years in China.
References
- "University of Connecticut Digital Mosaic". Captain Joseph Warren Holmes of Mystic. University of CT. 2009 . Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
- "The Sea Witch". eraoftheclipperships.com. 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- D. Blethen Adams Levy (2009). "Captain Robert "Bully" Waterman". The Maritime Heritage Project. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- Warner, Ezra J (1964). Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
- <BT122/30 at TNA>
- <BT122/29 at the TNA>
- <BT122/29 at TNA>
- "Captain Michael A. Healy, USRCS". Archived from the original on 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
- Nitch, Steven (November–December 2006). "VISIONS OF HONOR: A Special Look at Gettysburg Medal of Honor recipient Brigadier General Edmund Rice". FindArticles. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
- Butow, By R.J.C. (Fall 1999). "A Notable Passage to China, Myth and Memory in FDR's Family History". Prologue Magazine. 31 (3). Washington, DC: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
- A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, Washington. New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co. 1903. p. 167. Archived from the original on 2010-09-29.
- Gibson, Eliza C. (1916), A Trip to China Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine, California Christian Advocate