Barons of the Sea

In the days of sail, a handful of cutthroat competitors raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships, spurred on by the lure of profit-these vessels carried tea, silk, and porcelain (funded by profits from opium) between China and America. Ujifusa brings alive the visionary eccentric shipbuilders, the debonair captains, and the socially-ambitious merchants–men whose domains included the cloistered confines of China’s expatriate communities, the sin-city decadence of Gold Rush-era San Francisco, the hubbub of East Boston’s shipyards and the gentility of lavish Hudson Valley estates.