The first California clippers, thirteen in number, were launched during the year 1850, the _Celestial_, 860 tons, built by William H. Webb and owned by Bucklin & Crane, of New York, being the first to leave the ways. She was soon followed by the _Mandarin_, 776 tons, built by Smith & Dimon for Goodhue & Co., of New York, and the _Surprise_, 1361 tons, owned by A. A. Low & Brother; _Game-Cock_, 1392 tons, owned by Daniel C. Bacon, Boston, and the barque _Race Horse_, 512 tons, owned by Goddard & Co., Boston, all built by Samuel Hall at East Boston. The _Witchcraft_, 1310 tons, was built at Chelsea by Paul Curtis, for S. Rogers & W. D. Pickman, of Salem; the _John Bertram_, 1080 tons, by R. E. Jackson at East Boston, for Glidden & Williams, of Boston; the _Governor Morton_, 1318 tons, by James M. Hood at Somerset, for Handy & Everett, of New York; the _Sea Serpent_, 1337 tons, by George Raynes at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for Grinnell, Minturn & Co., of New York; the _Eclipse_, 1223 tons, by J. Williams & Son at Williamsburg, for T. Wardle & Co., of New York; the _Seaman_, 546 tons, by Bell & Co., at Baltimore, for Funck & Meincke, of New York; the _White Squall_, 1118 tons, by Jacob Bell, for W. Platt & Son, of Philadelphia, and the _Stag-Hound_, 1535 tons, by Donald McKay at East Boston, for Sampson & Tappan and George B. Upton, of Boston. The _Celestial_ was a remarkably good-looking ship and much sharper than any vessel built by Mr. Webb up to that time. She carried long, slender spars, with plenty of canvas, and proved a very fast and able ship. The _Mandarin_, also a fine-looking ship, was intended by her builders to be an improved _Sea Witch_, and although she made some excellent passages, she never came up to the older vessel in point of speed; the _Sea Witch_ was her builders’ masterpiece, and they, like many others, found her a difficult ship to improve upon. The _Surprise_ was one of the most successful clipper ships ever constructed, and proved a mine of wealth for her owners. She was fully rigged on the stocks, with all her gear rove off, and was [Illustration: The “Surprise”] launched with her three skysail yards across and colors flying, which attracted a multitude of people. They rather expected to see her capsize, and were no doubt highly delighted to find that nothing unusual happened as she glided swiftly down the ways, or at that critical instant when her hull was still partly supported on the land and partly on the waves, or when she swung to her anchors on even keel, with the beautiful skyline of Boston of half a century ago outlined in the distance.