Built by the eminent New York shipwright William Webb in 1853, the Clipper YOUNG AMERICA was known to be a stout ship in heavy weather. She was launched in 1853, at the height of the clipper construction boom. She sailed in the California trade, on transatlantic routes, and made voyages to Australia and the Far East.

The 1,961-ton YOUNG AMERICA, measuring 243 feet long with a 43 foot beam, was the most successful of Webb's designs. Popular with shipping merchants for her fast passages, she commanded top rates, often double what lesser ships earned. She was in steady service around Cape Horn for thirty years before she went missing in the North Atlantic in 1886. One of the world's greatest clippers in her prime.