Clipper ships were the fastest sailing ships available in the 1850s .
Howard I. Chapelle asserts in The Search for Speed Under Sail that Sunny South had the reputation of being the fastest slaver sailing out of Havana .
Clipper ships were the fastest sailing ships available in the 1850s , and Howard I. Chapelle asserts in The Search for Speed Under Sail that Sunny South had the reputation of being the fastest slaver sailing out of Havana .