Another improvement which he proposed was to fine out the after body by rounding up the ends of the main transom, thus relieving the quarters and making the stern much lighter and handsomer above the water-line.
This proposed departure from old methods naturally met with much opposition, but in 1843, the firm of Howland & Aspinwall commissioned Smith & Dimon, of New York, in whose employ Griffeths had spent several years as draughtsman, to embody these experimental ideas in a ship of 750 tons, named the Rainbow.
Her bow with its concave waterlines and the greatest breadth at a point considerably further aft than had hitherto been regarded as practicable, was a radical departure, differing not merely in degree but in kind from any ship that preceded her.
"[4] Most owners wanted ships that could do all kinds of work and the "finest type" then being built was the Medford or Merrimac East Indiaman.
An example would be the Columbiana built in Medford in 1837, or Jotham Stetson’s ship the Rajah, 531 tons, 140 feet long which was constructed in the previous year.
A change was made in 1855 by joining to the clipper top, bow, and stern the fuller bottom of the old-fashioned freighting ship.
That style of vessel remains in use to the present day [1884], although capacity is now the chief aim in American sailing ships rather than speed.
It has been applied to clipper ships built with a lengthening of the bow above to water, a drawing out and sharpening of the forward body, and the greatest breadth further aft.