Star Flyer clipper sailing ship under sail leaving Sifnos, Western Cyclades, Aegean, Greece. The Star Flyer, a four-masted 360-foot sailing ship, launched in May 1991 and built in Ghent at the Belgium Shipbuilders Corporation yard, was the first new clipper ship in 90 years. Owner and President Mikael Krafft, from Sweden. Clippers were a design pioneered in America in the 1840s and 1850s that used a long, narrow hull, sharp bow and large expanse of sail to achieve high speeds, up to 20 knots and capable of covering 400 nautical miles in 24 hours. The purpose was trade and profit.