This tune can be played either as a hornpipe or as a reel. It is taken from Ryan's Mammoth Collection, published in 1883.
The tune could possibly have been named for the clipper ship Rival, a name that appears in American Clipper Ships 1833-1858 by Howe and Matthews, and in fact a few other tunes in Ryan's also appear to be named after engineering or transportation accomplishments of the mid-19th century.