The London Daily News also published a leader in which it urged the importance to Great Britain of making good her claim to maritime supremacy by accepting the challenge and winning the race; but in spite of all that was said the challenge was not accepted. Had it been, Captain Dumaresq would have commanded the American ship, and Lieutenant Maury was to have prepared special wind and current charts for his assistance. As nearly all the American clippers had been constructed for the California trade, it is probable that for an important race of this nature, two ships would have been built especially for the China trade, and very likely by Donald McKay and Samuel Hall, as the Flying Cloud, Flying Fish, Stag-Hound, Game-Cock, and Surprise had already placed these two in the front rank of clipper ship builders. No reason was ever given for the non-acceptance of the challenge, though the inference seems obvious.
It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that the Stornoway and Chrysolite were not fast vessels; for they were probably the two fastest ships sailing under the British flag at that time, and were ably commanded, and on a China voyage, which is very different sailing from a San Francisco or Australian passage, would have given any ship afloat a run for her owner’s money. The fitful uncertainty of the monsoons in the China seas, with an occasional typhoon thrown in, has always rendered the voyages to and from China rather unsatisfactory tests of speed, and in this respect not to be compared with those to Australia or to San Francisco.
The Stornoway and Chrysolite were soon followed by other British clipper ships, among them the Abergeldie, of 600 tons register, built by Walter Hood & Co., of Aberdeen, in 1851. This vessel was named for an estate that adjoins Balmoral, at that time under a forty years’ lease to Prince Albert, and carried a figurehead of His Royal Highness in full Highland costume.
In 1852, Richard Green, of London, built the Challenger, of 699 tons. This ship, owned by W. S. Lindsay, of London, was constructed with the avowed purpose of beating the Challenge of New York. A comparison of the dimensions of this ship and those of the Sword-Fish, 1036 tons, is interesting.
| Length | Breadth | Depth | |||
| Challenger | 174 ft. | 32 ft. | 20 ft. | ||
| Sword-Fish | 169 ft. | 6 in. | 36 ft. | 6 in. | 20 ft. |
The Challenger was commanded by Captain Killick, who made eight China voyages in her, the best passage home being 105 days. Although she was never directly matched with her American rival, they both took part in an informal race from China in 1852, while the challenge of the Navigation Club was pending. The passages of the seven vessels, four American and three British, were as follows:
| Witch of the Wave | Canton to Deal | 90 | days. |
| Challenge | Canton to Deal | 105 | “ |
| Surprise | Canton to Deal | 106 | “ |
| Stornoway | Canton to Deal | 109 | “ |
| Chrysolite | Canton to Liverpool | 106 | “ |
| Nightingale | Shanghai to Deal | 110 | “ |
| Challenger | Shanghai to Deal | 113 | “ |
It is only fair to state that the Witch of the Wave, commanded by Captain Millett, sailed from Canton, January 5th, in the height of the northeast monsoon, and made the run, remarkable even at that season of the year, of 7 days 12 hours from Canton to Java Head, while the three British clippers, Stornoway, Chrysolite, and Challenger, sailed later with a moderate monsoon, and the Challenge, Surprise, and Nightingale later still, when the monsoon was less favorable. The rate of freight this year was £8 per ton, the highest that was ever paid.
This race, if so it can be called, resulted in “win, tie, or wrangle� as it was claimed, for one reason or another, by every vessel engaged in it, and ended by Sampson & Tappan, of Boston, offering to match the Nightingale for £10,000 against any ship, British or American, for a race to China and back. The rivalry of the American clipper ships among themselves was as keen as with those of Great Britain, and this challenge was intended for the Navigation Club, of Boston, of which Sampson & Tappan were not members, and for New York as well, quite as much as for the British clippers; but it found no response from either side of the Atlantic.
The Nightingale was owned by Sampson & Tappan for a number of years, during which she made some exceedingly fast passages, under the command of Captain Samuel Mather. Among them were the passage from Portsmouth, England, to Shanghai, against the northeast monsoon, in 106 days in 1853; and during the year 1855 a passage from Shanghai to London in 91 days, and from Batavia Roads to London in 70 days, an average of 197 miles per day, her best day’s run being 336 miles.