In 1862 the Messageries Imperiales of France extended their steamship line to China, and in 1867 the first steamship of the Pacific Mail Company from San Francisco arrived at Hong-kong. Vast numbers of globe-trotters then began to appear, most of them far too energetic; they insisted, among other things, on tying their own shoestrings, and in general proved very inferior lotus-eaters. When the Suez Canal was opened and telegraph cables began to be laid, then the remnant of charm that had made the old life in China so pleasant vanished forever.
In 1859 quite a new type of China tea clipper appeared in Great Britain. The first of these beautiful vessels was the Falcon, built by Robert Steele & Son, at Greenock, and owned by Shaw, Maxton & Co. She was a wooden vessel of 937 tons register; length 191 feet 4 inches, breadth 32 feet 2 inches, depth 20 feet 2 inches, and was commanded by Captain Maxton, who had been in command of the Lord of the Isles. The Falcon was the first of the really handsome tea clippers sailing out of London. Like her, the Fiery Cross, built by Chalour & Co., of Liverpool, in 1860; the Min, by Robert Steele & Son, of Greenock, and the Kelso, by William Pile, of Sunderland, in 1861; the Belted Will, by Feel & Co., of Workington, and the Serica, by Robert Steele & Son, in 1863 were all wooden ships sheathed with red copper. The Fiery Cross, the largest of these, was only 888 tons. They were all beautiful vessels of an entirely original type and with nothing about them to remind one of the American clippers; for they had considerably less sheer, much less freeboard, and lower bulwarks, and their comparatively small breadth gave them a slim, graceful appearance.
These ships and the tea clippers which followed them had very clear decks for working ship. The deck-houses were small, and with the rails, bulwarks, waterways, bitts, hatch-coamings, companions, and skylights were of India teak varnished; the decks, also of India teak, were holystoned; and this, with the polished brasswork and the spare spars lashed amidships, made them very smart and shipshape.
The tea-trade in the early sixties was comparatively small, and did not require many vessels, but speed in the delivery of new teas was of the utmost importance, and it was this demand that brought these clippers into existence. They were designed with great skill for this special purpose, and as they invariably sailed from China with new teas during the southwest monsoon, it was necessary that they should be smart in moderate weather going to windward, as well as in getting through the northeast trades in the Atlantic. It was under these conditions that they did their best work. They did not carry as heavy spars nor as much canvas as the American clippers of the same length, and probably could not have done so to advantage, as their breadth was considerably less, and with their easy lines they did not require much canvas to drive them. They were remarkably fast in light and moderate winds, and made fine averages rather than exceptional daily records of speed, none of them reaching the extreme speed of many of the sharper and more powerful American clipper ships. Only twenty-five or thirty of these vessels were built from first to last, and not more than four or five in any one year. A list of the most celebrated of them will be found in Appendix III.
The captains were men of great ability, who handled their ships with skill and judgment; some of them accumulated considerable fortunes, being part owners of the vessels which they commanded. These ships were manned by fine British seamen, many of whom had served in the Royal Navy. When these fellows got safely to sea and properly sobered up, there were no smarter sailors afloat, whether aloft or with marlinspike, palm and needle, or watch tackle.
In 1863 the first tea clippers of composite construction were brought out—the Taeping, built by Robert Steele & Son; the Eliza Shaw, by Alexander Stephen, and the Yang-tze and Black Prince, by Alexander Hall. This system of ship-building—iron frames and wood planking—was invented by John Jordan, son of a member of the firm of L. H. Macintyre & Co., ship-builders of Liverpool, who built the schooner Excelsior upon this principle in 1850, and the barque Marion Macintyre, in 1851, these being the first composite vessels constructed.
This system combined the strength of iron frames with the advantage that the wooden planking could be coppered to prevent fouling, which was a serious matter in this trade. Great care had to be taken in building these vessels to prevent galvanic action so far as possible. Gutta-percha was placed between the frames and planking as a non-conductor; the planking was then fastened with yellow-metal screw bolts with counter-sunk heads, the holes being afterwards filled with a composition prepared for the purpose. Mr. Jordan obtained a patent for his invention, but it did not attract much attention until adopted in the construction of the Taeping, Eliza Shaw, Yang-tze, and Black Prince. From that time all the tea clippers were of composite build, though it was not until 1867 that the Committee of Lloyd’s Register issued rules for their construction.
It was in 1863 also that the Seaforth, an iron ship of 1200 tons, built for the Calcutta trade by Jones, Quiggin & Co., of Liverpool, was fitted with steel lower masts, topmasts, topsails yards, and bowsprit, and with standing rigging of steel wire
The Composite Construction