Among the most celebrated ships of the ’sixties were the Black Ball liners Flying Cloud and Scomberg; the Aberdeen clipper liners Thermopylæ, Thyatera; whilst among the China clippers were the Sir Lancelot, which was lost in the Bay of Bengal in a cyclone in 1896, the Black Adder and the Cutty Sark. Other famous tea clippers were the Ariel, Taeping, Serica, Fiery Cross and Taitsing. The first two of these will be found in Fig. 73, in which they are seen off the Lizard on September 6, 1866. They started together with Serica from Foo-choo on May 30, and lost sight of each other till they reached the English Channel. Taeping arrived in the London Dock (the same day she had passed the Lizard) at 9·45 P.M., while Ariel arrived at the East India Dock at 10·15 P.M., or with half an hour’s difference after racing for over three months on end. Serica arrived only a few hours later. In the thrilling picture before us, these two ships are seen with stun’s’ls and staysails set. The foretopmast staysail in both ships is stowed since the foresail with its projecting stun’s’l would otherwise blanket and render it useless. The improved lines at bow and stern to which we referred just now are here seen at their best. Two of the fastest sailing vessels ever built were the Thermopylæ and the Sir Lancelot. The former especially, had a marvellous capacity for speed. In one day, in the year 1870, she made a run of 330 knots, or 380 statute miles, being an average of 16 miles an hour. The Sir Lancelot, for seven consecutive days, kept up an average of over 300 miles a day. It was the Thermopylæ, which in 1869 was the first tea ship home, having made the passage in 91 days, but the Sir Lancelot presently eclipsed even this wonderful passage in 89 days, being the fastest clipper ever built.
The Cutty Sark was not as fast as the Thermopylæ and Sir Lancelot, but in 1872, although she had her rudder carried away on the voyage, she ran home from Shanghai in 122 days. The Thermopylæ was a composite clipper of 947 tons register. She was 210 feet long by 36 feet beam and 21 feet deep. She was designed by Mr. Waymouth for Messrs. Thompson & Co. The Sir Lancelot was, like the Thermopylæ, a composite ship, and was built by Messrs. Steel, of Greenock, for Mr. James McCunn. She was 886 tons register, 197 feet long, 33 feet 7 inches broad and 21 feet deep. When fully laden with 300 tons of ballast and 1430 tons of tea, she drew 18 feet 7 inches of water forward and 2 inches more aft. Her complement was 30, and when in racing trim she spread more than an acre of canvas. Her best run in twenty-four hours was of 354 miles. The article contributed recently by Mr. Bullen to the periodical already mentioned set on foot an interesting correspondence, in which some valuable facts were brought out by those who had actually served on these clipper-ships. And since the days of man are but three score years and ten, and before many more decades have run all those who went to sea in these magnificent ships will have passed away, I have thought it worth while to preserve here some of their recollections. The authors having adopted pseudonyms, I am unable to give their names.
One correspondent states that he remembers to have sailed 368 miles in one day, and 1000 miles in three days. One ship made a passage from the Start to the Ridge Lightship (30 miles from the mouth of the Hooghly) in 86 days. This was the Northampton, owned by Messrs. Soames and Co., of London. But other ships, including Messrs. Green’s Alnwick Castle, did it in 69 days. On September 23, 1863, the Hotspur arrived at Madras in 79 days.
Fig. 74 The Iron Clipper “Stonehouse.” Built in 1866.
From the model in the South Kensington Museum.
The illustration in Fig. 74 is taken from a model in the South Kensington Museum, and represents the iron clipper Stonehouse. It will be noticed she is ship-rigged; she was launched at Pallion in 1866. She has a full poop and topgallant forecastle, with considerable accommodation for carrying first-class passengers and cargo. Her displacement at load line is 2600 tons; her actual tonnage worked out at 1298; her length 220·5 feet, breadth 37 feet, depth 22·66 feet, and her load draught 19·25 feet. It will be noticed that she has double topsails, and her lines will give one an adequate idea of the famous clippers of the ’sixties.
The effect of the opening of the Suez Canal in the year 1870 was to place most of the trade to the East into steamers, which by now had become the deadliest enemy of the sailing ship. It would have been impossible to have carried on the trade in frozen food to-day in these fine old ships, and sentiment had necessarily to give way to the exacting dictates of commerce; but for a long time before 1870, and for some time after opening the canal, the traffic to India, Australia, and New Zealand was carried on in sailing ships, and the same keen rivalry to make the best passage continued. The Atlantic emigrant traffic also continued to be carried in sailing ships; but the ceaseless progress of the big steamship lines, and the competition which lowered the fares for steerage passengers, drove still another nail in the sailing ship’s coffin. And yet, in regard to speed, these ships would sail to the east or the west with a regularity equal to most modern tramp steamers.
Photo. Hughes & Son, Ltd.
The beautiful illustration in Fig. 75 is from a photograph of the celebrated Macquarie. She is an iron barque, and was built in 1875 by Messrs. R. & H. Green of London. Her registered tonnage is 1977, her length 269·8 feet, her beam 40·1 feet, and her depth 23·7. In her day she was a famous beauty, but now she has changed her name and nationality. Known as the Fortuna she is registered at Sandefjord and flies the Norwegian flag. The reader will remark the old-fashioned white band introduced soon after the Battle of Trafalgar, and mentioned early in the present chapter.