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Clippers
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Clipper: “A sharp-bowed sailing vessel of the mid-19th century, having tall masts and sharp lines and built for great speed.” Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

Tea in High Demand

As the popularity of tea grew with the British public the search was on for a faster means of getting the tea, as well as eastern silk and porcelain, to London faster. The ships used by the East India Company, often referred to as 'tea wagons', were too slow. Clippers were developed to get around this problem.

The double-masted Baltimore Clipper was built in America as was the Ann McKim in 1832, designed and constructed specifically for the China trade by Isaac McKim. The capacity for cargo in the Ann McKim was constrained, but this was made up for by the fact that she proved herself as the fastest ship to navigate the treacherous seas back and forth to Canton. The Boston Tea Party put a short term dampener on the demand for tea, but it returned quickly and continued to grow. Tea was the in thing, people just couldn't get enough of it! As soon as the tea arrived at the dockside in cities like London and New York it was sold, and merchants had no problem at all selling their goods at a premium rate. However, standard frigates were still taking far too slow, the demand was outstripping supply considerably.

America Overtakes Britain: The First Clipper is Introduced

What happened next tipped the balance of power in tea importation to the Americans. The Rainbow, constructed in 1845 by a New York based company, realised the future of the tea import trade - she was the first of true American clippers. These new faster, reliable and sleeker clippers gave America the controlling edge in the shipment of tea from China to Europe.

The clippers were designed like large yachts, they were very fast and pleasing to the eye whilst managing to stow away more than a million pounds of tea in their cavernous hulls. Unlike the ships used by the East India Company, the clippers return journey was made safer as their tightly packed cargo gave the clipper extra power and stability in the open ocean.

To try and get a hold on their diminishing market share Britain introduced it's first clipper in 1846 called the Torrington, she and subsequent British clippers were quickly in direct competition with their American counterparts. This spirit of competition was heightened in 1849 when the British Navigational Laws were changed to allow American ships to dock in British harbours. Up until this point the Americans were forced to offload their goods in Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Spain or Holland. After this import ban was lifted the Americans sailed straight into British ports and sold their tea.

It's a Race Home: Clipper Versus Clipper

There was a basic principle at play when importing tea, the first load to get back to London or New York sold for a higher price. This only encouraged the various captains to go faster and keep pushing back the boundaries of their clippers. One advantage was to set sail from the port of Fouchow, where tea was available to load roughly 6 weeks earlier than it would be in other Chinese ports. This came about after the signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 when the British and Chinese governments settled their differences, resulting in more Chinese ports being opened to foreign trade. Quite often a pair of clippers would set sail on the same tide and battle their way back home side by side through storms and squalls, not to mention the odd encounter with pirates. It was this sense of adventure and courage that attracted the attention of the public, who waited with baited breath to see what clipper would arrive first.

The End of an Era: Clippers Replaced by Steam Ships

The clippers played an essential part in the worldwide trade of tea for around 20 years, until 1869. Faster steam-powered ships began to replace the fleet of clippers, and after the opening of the Suez Canal they could get their cargo to the European harbours faster than ever before. Clippers lost their allure and were soon relegated to carrying wool and other cargoes around the world. The only clipper left to tell the tale of the famous clipper races is the Cutty Sark, now on display in a dry dock at Greenwich in London. She still captivates the imagination of the many thousands of visitors who walk her boards every year.

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