WHAT THE TEA CLIPPERS COULD DO.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 137, 11 June 1889, Page 4

WHAT THE TEA CLIPPERS COULD DO.

During the ten years, 1860 to 1870- the best English shipbuilding yards devo ted their best attention to the construction of sailing vessels that should equal and surpass the performances of the far nous American tea clippers, and tui'ned out among others the Thermopylae, Sir .Lancelot, Taeping, Challenger, &c- Of the first named of these it is s bated in " Whittaker's Merchant's Shippia ig of the World " that in one day, the 4fcbi January, 1869, she ran a distance of ZZ6> 'knots, equal to 380 statute miles, being at tfc ie rate of 16 miles an hour nearly. She tna de the fastest voyage on record (for sa'Hers) be.tween London and Melbourne, coy oring the distance in 60 days, and af rain beat the record by making the run from Sydney to China in 28 days. Coming then to London with £4 cargo of tea, she made the distance in 91 days, a passage never beaten but once, t/he Sir •Lancelot having accomplished the iun in 90 days. Five of these sea racehorses —the Ariel, Taeping, Serica, Fiery Cro3s, and Taitsing—had a race from Foo Chow to London, the first three leaving on. the same day, parting company at once, and not meeting again until reach1' L ncr the English Channel. They were pJ aced in dock at London within a few day 3 of one another, after a run of 99 days.