The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-11 00:00:00

The Great Ship -Race from China.

The truly marvellous race between the fleet of
China clipper ships, from Foo-chow-foo, for the
premium offered by the London brokers for the first
season's teas, and their almost neck-and-neck
struggle during the whole voyage of upwards of
16,000 miles, is an event exciting a vast amount of
interest in almost every maritime port, both at home
and abroad. It appears there were nine ships engaged
in the contest, and not five tia, previously reported.
Wher
They were as follows, together with the time of their
:
Date
respective departures/Aom Foo-chow-foo :
Names. Ton-
nage.of
Built, Sailing.
Ada 686 Jones
Captains.
Aberdeen Juno 6
Ariel 853 Keay Greenock May 30
Black Prince 750 Inglis Aberdeen June 3
Chinaman
Fiery Cross 689 Robinson Liverpool May 29
Flying Spur 731 Ryrie Aberdeen Juno 5
Serica 7OB Innes Greenock May 30
Taeping 767 M'Kinnon Greenock May 30
Taitsing Bl5 Nutsfield Glasgow May 31
The struggle, however, was between the Fiery
Cross, Arid, Taeping, and Serica. The Fiery Cross
obtained a start of one day over the others ; the
Serica, Ariel, and Taeping crossed the bar of Foo-
chow-foo in company together, 30th May. The
Taitsing started the following day. There was a
fair N.E. wind blowing, which the Fiery Cross kept
to 19 20 N., when they met with a few hours' calm
and southerly wind. N.E. wind, fresh, again set in,
which carried them to the Parcells reef on June 3,
though they were not sighted. The Serica, Taeping,
and Ariel met with similar weather. The Fiery
Cross saw nothing of them until noon of the 7th of
June in lat. 9 37, when she passed a large ship on
the opposite tack, believed to have been the Arid.
To the southward of the Parcells they met with
strong south-west winds. As far as we have been
able to ascertain, the ships passed the lighthouse at
Anjer, Straits of Sunda, as follows :—Fiery Cross at
noon of the 18th of June, Ariel on the morning of
the 20th of June, Taeping on the afternoon of the
20th of June, Serica at 6 p.m. of the 22d of June,
Taitsing at 10 p.m. of the 22d of June, and Black
Prince on the 29th of June.
At this time the Fiery Cross was evidently hold-
ing the lead, while the Taitsing, which left Foo-
chow-foo the day after the others, had caught up
with the Serica, the Fiery Cross heading both by
two days. From Anjer they carried good trade
winds to the meridian of Madagascar.
The Fiery Cross passed Mauritius on the 30th of
June, and the Arid on the 2d of July.
The Cape of Good hope was sighted by the Fiery
Cross on the 15th of July at 10 p.m. The Ariel
rounded the Cape the next day, wind S.E. to E.
and N.N.E. The Serica rounded the Cape on
the 22d.

The Equator was passed—Fiery Cross 6 p.m. of
the 4th of August, Ariel on the sth, and Serica on
the 19th.

On the 9th of August, in lat. 12 29 N., the Fiery
Cross signalled the Tacping, and continued in com-
pany till the 17th, with wind variable and light. In
lat. 27 53, long. 36 51 W. a fresh breeze sprung up
and took the Taeping out of sight from the Fiery
Cross in four or five hours. The Fiery Cross was
becalmed and was not making one knot per hour for
24 hours. This circumstance is alleged to have lost
her the race. On the 29th she reached lat. 41 5 N.,
long. 35 51 W., and at 10 a.m. of the 6th of Sep-
tember she sighted the Isle of Wight, it bearing
N.N.W. wind W.S.W., blowing hard.
The Ariel and Taeping, which had lost sight of
each other for 70 days, found themselves on Wed-
nesday morning at eight o'clock off the Lizard, run-
ning neck and neck up the Channel under every
stitch of canvas that could be set, with a strong
westerly wind. During the whole day the two ships
kept their position, dashing up the Channel side by
side in splendid style, sometimes almost on their beam
endsevery sea sweeping their decks. On approaching
the pilot station of Dungeness the next morning
they each fired blue lights to signalise their posi-
tion. At daybreak the pilots boarded them at the
same moment, and the race continued in the same ex-
citing manner till they arrived in the Downs, where
they both took steam-tugs to tow them to the river.
The ships had to shorten sail to enable the tugs
coming up and picking up the hawsers to take them
in tow. This was about 8 o'clock a.m., the tugs
starting almost simultaneously, and both ships still
neck and neck. The Taeping, however, was for-
turnate enough to have a superiority in the power
of the steam-tugs, and reached Gravesend some time
before the Ariel. The Serica followed closely upon
them. She passed Deal at noon, and got into the
river with the same tide which carried the Taeping
and Ariel up the river to the docks, when the result
of this extraordinary race was declared to be as
follows :-
Ist, Tacping, docked in London Dock, 9.45 p.m.
2nd, Ariel, docked in East India Dock, 10.15 p.m.
3rd, Serica, docked in West India Dock, 11.30 p.m.

The Taeping, therefore, was the winner of the
premium about £5OO. The bills of lading of each
ship setting forth that 10s. per ton extra to be paid
if first sailing vessel in dock with new teas from
Foo-chow.

Vie Fiery Cross arrived in the Downs on the 7th,
andup to an anchor on ac-
count of a y compelled
where she remained
some time. She, however,
was
heavloblowing, bring
managed to get into the
g ato
London Dock by 8 o'clock on Saturday morning,
some 28 hours after Taeping. The fifth
ship,the
Taitsing, arrived in the river yesterday forenoon.
During the past few days the excitement occa-
sioned n
unprecedented. The friends of each vessel have been
bt yh
s thegreat
r oprobability
annual
oceano f therace
supporting their favourite, by betting considerable
sums. During no previous year has so much in-
terest been centred in the result of this race, and
from the fact of so many Clyde-built ships being
engaged in the competition, Scotchmen generally
have largely partaken in the speculation which has
existed at almost every maritime port, both in Britain
and China. It will be remembered that last year
the ships Fiery Cross and Serica left Foo-chow for
London together, on the 28th May, both having
been towed to sea by the same tug, and that both
vessels arrived off the Isle of Wight simultaneously
on the 10th of Sept., after a passage of 106 days.
By a stroke of good fortune, however, the tug sent
out by the owners of the Fiery Cross sighted her,
took her in tow, and arrived in Lontlon one tide
before her rival, the Serica, the latter having tailed
to sight the tug on the look-out for her.
Singular to observe the Taeping, Ariel, and Serica
were all built by Messrs. Steele and Co., of Greenock.
The Taeping and Ariel were constructed on the
composite principle, wood and iron. The Serica is
iron-built.
The cargoes of the ships were, Taeping 1,108,709
lbs. of tea ; Ariel, 1,230,900 lbs. of tea ; the Serica,
954,236 lbs. ; Fiery Cross, 854,236 lbs., and the
Taitsing 1,003,130 lbs.
The time occupied on the voyage by the three
ships has been 99 days, being seven days shorter