The Taeping was a clipper ship built in 1863 by Robert Steele of Greenock. Taeping participated in The Great Tea Race of 1866

The Great Tea Race of 1866

The Great Tea Race of 1866 was an unofficial competition between the fastest clipper ships of the China tea trade to bring the season's first crop of tea to London in 1866....

 and narrowly defeated the Ariel

Ariel (clipper)

Ariel was a clipper ship famous for making fast voyages between China and England in the late 1860s.Ariel was a full rigged ship of 853 tons net register, measuring x 33.9 feet x . She was designed by William Rennie, and built in 1865 by Robert Steele & Co., Greenock for Shaw, Lowther & Maxton of...

. The ship's captain was MacKinnon of the Isle of Tiree.

Sailing performance

According to Lubbock, the tea clippers Taeping, Fiery Cross

Fiery Cross (clipper)

Fiery Cross was a famous British Tea Clipper which sailed in the Great Tea Race of 1866.-Tea trade:From 1860-1875, the ship sailed in the tea trade between London and Chinese ports like Hong Kong, Foochow, Canton, and Shanghai....

, Serica

Serica (clipper)

The Serica was a clipper ship built in 1863 by Robert Steele & Co., at Greenock on the south bank of the Clyde, Scotland, for James Findlay.-Winner of 1864 Tea Race:Serica is Latin for "China"-- the ship was built expressly for the China tea trade...

and Lahloo

Lahloo (clipper)

The Lahloo was a British Tea Clipper known for winning the Tea Race of 1870, and finishing second in the Tea Race of 1871. She sailed from Foochow to London with over a million pounds of tea in 1868...

 performed at their best in light breezes, as they were all rigged with single topsail

Topsail

A topsail is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails.- Square rig :On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a square sail rigged above the course sail and below the topgallant sail where carried...

s.