The Great Tea Race of 1866 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Great Tea Race of 1866 was an unofficial competition between the fastest clipper ships of the China tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

trade to bring the season's first crop of tea to London in 1866.

Fierce competition existed year round to be the vessel first back to London with the new shipment of tea; extra incentives were added in 1866, when heavy bets were made in England on the winner.

The tea clipper races had by this time become a tradition in the tea trade between Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

and China. The winning vessel was awarded an extra pound sterling for every ton of freight delivered, and the captain of the winning tea clipper was given a percentage of the ship's earnings.

Preparing to race

The ships could not leave port in China until the ship was fully loaded. The tea chest

Tea chest

A tea chest is a type of wooden case originally produced and used to ship tea to the United Kingdom. The conventional tea chest is a case with riveted metal edges, of approximate size 500x500x750 millimetres. The term is now used more widely to indicate similarly-sized cases, including cardboard...

s arrived by sampan

Sampan

A sampan is a relatively flat bottomed Chinese wooden boat from long. Some sampans include a small shelter on board, and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Sampans are generally used for transportation in coastal areas or rivers, and are often used as traditional fishing boats...

s and other small water craft up the Min River from Fuzhou

Fuzhou

Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....

. The tea clippers were loaded around the clock by Chinese workers, while the crew checked the cargo and readied the ship.

In 1866, nine ships laden with the first tea of the season left Fuzhou between 29 May and 6 June, but only four of the nine were really competing for the prize: the 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....

, 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 Taeping, and the 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...

. Three sailed on 30 May, the Fiery Cross started on 29 May, but though she had a day's lead on her rivals, she still lost the race.

Report of the race

In London's Daily Telegraph of 12 September 1866, an article headed "The Great Tea Race of 1866" reported that the main competitors were the Fiery Cross, the Ariel, the Taeping, and the Serica.

Surprise finish

The race took over 3 months, crossing the South China Sea

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...

, through the Sunda Strait

Sunda Strait

The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean...

of Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

of Africa, and up the Atlantic Ocean to the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. This was the fastest route for one ship to take, as the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

was still under construction. The three leaders in the race docked in London within a short time of each other.

Near Dungeness, harbour pilots boarded the Taeping and the Ariel at the same moment, and at the Downs

The Downs

The Downs are a roadstead or area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast, between the North and the South Foreland in southern England. In 1639 the Battle of the Downs took place here, when the Dutch navy destroyed a Spanish fleet which had sought refuge...

steam tugs were waiting to tow them to the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

. It was at this point that the fight was really decided.

Both vessels were taken in tow at the same time and they were neck-and-neck going up the Thames. The Taeping, however, reached Gravesend

Gravesend, Kent

Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

first, with the Ariel at close by and the Serica was still a close third. Taeping entered the dock at a quarter before 10:00 on Thursday. The Taeping won with a mere 20 minutes lead over Ariel, with Serica third, just one and a half hours behind the leader who won the prize.

In Teas of the World, Nancy Hyden Woodward wrote that the three tea clippers had taken just 102 days to sail three quarters of the way around the globe.

The Daily Mail recorded that "Taeping has thus secured the prize, which is an extra freight of 10 shillings a ton on her cargo of tea. " The Taeping was carrying 767 tons and 1,108,709 pounds of tea.

Preparing to race

Report of the race

Surprise finish

See also