The Great Tea Race of 1866
The Great Tea Race of 1866 ( English : The Great Tea Race of 1866 ) was an unofficial competition between the fastest clippers in the tea trade with China , who brought the first tea harvest of the season to London in 1866 .
Serious competition had arisen to be the first ship of the new harvest to return to London; Additional interest was aroused in England in 1866 when large bets were placed on the winner.
The tea clipper races had become a tradition in the tea trade between Britain and China by this time . The winning ship earned an additional pound sterling for every tonne of tea delivered and the captain was rewarded with a commission from the profit of the cargo.
Preparations
The ships could only leave the port in China after they were fully loaded. The tea boxes were brought to Fuzhou by sampans and other small craft on the Min River . The ships were loaded by Chinese showmen around the clock while the crew checked the cargo and prepared the ship for departure.
In 1866, between May 29 and June 6, nine ships left Fuzhou with the first tea of the season, but only four were serious contenders for victory: the Fiery Cross , the Ariel , the Taeping, and the Serica . Three of them left China on May 30th, but the Fiery Cross had already started on May 29th. She lost the race despite being one day ahead of her rivals.
Report on the race
A report in London's The Daily Telegraph dated September 12, 1866, headlined "The Great Tea Race of 1866" and reported the course of the race between Taeping , Serica , Ariel and Fiery Cross :
“… Leaving China at the same time, they were sailing almost head-to-head the whole time, and within two minutes of one another they were in the port of London. A competition that was even more tightly fought, or even greater in some of its circumstances, has probably never been seen before. The taeping that won arrived at the Lizard at literally the same hour as the Ariel , her closest rival, and then dashed up the English Channel, both ships chest to chest. Throughout the day they drove gallantly side by side, carried by a strong westerly wind, every piece of canvas set and the sea brushed their decks as they lay before the wind. "
final
The race lasted over three months and went through the South China Sea , the Sunda Strait and over the Indian Ocean , around the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic Ocean to the English Channel . This was the fastest route a ship could take because the Suez Canal was not yet completed. The three leading ships reached the port of London in quick succession.
At Dungeness , port pilots boarded the Taeping and the Ariel at the same time, and steamers waited at the Downs to tow the ships up the Thames . At that point the race was really decided.
Both ships were towed at the same time and were going head to head up the Thames. However, the Taeping reached Gravesend first, the Ariel was shortly behind and the Serica was not beaten off as third. Taeping reached port at 9:45 p.m. and won the race just 20 minutes ahead of the Ariel . The Serica finished third and arrived just an hour and a half after the winner.
The three teaclippers had only needed 99 days to circumnavigate three quarters of the globe.
The Daily Mail reported that the taeping had secured the price, which was an additional payment of ten shillings per ton of tea. On board the Taeping there were 767 tn.l. or 1,108,709 pounds of tea loaded. That was not good business for the dealers, because the Erl King , which drove out of competition because it had a steam engine as an auxiliary engine, had already arrived in London a week earlier with fresh tea.
literature
- Nancy Hyden Woodward: Teas of the World 1980, ISBN 0-02-082870-5 .
- The Great Tea Race of 1866 . The London Daily Telegraph, London September 12, 1866.
- Andrew Shewan : The Great Days of Sail . Naval Institute Press, 1927.
Remarks
- ^ London Daily Telegraph (September 12, 1866)
- ↑ ... leaving China at the same time, sailed almost neck-and-neck the whole way, and finally arrived in the London docks within two minutes of each other. A struggle more closely contested or more marvelous in some of its aspects has probably never before been witnessed. The Taeping , which won, arrived on the Lizard at literally the same hour as the Ariel , her nearest rival, and then dashed up the channel, the two ships abreast of each other. During the entire day they gallantly ran side by side, carried on by a strong westerly wind, every stitch of canvas set, and the sea sweeping their decks as they careered before the gale.