Because tea leaves mold in damp sea air, a rapid passage meant a better tea.
The first true clipper with all of its features was the Rainbow, designed by John Willis Griffiths and launched in February 22, 1845.
They were called clipper ships, a name derived from the verb clip, one meaning of which is ‘to travel or pass by rapidly.’ It is supposed to have originated in the Pennsylvania-German word Klepper, meaning a fast horse.
Clipper ships were slim, sleep vessel with several masts and vast expanses of billowing sails that gathered every gust of wind.
These made them the fastest large sailing ships ever built and they could, with good wind, knife through the water at eighteen knots.
The glory of the age of the clipper ships hit its peak during the 1860s, and the most famous race was in 1866, when forty ships left China on the same day and first three ships arrived in London on the same tide.
Clipper ships raced to see which ship was fastest. The ship that won the race could sell it tea first and make the most money.
Tea from China was a very profitable cargo in those days and several clippers were specially built for the trade.
One of the last clipper ships was the Cutty Sark launched in 1869. It was small and sleek but still carried a million pounds of tea.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advancement of steamships brought clipper ship races to an end. The coming of steam was radically alter the economics of sea transport.
Clipper ships for tea
