''Ariel'' was a

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

ship famous for making fast voyages between China and England in the late 1860s. She is most famous for almost winning The Great Tea Race of 1866, an unofficial race between

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

, China and London with the first tea crop of the 1866 season.

Description

''Ariel'' was a full-rigged ship of 853 tons net register, measuring x 33.9 feet x . She was built in 1865 by

Robert Steele & Company Robert Steele & Company was a shipbuilder based in Greenock, Scotland, formed in 1815 by Robert Steele (1745-1830) and two sons. It followed dissolution of an earlier shipbuilding partnership between Robert Steele and John Carswell, known as "S ...

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

for Shaw, Lowther & Maxton of London. Like the majority of tea clippers launched after 1864, she was composite built, of timber planking over iron frames.

Great Tea Race of 1866

A premium was paid for the first consignment of tea to reach London in each season. The clipper ''Fiery Cross'' left Fuzhou on 29 May and ''Ariel'', ''

Taeping The ''Taeping'' was a clipper ship built in 1863 by Robert Steele & Company of Greenock and owned by Captain Alexander Rodger of Cellardyke, Fife. Taeping participated in The Great Tea Race of 1866 and narrowly defeated the ''Ariel''. The ship' ...

'' and ''Serica'' on the 30th. On 6 September ''

'' docked twenty minutes ahead of ''Ariel'', and about two hours ahead of ''Serica''. ''Fiery Cross'' and ''

Taitsing ''Taitsing'' was a famous British tea clipper. Tea Clipper Taitsing ''Taitsing'' was a full-rigged, composite-built clipper ship, measuring in length, with a beam of and a draught of . She was built in 1865 by Charles Connell & Co, Glasg ...

'' arrived two days later. Taeping and Ariel

After 99 days and almost the leaders were still tied and raced within sight of each other the full length of the English Channel and into the Thames. ''

'', under Captain McKinnon, drew less water and was able to tie up in the London docks twenty minutes ahead of ''Ariel'', under Captain Keay. ''

'' divided her winnings of 10 shillings per ton with the owners of ''Ariel'' and Captain McKinnon divided the captain's £100 with Captain Keay, who hailed from Anstruther. With the completion of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

the tea trade was taken over by steamships and most of the clippers transferred to the Australian trade, carrying general cargo to either

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

or Melbourne, and returning with wool — for which a premium price was also paid on the first shipments of the season.

Loss of the ship

''Ariel'' sailed from London for Sydney on 31 January 1872, but failed to arrive. She is assumed by most who knew her to have been fatally pooped (i.e, had a wave break over the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

) - her fine lines always made her at risk of this. Around August 1872 the remains of a teak-built ship's life-boat carrying a brass fitting with the gothic-script letter ''A'' were found on

King Island King Island, Kings Island or King's Island may refer to: Australia * King Island (Queensland) * King Island, at Wellington Point, Queensland * King Island (Tasmania) ** King Island Council, the local government area that contains the Tasmanian is ...

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

. It was believed to have come from the missing vessel, which, if the assumption was correct, probably foundered in the Southern Ocean after rounding the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Basil Lubbock, ''The Tea Clippers'', Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow *Graeme Broxam & Michael Nash, ''Tasmanian Shipwrecks, Volume I, 1797-1899'', Navarine Publishing, Canberra, 1999
Captain Alexander Rodger of Cellardyke

External links

* {{1872 shipwrecks Tea clippers Individual sailing vessels Tall ships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Clyde 1865 ships Maritime incidents in 1872