''Fiery Cross'' was a famous British tea

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 ...

which sailed in the

Great Tea Race of 1866 In the middle third of the 19th century, the clippers which carried cargoes of tea from China to Britain would compete in informal races to be first ship to dock in London with the new crop of each season. The Great Tea Race of 1866 was keenly ...

. She was the first ship home in the tea seasons of 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1865. She was the second tea clipper of this name; the first ''Fiery Cross'', built in 1855, had the same owner and designer and was also built in Liverpool. This earlier ship was lost on the then-uncharted Fiery Cross Reef in the China Sea on 4 March 1860 (the crew reached land safely in her boats). The new ship was already being built and so took on the name of her predecessor.

Tea trade

From 1860 to 1875, the ship sailed in the tea trade between London and Chinese ports like Hong Kong,

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 ...

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

, and Shanghai.

Great Tea Race of 1866

Laden with close to a million pounds of tea, ''Fiery Cross'' raced nine other ships from China to England in The Great Tea Race of 1866. ''Fiery Cross'' arrived fourth, in "the closest run ever recorded". The first five ships, '' Taiping'', '' Ariel'', '' Serica'', ''Fiery Cross'', and '' Taitsing'', finished the 14,000 mile race within three days of one another. ''Fiery Cross'' had the best overall 24-hour run of all the competitors in this race on 24 June, when she travelled 318 miles, averaging 13.7 knots.

Sailing performance

According to Lubbock, the tea clippers ''Fiery Cross'', ''

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' ...

'', '' Serica'' and '' Lahloo'' performed at their best in light breezes, as they were all rigged with single topsails.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiery Cross (Clipper) Tea clippers Individual sailing vessels Ships built on the River Clyde Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of Norway 1860 ships