''Fiery Cross'' was a famous British tea

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

which sailed in the Great Tea Race of 1866. 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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and Chinese ports like

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

, Canton, and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Great Tea Race of 1866

Laden with close to a million pounds of tea, ''Fiery Cross'' raced nine other ships from China to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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'', '' 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