The ''Serica'' 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 ...
built in 1863 by Robert Steele & Co., at
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 ...
on the south bank of the
Clyde, Scotland, for James Findlay. She was the last-but-one wooden clipper built by Steele before the yard went over to building composite clippers.
Winner of 1864 Tea Race
''Serica'' is Latin for "
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
"—the ship was built expressly for the China
tea trade. ''Serica'' participated in the annual "tea races" to bring the new season's crop to London; she won in 1864. In 1865 she was the leading ship off
Beachy Head, but failed to get a tug to take her on to London, so was beaten by 12 hours by
''Fiery Cross''. In
The Great Tea Race of 1866, she came in third, by a matter of hours.
Sailing performance
According to
Basil Lubbock, the tea clippers ''Serica'', ''
Fiery Cross'',
''Lahloo'' and ''
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' ...
'' performed at their best in light breezes, as they were all rigged with single
topsails.
[
]
Loss of the ship
On her final voyage under Capt. George Innes, she left
Hong Kong bound for
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, 2 November 1872, and was wrecked on the
Paracels
The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...
, in the
South China Sea the following day. Out of a crew of twenty-three that manned her, only one survived.
See also
*
List of clipper ships
Notes
External links
Newspaper notices of the ''Sericas arrival in New York, 28 December 1871
{{coord missing, Pacific Ocean
Tea clippers
Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom
Ships built on the River Clyde
Shipwrecks in the South China Sea
1863 ships