''Wylo'' a

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic material ...

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 ...

was built by Robert Steele & Company,

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, and launched on 15 April 1869. Robert Steele & Company also built the famous clippers Ariel and Taeping who took part in the great tea race of 1866, and Sir Lancelot another renown clipper ship. Wylo was the 174th and last vessel to be built by Robert Steele & Company. She was 192.9 ft in length, had a beam of 32.1 ft, a depth of 20.2 feet and measured 829 Gross register tons. The Figurehead of Wylo still exists in the Fries Scheepvaart Museum in

Sneek Sneek (; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdw ...

, the Netherlands. Item number FSM-J-122. A multi-colour painted image of a Moor with skirt and bared upper body. The head of the Moor is adorned with a turban. In the ears earrings. The pedestal is decorated with a spiral and leaf and diamond motifs. A finger has been broken off the right hand. The name Wylo is derived from Chinese, it would mean 'speed'.

Killick Martin & Company

Wylo was built for

Killick Martin & Company Killick Martin and Company Ltd is a privately owned global transport and logistics company with its head office in the United Kingdom. The company can trace its origins back to 1861 when it was founded by James Killick, Captain James Killick a ...

, led by Captain James Killick. She was a sister ship to Kaisow in the Killick Martin fleet, which was the 173rd vessel, and second from last to be built by Robert Steele & Company. Wylo was one of three ships brought by Killick Martin & Company, who also acquired Mikao & Osaka. Wylo's maiden journey was on 1 June 1869 under Captain Henry Wray Browne, a former Captain of the Killick Martin & Company owned Challenger, where Wylo sailed to shanghai in 103 days, and returned on 22 October with a cargo of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

in 103 days. Further Transits made by Wylo (1870-1885) were: 1870: 11 February - 25 May Sailed from

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 ...

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 ...

in 103 days. 1870: 18 August - 11 December Sailed from Fuzhou to London in 115 days. 1871: 10 January - 29 April Sailed from London to

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

in 109 days. 1871: 23 May - 31 August Sailed from Rangoon to Falmouth in 99 days. 1871: 12 October - 30 January Sailed from London to

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 ...

in 110 days. 1872: 21 September - 15 December Sailed from Indramayoe,

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, to Falmouth in 80 days. 1873: 20 March - 27 June Sailed from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

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 ...

in 99 days. 1873: 24 September - 15 February Sailed from Manilla to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 144 days. 1876: 14 April - 22 July Sailed from London to

in 99 days. 1879: 24 February - 16 May Sailed from London to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 81 days. 1883: Sailed from San Francisco to Queenstown in 111 days. 1884: Sailed from San Francisco to Barrow in 104 days. 1885: 8 January Left Barrow for Victoria, BC. In 1878 Wylo was re-rigged as a

Barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

to reduce manning and operational costs. On 1 April 1885, on her last voyage for Killick Martin & Company she put into

Port Stanley Stanley (also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a population o ...

in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

, partially dismasted after having lost her bulwarks, stanchions and mizzen mast off

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

. She was not the only casualty of bad weather at this time as the Windsor Castle from Swansea and the Confluentia from Shields, both bound for

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

also put into Port Stanley damaged. Wylo's repairs took one month before she resumed her passage to

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

William Ross and James Ross

In 1886 she was sold to William Ross, London, who 4 days later sold her to James Ross, Quebec for £2375. Later that year on a voyage from

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Wylo was in collision at

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

with the French steamer Henri IV. Wylo was badly damaged and beached on the Louise Embankment to prevent her sinking, but was later condemned and broken up in situ. The figure head of Wylo is currently on display in the Fries Scheepvaart Museum the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Wylo Artwork

The maritime artist James Brereton has painted Wylo, and images of her are still being produced today.

References

The China Clippers; Basil Lubbock; 1914.

External links

Fried Scheepvaart MuseumKillick Martin & Company

James Brereton
{{1880 shipwrecks Tea clippers Individual sailing vessels Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships built in Scotland Shipwrecks