''Zephyr'' was an 1842 opium clipper built by Samuel Hall,

East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...

that was known for its speed. ''Zephyr'', ''Brenda'', ''Mazeppa'', ''Ariel'', and the brig ''Antelope'' were among

Russell & Company Russell & Company () was the largest American trading house of the mid-19th century in China. The firm specialised in trading tea, silk and opium and was eventually involved in the shipping trade. Foundation In 1818, Samuel Russell was approach ...

s fastest opium clippers, and enabled the company to almost control the opium trade with China. The ''Zephyr'' was built by Samuel Hall, of

, on the American pilot boat model. Though lightly built, like most American ships, of American oak and elm, she was beautifully modelled and very heavily sparred; and she carried an armament of four brass 18-pounders to a broadside, a brass 18-pounder pivot gun on the foc's'le, also of brass, and, in her prime, an Armstrong 68-pounder on a pivot between the masts. ''Zephyr'' was "built as a yacht to the order of Daniel Burn of Canton" and Captain R. B. Forbes. Launched April 12, 1842, she sailed on her first passage to China on May 15, 1842 under Captain Thomas M. Johnson, arriving 112 days later. Captain Thomas M. Johnson, wrote to Forbes in 1843:

" The Zephyr is now in the Taypa with loss of main boom, fore-gaff, and jib. I was caught off the Grand Ladrone in a gale at north-east. She did well till the jib was lost, and we beat from the Ladrone to here under double-reefed sails and storm jib quicker than anything in China could have done it. None of the vessels I have met could beat her. On the wind I do believe there is not anything that can beat her. When in ballast she is as dry as any of them. In smooth water, on the wind, her equal is not to be found in China or elsewhere, in my opinion. Properly ballasted she is the easiest vessel I was ever aboard of.

During the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

the opium clipper ''

Eamont The River Eamont is a river in Cumbria, England and one of the major tributaries of the River Eden. The name of the river is from Old English (ēa-gemōt) and is a back formation from Eamont Bridge which means the ''junction of streams.'' T ...

'' ran up to the threatened city of

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

, passing right through the Battle of Chinhae, which was being waged not only on the banks but in the river itself. At Ningbo she found the ''Zephyr''. The two schooners loaded up with fugitive celestials, and raced each other back to

Wusong Wusong, Postal romanization, formerly romanized as Woosung, is a subdistrict of Baoshan District, Shanghai, Baoshan in northern Shanghai. Prior to the city's expansion, it was a separate port town located down the Huangpu River from Shanghai' ...

. But in the smooth sheltered water of the river, and with a fresh whole sail breeze, the ''Zephyr'' more than a match for the more strongly built

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

schooner. However, the ''Eamont'' had her revenge in weather more to her choice. The two vessels met this time in half a gale of wind with a heavy sea running, and the ''Eamont'' sailed right dead to windward of the ''Zephyr'', and left her out of sight in twelve hours.Lubbock (1914), p. 34

References

* *{{Source-attribution, {{Cite book , edition = 2nd , publisher = James Brown & Son , last = Lubbock , first = Basil , title = The China clippers , location = Glasgow , access-date = 2013-03-23 , year = 1914 , url = https://archive.org/stream/cu31924024151957#page/n59/mode/2up/search/eamont Opium clippers Schooners of the United States Individual sailing vessels 1842 ships Ships built in Boston