Tea Party Diva

The Great Tea Race from Foochow, China to London, England was a major annual sporting event on the London calendar.

It pitted the majestic tall ships known as tea clippers against each other.

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The Great Tea Race - Prizes & Tradition

While competition was fierce year round to be first back to London with the tea from China, an extra dimension was added with the Great Tea Race. Bets were heavy and much rode on the outcome. The stakes were high.

The tea clipper races became part of the tea trade tradition. An added incentive was not only the sporting honor, but a monetary prize. The winning vessel was awarded an extra pound sterling for every ton of freight. The captain of the winning tea clipper was given a percentage of the ship’s earnings.

Getting Ready to Race

While in theory, all ships started at the same time, they could not leave port until the ship was fully loaded. The chests of tea arrived by sampans and other water craft up the Min River from Foochow. The tea clipper was loaded around the clock by Chinese workers, while the crew checked and readied the ship.

Progress Reports on the Great Tea Race

London’s Daily Telegraph of September 12, 1866, in an article headed “The Great Tea Race of 1866″, reported that the main competitiors were the Fiery Cross, the Ariel, the Taeping, and the Serica.

… leaving China at the same time, sailed almost neck-and-neck the whole way, and finally arrived in the London docks within two hours of each other. A struggle more closely contested or more marvellous in some of its aspects has probably never before been witnessed.

The Taeping, which won, arrived on the Lizard at literally the same hour as the Ariel, her nearest rival, and then dashed up the Channel, the two ships abreast of each other.

During the entire day they gallantly ran side by side, carried on by a strong westerly wind, every stitch of canvas set, and the sea sweeping their decks as they careered before the gale.

The Race Finish & An Amazing Twist

The race took over 3 months. It is amazing that over the long arduous journey from China to London, that the three leaders in the great tea race arrived at the London docks within such a short time of each other.

The Taeping won with a mere 20 minutes lead over Ariel, with Serica third, just one and a half hours behind the leader.

The The Daily Mail records that “Taeping has thus secured the prize, which is an extra freight of 10 shillings a ton on her cargo of tea. ”

The Taeping was carrying 767 tons and 1,108,709 pounds of tea.

In “Teas of the World”, Nancy Hyden Woodward writes that the three tea clippers had taken just 102 days to sail three quarters of the way around the globe. The days of the original tall ships and tea clippers may be over, but the nostalgia and tradition lives on in the annual tall ships race.

The Cutty Sark - The Last Original Tall Ship

The Cutty Sark is thought to be the last remaining original tall ship. It is open to the public, and can be seen at Greenwich, London where it stands in dry dock.

Times Past