The great tea clipper race of 1866

These days, if I want to import tea from India, it is flown practically to my door and arrives within a week. But, during the 18th and 19th centuries it took considerably longer. In the early 1800’s, when the tea trade was largely monopolized by the East India Company, speed was not a consideration. The company wanted to maximize profit by carrying as much tea as possible, resulting in large, slow ships. It took a whole year of hard sailing to get back to Europe from India.

The East India Company lost its monopoly in 1858, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, when the British Crown assumed direct administration of India during the British Raj. The use of the small, fast Clipper ships began to gain popularity, and eventually escalated to the great Tea Clipper race of 1866 from China to England.

The Taeping, the Ariel, and the Serica left China on May 30th. All three arrived in England fourteen weeks later on September 12th, and within one-and-a-half hours of each other! Given the length of time, the distance, andvariables in ships and crew, this is an amazing feat and a testament to the precision and skill that existed throughout the industry at the time.

The Taeping was the winning vessel, and was awarded an extra ten shillings for each of the 491 tons of tea in cargo. By my calculations, 4,910 shillings in 1866 would be about $237,016 in modern American dollars. Given the prize, you can see why they were racing so hard!

Read the original Gazette article from Wednesday, September 12, 1866 to get more details about the race.