Ariel
Books
- Ninety-Nine Days The Great Tea Race of 1866 and the End of the Clipper Era · Liszt Think
In May 1866, five clippers departed Foochow within three days, chasing a lucrative premium for the first new-season tea to reach London.
- The Premium and the Min River…the season, and so it was where ships trying to be the first back to London had to load. Five ships emerged as the most serious contenders. Ariel, owned by Shaw, Lowther & Maxton, had finished second in the previous year’s race. Her captain, John Keay, was known for pushing his ship h…
- The Logbook’s First PageJohn Keay stood on Ariel’s quarterdeck and watched the Foochow pilot’s boat pull away toward the Pagoda Anchorage. The morning of May 30, 1866, offered a light nort…
- Tea, Salt, and Men…Each one bore the chop of the broker who had bought it at auction. The mate calculated the weight in his head. A full cargo for a ship like Ariel ran to just over a million pounds, packed tight enough to shift the center of gravity six inches lower than she would ride in ballast. He r…