Foochow
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…this before. Each spring, the same clause appeared in the bills of lading for the China tea ships. Each spring, the captains and agents in Foochow received their instructions. Each spring, the race began before a single ship had left the anchorage. The premium was a mechanism for time,…
- 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 northeast breeze, barely enough to fill th…
- Tea, Salt, and Men…ettled with a thud that echoed through the timbers. The loading had taken five days. Sixteen clippers had waited in the Pagoda Anchorage at Foochow that May, their captains watching each other’s spars for signs of readiness. The new crop of tea became available here earlier than at any…