''Fiery Cross'' was a famous British tea clipper which sailed in the Great Tea Race of 1866. She was the first ship home in the tea seasons of 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1865. She was the second tea clipper of this name; the first ''Fiery Cross'', built in 1855, had the same owner and designer and was also built in Liverpool. This earlier ship was lost on the then-uncharted

Fiery Cross Reef Fiery Cross Reef, also known as "Northwest Investigator Reef", Mandarin ; Kagitingan Reef ( tl, Bahura ng Kagitingan, lit=Reef of Valor); vi, Đá Chữ Thập, is a militarized reef occupied and controlled by China (PRC) as part of Sansha of Ha ...

in the China Sea on 4 March 1860 (the crew reached land safely in her boats). The new ship was already being built and so took on the name of her predecessor.

Tea trade

From 1860 to 1875, the ship sailed in the tea trade between

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and

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ports like

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, Fuzhou, Canton, and

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Great Tea Race of 1866

Laden with close to a million pounds of tea, ''Fiery Cross'' raced nine other ships from China to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in The Great Tea Race of 1866. ''Fiery Cross'' arrived fourth, in "the closest run ever recorded". The first five ships, ''

Taiping __NOTOC__ Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to: Chinese history * Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess * Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China ** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...

'', ''

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'', ''

Serica Serica (, grc, Σηρικά) was one of the easternmost countries of Asia known to the Ancient Greek and Roman geographers. It is generally taken as referring to North China during its Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, as it was reached via ...

'', ''Fiery Cross'', and '' Taitsing'', finished the 14,000 mile race within three days of one another. ''Fiery Cross'' had the best overall 24-hour run of all the competitors in this race on 24 June, when she travelled 318 miles, averaging 13.7 knots.

Sailing performance

According to Lubbock, the tea clippers ''Fiery Cross'', '' Taeping'', ''

'' and '' Lahloo'' performed at their best in light breezes, as they were all rigged with single

topsail A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. Square rig On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiery Cross (Clipper) Tea clippers Individual sailing vessels Ships built on the River Clyde Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of Norway 1860 ships