''Lord of the Isles'' was the first iron-hulled tea clipper, built in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

in 1853. She served in the tea trade until 1862, and also made voyages to Australia. She is known for a record passage between Greenock and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and for her close finish in the 1856 Tea Race from China to England, docking in London just ten minutes before ''Maury''. This race was the basis for the plot of a 1927 movie by

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinem ...

'' The Yankee Clipper''.

Construction

The construction of ''Lord of the Isles'' was considered to be ahead of her time. Her hull was built entirely of iron. She had a higher proportion of beam to length for the vessels of that decade, with a ratio of 6:4. Her ends were so fine that she earned the nickname "The Diving Bell", as her well-known skipper Capt. Peter Maxton said she would dive into one side of a sea and out at the other.

Voyages

''Lord of the Isles maiden voyage, from Greenock to

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

was 70 days. In 1858, she returned to Greenock from

in a record time of 89 days. She made three voyages to Australia, but her principal route was the tea trade between London and the Chinese cities of Whampoa and Shanghai.

Race with ''Maury'' in 1856

In 1856, ''Lord of the Isles'' raced the American

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

''Maury'', for a price of a one-pound-per-ton premium to be awarded to the first ship to reach London bearing the year’s new crop of tea. ''Lord of the Isles'' finished loading first, and set sail four days ahead of ''Maury''. After a 127-day voyage and thirteen thousand miles of ocean sailing, the two ships passed Gravesend "within ten minutes of each other". Having a better tugboat at her disposal, ''Lord of the Isles'' docked as the first tea ship of the season, winning the honors. ''Lord of the Isles'' was known for delivering her cargoes undamaged. Despite her success, iron ships did not become popular in the tea trade, and there were no further iron tea clippers built until the 1870s.

Loss of the ship

On 24 July 1862, ''Lord of the Isles'' caught fire in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

at either or while en route to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The cause was thought to be spontaneous combustion of bales of

felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...

placed next to her cargo of railroad iron. Captain Davies, the crew and passengers, thirty people in all, made

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in the ship’s boats, despite being boarded twice by

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

In movies

'' The Yankee Clipper'', a 1927 adventure movie produced by Cecil D. DeMille, features a race between ''Lord of the Isles'' against the American ship ''Yankee Clipper'' for rights to the

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

tea trade. The film was shot aboard a surviving 1850s square-rigger, ''Indiana'', and includes footage taken from high in the rigging under sail.The Yankee Clipper
1927 adventure movie

References

External links

1927 adventure movie

{{1862 shipwrecks Tea clippers Barques Individual sailing vessels Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in July 1862 Ship fires Shipwrecks in the South China Sea 1853 ships