Chapter XIII: Cracking-On

We have seen in the development of our subject that it was only after many centuries that the accommodation of the passenger aboard ship was ever considered. We have noticed how the ship was built primarily not for speed, but for carrying the maximum of cargo with the greatest safety. But now there comes into our story the desire for speed as the dominating factor, far more important than any other consideration, and it is in the clipper ships that we get the first merchant vessels that were constructed to cross the seas with the utmost despatch.

It is to North America that this is due. Whilst our bluff, dignified, heavy East Indiamen were slowly making their last voyages before the China monopoly was to come to an end, a remarkable ship, built by her owner regardless of cost, was to appear in Baltimore. This was the _Ann McKim_, of 493 registered tons. This flush-decked vessel came out in 1832. She was very fast, but had small carrying capacity, and was the first clipper ship ever built, and having regard to the daring improvement which America had made in frigates and privateers, it is not surprising that this fast type of merchant ship should come from the same country. The contrast, indeed, between the old East Indiamen and the young clippers is exactly what exists between the Old World and the New. Convention was put aside, shipbuilders thought out problems for themselves and had the courage to put their convictions into hulls.

But the first real out-and-out clipper ship was the _Rainbow_, which was launched at the beginning of 1845 in New York. She was a 750-ton vessel with hollow lines at the bows, and her greatest breadth much further aft than had been thought practicable. When constructed, she turned out to be a handsome vessel, exceptionally quick, and she was the fastest vessel in the world. But after trading some time out to China, she was lost in 1848, probably off Cape Horn. Now the cause of attraction towards China at first was the trade in opium. It is not to the credit of British, American or Parsee firms that this pernicious drug was imported into China, where it had been declared illegal by the Government as far back as 1796; but this illicit trade certainly did much to develop fast-sailing ships.

But besides the opium, there was the China tea trade after the East India Company’s monopoly had run out, and happily this did even more than the opium to improve the evolution of the quickest fleet of ships under sail that the world has ever seen. In 1846 the 890-ton _Sea Witch_ was launched in New York, and she made a wonderful series of voyages to China and back, her best day’s run being 358 miles, which was far superior to that of any contemporary steamer. Then came such celebrated American clippers as the _Samuel Russell_, 940 tons, the _Memnon_, 1068 tons, and others. The American trade with China was so important that in one year forty-one ships with tea, silk and spices reached New York from China. The American clippers were certainly the fastest ships of the period, and the _Sea Witch_ was still to hold the record for a long time.

But now come two important events which were to have noteworthy results on the Mercantile Marines of the world. The first of these was the repeal of the British Navigation Laws in 1849, and the second was the rush in that same year to California, caused by the discovery there of gold in 1848. We will deal briefly with these factors and pass on. Considerable opposition was made to this repeal, and indeed the first result was that the tonnage of British shipping entering British ports largely decreased and that of American shipping increased. After a few years this competition proved a stimulus to both countries, but especially it caused British owners to wake up in the Atlantic, as the introduction of competition into the Eastern route had already done so much good.

During the ’forties and ’fifties the American Mercantile Marine was in many respects superior to the British, for the reason that the baneful monopoly had caused a kind of self-satisfaction, and therefore no progress to speak of. The long series of Navigation Laws beginning in 1651, and the steady, comfortable, close trade to the East, had lulled British shipping into a kind of stupor. It was only when competition was thrown open to the world that British shipping really got going. The first American ship to carry tea from China to England was the _Oriental_, which left China in August 1850 and reached the London River ninety-seven days out from Hong-Kong with 1600 tons. This was the fastest passage which had yet been made to England. As a beautiful, powerful, speedy, well-found ship the like of her had never been met with in the Thames. Those who had never seen anything but the East Indiamen were amazed at the innovation by the United States Mercantile Marine. But the shock did a world of good. The arrival of tea, in an American ship, in record time, from a country where there had been a British monopoly for so long, caused shipowners and builders furiously to think.

The result was that two ships were ordered to be built at Aberdeen, for during the last few years Messrs. Hall of that port had been building some fast schooners. The _Stornoway_ and _Chrysolite_ were thus launched, and have been called the first British tea-clippers, though they were less beamy and powerful than the American clippers. The first ship sailed out to Hong-Kong in 102 days, the _Chrysolite_ also went out during 1851 in the same time, and on her way home her best day’s run was 320 miles, and she even reached fourteen knots. She got to Liverpool in 103 days, after a very fine maiden voyage. Then came increased competition as the result of _Chrysolite’s_ achievement, for the American Navigation Club challenged the British shipbuilders to a race with cargo on board from England to China and back for £10,000 a side. This stake was even doubled, but the challenge was unfortunately never accepted by British shipowners until Richard Green in 1852 built the tea-clipper _Challenger_, which in that year went out to China, and after loading tea at Shanghai, fell in with the American clipper _Challenge_, three times the size of the British ship. From Anjer they raced home with their tea, and _Challenger_ beat the _Challenge_ into the dock in London by a couple of days. It is only fair to add that British naval architects had an opportunity of learning from American progress in a very direct manner. For _Oriental_ had been previously placed into the Blackwall dock and her lines taken off; and now _Challenge_ went in for the same purpose. Thus, the American clipper ships, with their original design, did have a very powerful effect on the future of British shipping.

The competition in the China tea trade continued, the British clippers of this time made the rivalry very keen, and it is always a matter of regret that there never was another real race between the two countries. But now we must see how the California gold affected the clipper. Briefly these are the facts. In 1848 San Francisco was a mere hamlet, but this sudden discovery of a means to wealth caused a tremendous flow of emigration to the West. Every one wanted to go, and every one wanted to get there in the quickest possible time. Leaving out the difficulties in those days of transcontinental travel, the only way possible was by means of ships. The American clipper was thus the solution, and they were therefore built in great numbers and in a small space of time. In fact within four years 160 were launched, and they sailed from New York to San Francisco in the remarkable time of 100 to 120 days. Here, then, was yet another incentive to the increase of the Mercantile Marine, to the shipbuilders and to those attracted by the sea. It is comparable only to the impetus which we have seen was received by the Elizabethan seamen. There has seldom been in history such an extensive and speedy migration of people, all anxious to get rich quickly. Once again the ship was invaluable in the service of man.

In the year 1849 over 90,000 passengers landed in that San Franciscan hamlet from ships. On the other hand, it became most difficult to get crews to bring the ships back; for the seamen, too, had gone gold-seeking as soon as the ship had anchored. The California clipper period, as Captain Clark says in his _The Clipper Ship Era_, covers the period 1850 to 1860, and it is during the first four of these years that nearly all the 160 ships were built, most of them being constructed in the neighbourhood of New York and Boston. It is claimed for them that they were the fastest sailing ships which the world ever saw, and the skippers cracked-on because these vessels were able to earn enormous rates if only the passengers could be landed at their port in the quickest time. Every one was making money—the shipowner, captain, crew and then the gold-seekers. Ashore the riggers, shipwrights, painters, sail-makers, metal workers, spar-makers, pump-makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, caulkers were in such demand that there was prosperity for all, and plenty of it. And it is to this period that a good many of the fast-dying sea-chanties can be traced.

What of the crews that manned the American clippers? “The history of men before the mast on board American ships,” says Captain Clark, “is not a history of American sailors, for strictly speaking there have never been any American merchant sailors as a class; that is, no American merchant ship of considerable tonnage was ever manned by native-born Americans in the sense that French, British, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish or Danish ships are manned by men born in the country under whose flags they sail.” This statement was written in 1910, and of course requires some modification to-day. But the advent of the Californian clippers necessitated getting men from anywhere—some sailors, many others not, and a whole lot of “bad hats” among them. Of the Californian clippers built in 1851 one was the celebrated _Challenge_, already referred to, a vessel of 2006 tons, one of the largest clippers ever built, though absolutely the biggest was the _Great Republic_, built in 1853. This was constructed by Donald McKay, the famous Nova Scotian builder. She was of 4555 tons register, and was the first ship to have an engine merely for hoisting the yards and working the pumps. Rigged with four masts, she had the misfortune to get on fire when nearly ready for sea, but was rebuilt, being the largest merchant ship of her time, though registering now only 3357 tons.

The famous American clipper _Dreadnought_ came out in 1853, and voyaged between New York and Liverpool, and on one occasion made this passage in fifteen days twelve hours, and on another occasion in thirteen days eight hours, though she was wrecked eventually off Cape Horn. But the Australian gold discovery in 1851 had the same effect on shipping that the China tea trade and the California gold rush had created. The fastest vessels were required, competition became keen, and there was no time to waste. Those owners, therefore, who had ships that could carry passengers were in a splendid position from the first, for about 300,000 or 400,000 people each year for the next three or four years had to be transported. From America no less than from England these ships sailed away, and there was the same difficulty in Melbourne with the crews as there had been in San Francisco.

[_By courtesy the White Star Line._

SAILING NOTICE OF THE WHITE STAR CLIPPER “RED JACKET.”

(See p. 157.)]

For British shipowners the difficulty was that there was but little accommodation in most ships, so they thought of the American clippers, which had been doing such fine work. James Baines & Co. of Liverpool therefore had the clipper _Marco Polo_ built at St. John’s, New Brunswick. She was a very handsome ship of 1622 tons, with considerable rise of floor, very fine aft, and she carried a very large spread of canvas. This was the pioneer of the clipper ships for the Australian trade and the first of the Australian Black Ball Line, her passenger accommodation being a great improvement on the ships usually trading to Australia. She left Liverpool in July 1851, and made a record passage in sixty-eight days to Melbourne, and during the ensuing years of the gold rush was a very popular and successful ship. The British lines running out to Australia at this time were the White Star (twenty years before they entered the Atlantic steam competition) and James Baines & Co.’s Australia Black Ball Line, just mentioned.

These two firms both had clippers which were built in New England, and one of these, the _Red Jacket_, was for the White Star Line. Named after a noted Indian chief, with a full-length figure-head of him at her bow, this fine ship was one of the most famous of the clippers, and made a fine passage from New York to Liverpool in thirteen days, one hour, when she first came out in February 1854, and on one of the days made 413 miles. During that same year she sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in sixty-nine days. In his recently published _Reminiscences of a Liverpool Shipowner_, Sir William B. Forwood has left an interesting account of a voyage he made in this magnificent sailing ship of 2006 tons, three years after she came out. “On the morning of the 20th November, 1857,” he says, “I embarked by a tender from the Liverpool pierhead. It was nearly the top of high water. The crew were mustered on the forecastle, under the 1st Mate, Mr. Taylor. An order comes from the quarter-deck. ‘Heave up the anchor and get away.’ ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ ‘Now then, my boys, man the windlass,’ shouts the Mate, and to a merry chantie:

“‘In 1847 Paddy Murphy went to Heaven
To work on the railway, the railway, the railway,
Oh, poor Paddy works upon the railway.’

“‘The anchor is away, sir,’ shouts the Chief Officer. ‘Heave it a-peak and cathead it,’ comes from the quarter-deck, and the tug _Retriever_ forges ahead and tightens the tow-rope as we gather way. Bang, bang went the guns, and twice more, for we were carrying the mails, and goodbye to old Liverpool, and the crowds which lined the pierhead cheered, for the _Red Jacket_ was already a famous ship, and it was hoped she would make a record passage.

“Next morning we were off Holyhead, with a fresh westerly breeze and southerly swell. We were making but poor headway, and shortly the hawser parted. ‘All hands on deck,’ was shouted by Captain O’Halloran, and a crew of eighty men promptly appeared on deck, for we carried a double crew. ‘Loose sails fore and aft; hands in the tops and cross-trees to see that all is clear and to overhaul gear; let royals and sky sails alone.’

“The boatswain’s whistle sounded fore and aft as the men quickly took their positions and laid hold of the halyards and braces.

[_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._

CRACKING-ON!]

“‘Mr. Taylor, loose the headsails.’ ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ The topsail, courses and topgallant sails were all loose and gaskets made up. ‘Now then, my men, lead your topsail halyards fore and aft, and up with them.’ Away the crew walk along with the halyards, and then with a long pull and a pull all together the topsail yards are mastheaded to the chantie:

“‘Then up the yard must go,
Whiskey for my Johnny,
Oh, whiskey for the life of man,
Whiskey, Johnny.’”

With the man at the wheel, keeping his eyes on the weather-luff of the foreroyal, and allowing the sail to be just on the tremble, so as not to lose an inch to windward, the _Red Jacket_ went tearing through the seas, throwing them on either side in a sparkling cascade. By evening the wind had increased, and the captain ordered life-lines to be run fore and aft, and the decks to be sanded and the scuppers to be free. The clipper plunges along, the man at the wheel eases her a few spokes when a squall strikes her, and then bang goes the second jib, blown out of the bolt ropes with the report of a gun. With seas coming in over the forecastle, the hands set another jib, and by this time the clipper is indeed travelling, for by the log she is doing eighteen knots.

During bad weather the fifty saloon passengers and 600 steerage were kept below and the atmosphere was stifling. There was none of the comfort or luxury of a modern steamship, and the clipper was heeling over in a way that would alarm many travellers to-day. But at last, after sixty-four days, the _Red Jacket_ had made Port Philip Heads, and so a record voyage to Australia. Those were the days when travelling by sea was romantic and not as monotonous as a railway journey. With the captain cracking-on to make a fast trip, with sails carrying away, spars and gear as well, there was always some sport, some adventure. Between 1850 and the following ten years Prince’s Dock, Liverpool, was crowded with fine clippers raising their lofty masts and crossing their great spars. And those were the days of wonderful feats of seamanship. Sir William Forwood says that he remembers seeing the 600-ton Brocklebank sailing ship _Martaban_ come sailing into George’s Dock Basin under all canvas. Her halyards were then let go and sails clewed up so smartly that the ship, as she passed the pierhead, was able to throw a line on shore and make fast. Could you beat this for seamanlike skill and discipline?

[_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._

SPARS AND STAYS.

Looking for’ard along the decks of a sailing ship.]

But it is with the celebrated China tea-clippers from about 1860 onwards that this skill reached such heights of proficiency. British shipowners no longer found it necessary to have their clippers built in America, and the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, together with the enterprise learnt in a hard school, as the result of competition, enabled British shipping to go ahead. The California boom, which had produced America’s finest clippers, was dead. The great quantities of American timber would soon be not wanted for shipbuilding, now that iron was coming in and steam was replacing sails. But that which gave the final character to the American Mercantile Marine was the outbreak of civil war in 1861 between the North and South. From that it never recovered until the new efforts, begun in 1917, to rebuild a service that had been such a keen competitor during the clipper-ship period. In the meantime, during the ’sixties and onwards, the British Mercantile Marine, by the enterprise of the shipowners, the assistance of legislation, the protection of the British Navy, the scientific progress of shipbuilders and engineers, and by the skill and endurance of its officers and crews, regained its supremacy after a stiff fight, and opened up new trade routes in all parts of the world. And this not merely in regard to the big lines, but especially in respect of the tramp steamers going out with coal and bringing back all sorts of essential produce.

The Clyde was gradually beginning to take the place of the Blackwall yard, and this became still more so as the need for coal and iron increased, owing to the fact that the Thames is not convenient to coalfields. It was in 1855 that Steele of Greenock built his first tea-clipper, the _Kate Carnie_, about 600 tons, and thereafter he built, among other beautiful and eye-pleasing ships, the historic _Taeping_, _Serica_, _Ariel_ and _Sir Lancelot_, all under 900 tons, yet exceedingly fast. From 1855 to 1881 is the comprehensive period of these China tea-clippers, and their evolution should be compared with that of the Blackwall frigates already dealt with. The Steele clippers had a full midship section and fine ends, but some of the other clippers were fined away like the hulls of schooner yachts. Unlike the obstinate Blackwallers, many tea-clippers had a certain amount of sheer. From 1863 both the Clyde and Aberdeen firms launched composite-built clippers, and these were so beautifully tight as to require practically no pumping, and so the cargoes of tea arrived in perfect condition.

The British tea-clippers of the period under consideration were smaller than the American clippers, had less sheer, less freeboard, and were more slim and graceful, with decks unencumbered except with small houses; with less heavy spars, less beam, and were designed to carry small cargoes of tea with the utmost despatch. They were a small fleet in numbers, but their excellence was rather in a sustained average speed throughout their voyages than in hourly or daily runs. The longest day’s run by a tea-clipper was 363 miles, and this record was made by _Cutty Sark_, and the only other clipper that could rival her was the _Thermopylae_. These tea-clippers were economical to run, handled by magnificent British seamen, and commanded by captains of great experience, courage and enterprise. The composite construction of wooden planking and iron frames gave these little ships unusual strength, they were ballasted with shingle, and in light weather could utterly outsail a Black Baller, a Californian clipper or a Blackwall frigate. But because of their comparative smallness it is not to be imagined that in heavy weather they could compete with the American clippers of much greater tonnage and freeboard. _Cutty Sark’s_ rival, _Thermopylae_, being of her own nationality, on one occasion did 358 miles, and _Ariel_ 340 miles, in the twenty-four hours.

But these tea-clippers needed proper handling, like sensitive horses, and required to be humoured. Those were the days when the love of ships by owners, captains and crews was something real, when clippers were treated like human beings and given everything they wanted; and their loss often meant the breaking of the owner’s heart. The personal relationship between the owner, his ship and captain was something very different from to-day. Before the advent of limited liability companies and telegraph cables, instructions were given personally by the owner, who would himself come down to see his ship start. In many cases the captains were financially interested in the ships, and it must be remembered that the best clipper-ship captains were hard to find. Remembering that an owner required neither a mere dare-devil nor one who merely played for safety, but a captain who would crack-on without losing ship or gear, and whilst getting the last ounce out of the ship would know instantly when to ease up, it is obvious that an ideal commander would be a mixture of courage, iron nerve, initiative, driving power, sound judgment based on experience, consummate seamanlike ability and great physical endurance.

It was when such skippers got command of these lovely little ships that the tea was raced home in such splendid time. They had to watch their ships from hour to hour during the three months’ race from China to England, rarely going below, getting very little sleep, and the result was that many eventually broke down. But we must think of them as the keenest lot of captains who ever sailed the seas, and up to every dodge to get the ship home quicker than the other fellow. They looked for risks and accepted them freely, but they were not foolhardy, and they knew just how much their ships could stand. Backed up not by mutinous crews, as was often the case in the American clippers, but by thorough seamen, all British, a captain knew that he could rely on them to aid him in getting the most out of his ship; for they were not less keen than himself, and were betting against the other ships. It meant hard work, but no sailorman will ever grouse at this if he is in tune with the reason. They took a pride in their vessels and were jealous of a ship’s honour. Could the same be said nowadays of the crews of steamships? Sentiment in seafaring has a tremendous practical value if only it is appreciated and properly trained.

In his volume _The China Clippers_, Mr. Basil Lubbock says that “in the heyday of the racing, Foochow was the loading port par excellence, and the Pagoda anchorage, just before the tea came down the river, showed perhaps the most beautiful fleet of ships the world has ever seen. The crack ships, which were always the first to load, began to assemble about the end of April; and until the tea came down were all engaged in painting, varnishing and smartening themselves up, and in other ways, such as sheathing over their channels, preparing for the fray. Then what a sight they made when all was spick and span, with their glistening black hulls, snow-white decks, golden gingerbread work and carving at bow and stern, newly-varnished teak deck-fittings, glittering brass and burnished copper. Every ship, of course, had her distinctive mast and bulwark colours.”

[_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._

PORT OF LIVERPOOL.

In 1798.]

[_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._

SCREW S.S. “LADY JOCELYN.”

1,800 tons, 300 horse-power. Owned by General Screw Steam Shipping Co.]

The tea-clipper _Fiery Cross_, launched in 1860 at Liverpool and wood-built, was to become famous for her fast passages home. It was customary in those days for the first vessel who landed the new teas in England to receive a premium. This vessel won the premium on four occasions. Then in 1863 Steele built the _Serica_ and _Taeping_, two of the most famous clipper ships. The former was wood-built and of 708 tons. The latter was composite-built and of 767 tons, and it was in 1865 that two more Steele composite tea-clippers were launched, also to become famous. These were the 853-ton _Ariel_ and the 886-ton _Sir Lancelot_. Very beautiful craft they were, and no ship-lover can regard the existing pictures of these handsome craft without a thrill of emotion. Symmetry, grace, proportion, curves, easy lines as to hull; a good sail-plan, tall masts and fine spars; carrying in light winds all sorts of kites and fancy sails, the supreme test came in the ever-memorable race of 1866, which is one of the greatest events in the whole history of merchant ships under sail. On May 28, 1866, there was a whole fleet of these clippers loading at Foochow. At 5 p.m. _Ariel_ began her voyage, by dropping down and anchoring for the night; and then followed the _Fiery Cross_, _Taeping_, _Serica_ and _Taitsing_, at intervals. On August 12 _Ariel_ passed the Cape Verde Islands, next day came _Taeping_, _Fiery Cross_ and _Serica_, the _Taitsing_ not passing until the 19th, but she had made up these three days by September 1. On September 5 _Ariel_ picked up the Bishop Light, sighted _Taeping_, and the two raced up Channel, doing their fourteen knots. _Ariel_ got her pilot at six the next morning off Dungeness, followed immediately by _Taeping_. In the Downs _Taeping_ got the more powerful tug, and thus reached Gravesend nearly an hour sooner, and finally docked twenty minutes before _Ariel_. It was a near thing after racing for three months from one end of the world to the other. _Serica_ docked on the same tide, _Fiery Cross_ was only about a day later, and _Taitsing_ arrived in the river on September 9. And there were plenty more of these races, for the skippers cracked-on and made these clippers do marvellous things through the water.

But in 1868 there was built at Aberdeen the famous clipper _Thermopylae_, 947 tons, a bigger and more powerful ship than the Steele clippers, and a veritable witch at sailing, whether on the wind or to windward, and a wonderful sea boat, too. In November 1868 she started on her maiden voyage from Gravesend, and reached Melbourne in sixty-three days. Mr. Downie, already quoted, whilst a midshipman in a Blackwaller, happened to be in Melbourne when _Thermopylae_ came in, and went aboard to look over this new wonder ship. “She had immensely square yards,” he says, “and most beautiful lines, fore and aft. Her apprentices told me her skipper had driven her all the way, carrying on tremendously, but her spars and rigging were all new, and of the best material, and stood the severe strain in splendid fashion.”

_Thermopylae_ broke records, and in 1869 got home from Foochow in ninety-one days, though _Sir Lancelot_ less than a fortnight later arrived after a voyage of only eighty-nine days. But then came the splendid _Cutty Sark_. She is the only one of this long line of tea-clippers still afloat and at work. In the autumn of 1921 she came into the London river, and I was able to go all over her. But she had changed her name to _Ferreira_ and was Portuguese-owned and rigged as a barquentine. For all that, and the disappointing way in which she was being kept up, she was in excellent condition, with a yacht-like hull, every line of which suggested grace and speed. Composite-built, this 921-ton vessel was a little bigger than _Thermopylae_, and was launched in 1869. Under Captain Moodie this vessel cracked-on, and she could do her seventeen and a half knots, and anyone who has examined her bow and stern will readily believe this.

[_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._

AUXILIARY SCREW S.S. “INDOMITABLE.”

1,170 tons. Owned by R. James Brown, Sunderland.]

And here, in the height of their glory, we must now leave these clippers; for the opening of the Suez Canal told owners pretty plainly that the future for them was to leave sail and go in for steam. In 1881 _Thermopylae_ made her last passage as a tea-carrier, and all the other clippers had either gone or were out of the running, and used in other trades. Crews began more frequently to go into steamships, famous captains retired, and the younger men, like the crews, preferred the more comfortable life in a mechanically-propelled vessel. But for years the American and British clipper ships were the glory of the Mercantile Marine, as at one time the old East Indiamen had been before the days of healthy competition. The influence of the scientific French architects on the American builders of frigates and privateers is traceable through the clipper ships which followed. Thus mutually one nation is linked with another in the development of that great service which has meant so much for the good of the world.