Editing Clipper (section)

== China clippers and the apogee of sail{{anchor|Tea clipper|China clipper}} ==
{{redirect|Tea clipper|the pub in London|The Tea Clipper}}
[[File:Cutty Sark (ship, 1869) - SLV H91.250-164.jpg|thumb|''[[Cutty Sark]]'', a noted British clipper]]
[[File:Clipper Ship Southern Cross Leaving Boston Harbor 1851.jpeg|thumb|Clipper ship ''Southern Cross'' leaving Boston Harbor, 1851, by [[Fitz Hugh Lane]]]]
Among the most notable clippers were the China clippers, also called tea clippers, designed to ply the trade routes between Europe and the [[East Indies]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gH3uAwAAQBAJ&q=decline+of+sailing+ships|title=Clipper Ships and the Golden Age of Sail: Races and Rivalries on the Nineteenth Century High Seas|last=Jefferson|first=Sam|year=2014|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1472900289}}</ref> The last example of these still in reasonable condition is ''[[Cutty Sark]]'', preserved in [[dry dock]] at [[Greenwich]], United Kingdom. [[Cutty Sark#Conservation and fire|Damaged by fire]] on 21 May 2007 while undergoing conservation, the ship was permanently elevated 3.0 m above the dry dock floor in 2010 as part of a plan for long-term preservation.

Clippers were built for seasonal trades such as tea, where an early cargo was more valuable, or for passenger routes. One passenger ship survives, the ''[[City of Adelaide (1864)|City of Adelaide]]'' designed by [[William Pile (shipbuilder)|William Pile]] of [[City of Sunderland|Sunderland]]. The fast ships were ideally suited to low-volume, high-profit goods, such as tea, [[opium]], spices, people, and mail. The return could be spectacular. The ''[[Challenger (clipper)|Challenger]]'' returned from Shanghai with "the most valuable cargo of tea and silk ever to be laden in one bottom".<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = State Street Trust Co.  | last = Forbes | first = Allan |author2=Ralph Mason Eastman | title = Yankee ship sailing cards...  | year = 1952 }}</ref> [[Tea race (competitions)|Competition among the clippers]] was public and fierce, with their times recorded in the newspapers.

The last China clippers had peak speeds over {{convert|16|kn|km/h}},<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dash |first1=Mike |title=The Great Tea Race of 1866 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-tea-race-of-1866-8209465/ |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref> but their average speeds over a whole voyage were substantially less. The joint winner of the [[Great Tea Race of 1866]] logged about 15,800 nautical miles on a 99-day trip. This gives an average speed slightly over {{convert|6.6|kn|km/h}}.<ref name="Lubbock">{{cite book |last=Lubbock |first=Basil |orig-year=1914 |year=1981 |title=The China Clippers |location=Glasgow |publisher=Brown, Son and Ferguson Ltd |isbn=0851741096 }}</ref>{{rp|pages=269–285}} The key to a fast passage for a tea clipper was getting across the China Sea against the monsoon winds that prevailed when the first tea crop of the season was ready.{{r|MacGregor 1983|pp=31, 20}} These difficult sailing conditions (light and/or contrary winds) dictated the design of tea clippers. The US clippers were designed for the strong winds encountered on their route around Cape Horn.

Donald McKay's ''[[Sovereign of the Seas (clipper)|Sovereign of the Seas]]''  reported the highest speed ever achieved by a sailing ship of the era, {{convert|22|kn|km/h}}, made while running her easting down to Australia in 1854.  (John Griffiths' first clipper, the ''Rainbow'', had a top speed of 14 knots.) Eleven other instances are reported of a ship's logging {{convert|18|kn|km/h}} or over.  Ten of these were recorded by American clippers.
Besides the breath-taking {{convert|465|nmi|km|adj=on}} day's run of the ''[[Champion of the Seas]]'', 13 other cases are known of a ship's sailing over {{convert|400|nmi|km}} in 24 hours.
With few exceptions, though, all the port-to-port sailing records are held by the American clippers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lyon |first1=Jane D |title=Clipper Ships and Captains |date=1962 |publisher=American Heritage Publishing |location=New York }}</ref>
The 24-hour record of the ''Champion of the Seas'', set in 1854, was not broken until 1984 (by a multihull), or 2001 (by another monohull).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=21 |title=24 Hour Distance |publisher=Sailspeedrecords.com |access-date=2013-04-08}}</ref>