A Change in the Weather, British Tea Clipper Spindrift

gouache, 12 1/2" x 19"

$5,000

This painting British Tea Clipper Spindrift running hard under strong winds with the threat of bad weather astern.

 The Spindrift was launched July 18, 1867.  She was built by Charles Connell of Glasgow for owner James Findlay of Greenock and was considered to be the builder's finest clipper.  An extremely sharp-bodied ship with exceedingly fine lines, she was somewhat longer than the other clippers in the tea trade, but with a large sail area she was almost the equal of ARIEL, one of the fastest clippers.  The drawback to her sharpness was she had a small cargo capacity, but owner Findlayt gambled that the higher freight rates needed to offset costs would not be an issue if her speed was great.  Findlay wanted a fast ship because he wanted to win the 'Blue Riband of the Sea', the prize for being the fastest ship home from the Orient with the first cargo of tea.

Many of the clippers had short lives, but of the extremely sharp ships, Spindrift had one of the shortest being wrecked on the start of her third voyage.  Her maiden voyage in 1867 was 108 days London to Shanghai.  The run back to London with tea was a spirited race between Ariel, Taeping, Lancelot and Spindrift.  Although Ariel docked first, the Riband went to Spindrift for actual sailing time as Spindrift   left 25 hours after Ariel and was only 6 hours behind her into Gravesend.  The actual time being 96 days, 21 hours.  Her second voyage from Shanghai in 1868 took 105 days as her captain took her home the long Eastern route.  In 1869 she was lost near Dungeness, one day out from London, on her way to Shanghai.