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Ambassador (clipper)

StateLibQld 1 125739 British Ambassador (ship).jpg
Ambassador
History
United Kingdom
Name: Ambassador
Owner: W. Lund & Co
Builder: William Walker, Lavender Dry Dock, London
Launched: 1869
Out of service: 1896
Status:
  • Condemned 1895;
  • beached & abandoned hulk
General characteristics
Class and type: Composite clipper
Tonnage: 692 GRT
Length: 176.0 ft (53.6 m)
Beam: 31.3 ft (9.5 m)
Depth: 19.1 ft (5.8 m)
Sail plan:

Coordinates: 52°34′03″S 70°04′07″W / 52.5675294°S 70.0685374°W / -52.5675294; -70.0685374

Ambassador is a United Kingdom tea clipper built in 1869. She was a composite clipper, built with wooden planking over an iron skeleton and was W. Lund & Co's first tea clipper. She is now a beached wreck in southern Chile.

William Walker built Ambassador at Lavender Dry Dock in London.

Though considered a fast ship, Ambassador was said to be "very cranky and overmasted". Her first passage to the UK from Foochow came during the Tea Race of 1870 under Captain Duggan and took 115 days, a mediocre performance; that same year the fastest tea passage, also from Foochow, was made by the clipper Lahloo (clipper) in just 98 days. Ambassador's fastest passage between China and England was 108 days, in 1872.

Ambassador has been beached at Estancia San Gregorio, Chile since 1899. In 1973 Chile declared her a historic monument.

The wreck is now reduced to a skeletal frame. It is an example of a dwindling number of composite ship constructions. Better preserved examples include:



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Wikipedia

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