Sir Lancelot (clipper)
Sir Lancelot
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Builder: | Robert Steele & Company, Greenock |
| Launched: | 1865 |
 India
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| Owner: | Visram Ibrahim |
| Acquired: | 1886 |
| Notes: | India-Mauritius trade |
 Persia
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| Acquired: | 1895 |
| Out of service: | 1895 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Composite clipper |
| Tonnage: | 886 NRT |
| Length: | 197.6 ft (60.2 m) |
| Beam: | 33.7 ft (10.3 m) |
| Depth: | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Sail plan: |
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Sir Lancelot was a clipper ship which sailed in the China trade and the India-Mauritius trade.
Built in 1865 by Robert Steele & Company, Greenock, Sir Lancelot was "a beautiful tea clipper" called the Yacht of the Indian Ocean.
There is some discussion as to whether Sir Lancelot was an exact sister ship of Ariel, but it is clear that the two ships were very similar.
Sir Lancelot was typical of all of Steele's ships, celebrated for their beauty of model, perfection of build, and superb finish. In the poem By the Old Pagoda Anchorage, she is referred to as "Sir Lancelot of a hundred famous fights with wind and wave."
Captain Richard 'Dickie' Robinson of Workington was persuaded to leave the Fiery Cross to take charge of the new clipper. In a letter to naval historian Basil Lubbock, Sir Lancelot's owner John McCunn wrote; "Robinson was the best man I ever had in any ship and knew he got the best racing results out of Sir Lancelot".
In the Clipper Race of 1869, Robinson and Sir Lancelot established a new record between China and London. She arrived in Hong Kong on 10 January 1869 and undertook a number of "intermediate" passages to Bangkok, Saigon and Yokohama (probably carrying rice), arriving in Foochow on 20 June. This made her late loading tea; 7 ships left Foochow before her, the first being Ariel and Leander on 1 July. The Thermopylae got away on 3 July. Previously, a further 7 ships had already left other ports in China during June.
Sir Lancelot sailed at 7.00 am on 17 July and passed Anjer on 7 August. By 1 September, Cape Agulhas bore North East, 12 miles. St Helena was passed on 11 September and The Lizard 10 October. She was at Gravesend at 2.00 pm on 13 October and docked on 14 October. This was a total passage time of 89 days.
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Wikipedia