Ambassador (clipper)
Coordinates: 52°34′03″S 70°04′07″W / 52.5675294°S 70.0685374°W
.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: |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Composite clipper |
| Tonnage: | 692 GRT[1] |
| Length: | 176.0 ft (53.6 m)[1] |
| Beam: | 31.3 ft (9.5 m)[1] |
| Depth: | 19.1 ft (5.8 m)[1] |
| Sail plan: |
|
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.
History
William Walker built Ambassador at Lavender Dry Dock in London.
Though considered a fast ship, Ambassador was said to be "very cranky and overmasted".[2] 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.[2]
Ambassador has been beached at Estancia San Gregorio, Chile since 1899.[3] In 1973 Chile declared her a historic monument.[4]
The wreck is now reduced to a skeletal frame.[5][6] It is an example of a dwindling number of composite ship constructions. Better preserved examples include:
- City of Adelaide (1864), passenger clipper relocated from Scotland to Adelaide in 2014
- Cutty Sark (1869), tea-clipper in Greenwich, England
- HMS Gannet (1878), a Naval sloop in Chatham, England
- PS Oscar W (1908), a paddle steamer at Goolwa on the River Murray, South Australia
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 MacGregor, David R. (1983). The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833–1875. Conway Maritime Press Limited. p. 194. ISBN 0-85177-256-0.
- 1 2 Lubbock, Basil (1984). The China Clippers. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. p. 302. ISBN 0712603417.
- ↑ Sam Jefferson (4 November 2014). Clipper Ships and the Golden Age of Sail: Races and Rivalries on the Nineteenth Century High Seas. A&C Black. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-4729-0028-9.
- ↑ Seidel, Guido. "Last port: Ultimo Puerto de Amarre – Ambassador" (in Spanish). Histarmar – Historia y Arqueologia Marítima. Retrieved 23 February 2010 (including pictures)
- ↑ "Chile – Magellan Strait – wreck of clipper Ambassador near Estancia San Gergorio". Flickr. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- ↑ "Ambassador – Estancia San Gregorio, XII Región, Chile". Panoramio. 11 February 2009.