FLYING SPUR
Shipbuildervessel built by
Alexander HALL & Co.
(Footdee, Aberdeen)
Shipownervessel built for
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
(Shipowners, Opium Traders and Merchants, Hong Kong)
DateAugust 1860
Object NameCLIPPER
MediumWOOD
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 184.7' x breadth 31.4' x depth 19.4'
gross tonnage 735 tons
gross tonnage 735 tons
Object numberABDSHIP001107
Keywords
Yard Number: 219
Official Number: 29004
Fate: wrecked on Martim Vaz island, 680 miles east of the coast of the Brazil, 13 February 1881.
Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged clipper, 3 masts, forecastle 43', raised quarter-deck 48'
Owner:
1861-81: John Robertson & Co. (for Jardine, Matheson & Co), registered at London
Masters:
1861-67: Master J. Ryrie
1869-71: Master Atkinson
1872-73: Master Barnett
1874: Master Murray
1875-76: Master Croft
1877-80: Master G. Croot
1881: Master O. J. Arnold
Voyages (from Lloyd's Register):
1861: Aberdeen - China
1862-68: London - China
1869-71: London - Australia
1872-73: London - Japan
General History:
FLYING SPUR was built by Alexander Hall and Co. in 1860 for £20,000, according to a later advertisement ‘with no expense spared’, as a tea clipper for Robertson and Co., its owners throughout its career. The largest shareholder was Sir Robert Jardine of the China merchants Jardine, Matheson and Co. Jardine's crest was a winged spur, and so the new vessel was given the name of FLYING SPUR. John Robertson was her managing owner in England because Jardine, Matheson was based in China.
In his The China Clippers Basil Lubbock describes FLYING SPUR as ‘a very fast little ship’ and in its early days lists it among the faster of the clippers involved in the tea races between Foochow and London. However, he reported that it did not remain very long in the first flight as Capt. Ryrie, the first master, owned a quarter of the shares in the vessel. According to Lubbock he, ‘being well on in years’, preferred nursing her rather than cracking on through the long passage home’. Frederick Paton, who served in FLYING SPUR 1865-70, wrote it "was a very fast vessel, as good as the fastest [tea clippers] with the exception perhaps of the ARIEL and SPINDRIFT. We were 7 days in company with TEIPING once and ten days with SIR LANCELOT and were quite a match for them in any wind. Their Captains drove them harder in strong winds. I do not think they owned any shares in them, whereas Captain Ryrie was quite a large owner in FLYING SPUR and nursed her".
FLYING SPUR was certainly capable of overtaking lesser clippers. Lubbock describes an incident in which at 11.20am a sail was sighted on the horizon, which turned out to be the Glasgow clipper LOCH LEVEN. By 1pm FLYING SPUR was up with it, when LOCH LEVEN’s top and mainsail split as it tried to keep up. In this race FLYING SPUR’s cook was washed from the galley to the break of the poop. In 1867 under Captain Ryrie it came up on the clipper MAITLAND, crossed over the bow, let it pass, then passed it again.
On FLYING SPUR’s maiden voyage it sailed to China via Bombay, where it was advertised as ‘for freight of Opium’. Returning, it sailed from Foochow on 14 June 1861, a little after the beginning of the tea season, and arrived at Falmouth 16 October, a very creditable 119 days. In subsequent years in the 1860s it got away from Foochow around 1 June, the same time as the leaders in the tea race. Its fastest passage was in 1867, 115 days. These races were closely followed by British newspapers, the Greenock Telegraph commenting in 1863 that leading passages that year were between 120 and 130 days. Flying Spur was generally in or around this range- 122 days in 1862, 126 in 1863, 134 in 1864 and 127 in 1865. The 1865 arrival was quoted as ‘off Scilly’. In fact, sustained easterly winds in the English Channel then caused a serious delay. FLYING SPUR’s 1869 passage was a good one, 121 days, but it was also very late, departing from Foochow 25 August. Tea prices had dropped and the premium formerly offered by the tea merchants for the first arrival at London had been withdrawn. Accordingly, as the Shields Daily Gazette explained, masters were not so anxious to get away early from China as in former years. Presumably for this reason, 1870 appears to have been FLYING SPUR’s last voyage in the tea trade. Sometimes, as in 1864 and 1867, its outward voyage to China was via Sydney. The 1864 sailing to Sydney was advertised by the agents Houlder Bros under the heading ‘Emigration to Australia’. However, FLYING SPUR was not designed for this trade. A subsequent advertisement, while claiming its accommodation to be excellent, admitted it was limited.
Possibly because of the decline in the tea trade, FLYING SPUR was advertised for sale in April 1873. It was claimed to have been exceedingly well kept up, including re-shielding with yellow metal in 1871, and combined good cargo capacity with fast sailing qualities. However, it must have failed to meet the reserve price and continued to be owned by Robertson and Co. By this time the firm had found a new trade for the vessel, to Japan. It first sailed from London for Yokohama in early 1871 and appears to have continued on that route till 1876-7 when its destinations were Yokohama and Hiego. No notifications of or advertisements for its sailings have been found thereafter, suggesting that in its final years it was engaged in tramping. On 13 February 1881 it stranded on Martin Vas, North Rock in South Atlantic, having aboard cargo of coal from Liverpool to Negapatam in South India. Its crew was ten only 18 compared to 36 when it was a tea clipper. It later drifted ashore.
FLYING SPUR appears to have been generally a fortunate ship, but in January 1871 it was involved in an accident when leaving Hay’s Dock under tow. It drifted against a schooner and one of the two tugs. The latter then collided with and sank the other tug. In the subsequent court case the tugs’ owners were found to be negligent for not having enough power to hold FLYING SPUR in the tide.
Sources: - B. Lubbock, "The China Clippers" (Glasgow, 1914), pp.197-200, 205, 208-9, 245-6, 251, 263, 278.
(British Newspaper Archive online) Australia and NZ Gazette, 15/10/1867; Bombay Gazette, 11/03/1861; Cumbria Daily Leader, 05/10/1864; Evening Standard, 7/10/1865; Greenock Telegraph, 09/10/1863; Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 19/4/1875; London and China Express, 17/03/1875; London and China Telegraph, 05/03/1873, 21/08/1873, and 10/10/1876; Shields Daily Gazette, 11/08/1869; Shipping and Maritime Gazette, 01/03/1871.
David R. MacGregor, "The Tea Clippers: Their History and Development 1833-1875" (Conway Maritime, London, 1972), pp. 123-4.
Newspaper extracts:
16/11/1866:
Great Ship Race from China: the arrival on Sept 6 in the downs, off Deal, of three of the nine clipper ships engaged in a great ocean race from China created much interest in the city. FLYING SPUR, 731 tons, sailed June 5, 7 days after the first ship. The ships were laden with the first cargo of teas of the season - additional freight of 10 shillings per ton allowed to first ship arriving in dock. The ARIEL and TAEPING, which had lost sight of each other for 70 days, found themselves on Sept 5 off the Lizard running neck and neck up the Channel under every stitch of canvas that could be set (TAEPING just ahead). The distance, 14060 miles, was run in 99 days. [No ref. in this report to FLYING SPUR'S time, but quotes her 1865 time as 131 days (placed 5th - winning time 109 days, FIERY CROSS].
(Perth Gazette and West Australian Times)
26/12/1867:
1867 Tea Race: FLYING SPUR 4th (116 days with 49,710 lbs tea). First was ARIEL (102 days, 1,283,000 lbs tea).
(Brisbane Courier)
13/01/1869:
Run home from Foochow with new season teas in invariably regarded as the Great Race, the crucial test of a ship's capability [...] clipper SPINDRIFT was the winner last year having been out 15 1/2 hours less than her competitors, though amongst these were ARIEL, the TAEPING, the BLACK PRINCE, the FLYING SPUR and others equally famous.
(Melbourne Argus)
19/02/1881:
TOTAL LOSS OF THE BARQUE FLYING SPUR. Lloyd's agent at Cape Town telegraphs under yesterday's date that the barque FLYING SPUR, from Liverpool, bound for Negapatam, has been totally wrecked on Martinvas Rock. The crew and passengers were taken off the French barque CHATEAU LAFLITTE and landed at Cape Town. The FLYING SPUR was a vessel of 735 tons, built at Aberdeen in 1860, and owned Messrs Robertson and Co., Neyman's Court, London.
(Shields Daily Gazette)
Note: Contract cost, £13,786 (Builder's list in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
Re-rigged as a barque 1874
