Ambassador (clipper)

British tea clipper built in 1869

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

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[1]

General characteristics
Class & 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|

* fully rigged ship (from 1869)
* barque(from 1874)[1]

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

[edit]

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 Fuzhou 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 Fuzhou, was made by the clipper Lahloo 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]

## See also

[edit]

Better preserved composite ship constructions 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

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f MacGregor, David R. (1983). The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833–1875. Conway Maritime Press Limited. p. 194\. ISBN 0-85177-256-0.
2. ^ a b Lubbock, Basil (1984). The China Clippers. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. p. 302\. ISBN 0712603417.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ Seidel, Guido. "Last port: Ultimo Puerto de Amarre – Ambassador" (includes pictures) (in Spanish). Histarmar – Historia y Arqueologia Marítima. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
5. ^ "Chile – Magellan Strait – wreck of clipper Ambassador near Estancia San Gergorio". Flickr. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
6. ^ "Ambassador – Estancia San Gregorio, XII Región, Chile". Panoramio. 11 February 2009. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2017.

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1860s|

* Ambassador
* Ariel
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1870–1890s|

* Blackadder
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* Florence
* Hallowe'en
* Hereward
* Loch Ard
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* Lothair
* Rodney
* Torrens

Modern|

* Cisne Branco
* Shabab Oman II
* Stad Amsterdam
* Type 2630 training ship

Related|

* Alfred Bulltop Stormalong

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