Editorials: February 2008 Archives

Early in the nineteenth century substantial money could be made shipping Tea from China to England. The East India Companies' Monopoly on the trade had recently ended and at the time a high demand (and price) was placed on the first tea of the season. Fast light ships called clippers were developed in order to beat the bigger slower ships back to England with the first fruits of the tea harvest. Competition grew and an annual race developed. The boats were refined and redesigned; every few years a newer faster ship would come and take the line honours. This culminated in the Great Tea Race of 1866. These refined sailing boats were the best of the best. Yet within a relatively short period of time these boats had been replaced by the steam boat, and the transition between the two may shed some light on the future of the electric car...