Ambassador (clipper)

52°34′03″S 70°04′07″W

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 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	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

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

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

1. 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. 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.