Classic Choice

The China Clippers

Basil Lubbock

There is an argument that the splendidly evocative name of the author alone means this book merits inclusion in the section. Come to think of it, wasn’t he on the shortlist to be as he stumped around the smallholding he had retired to, diligently taking notes as Woodget tended to his livestock and in between regaled him with hair-raising tales of the old clipper being pushed to her limit in the Roaring Forties. was his masterpiece largely thanks to his ability to convey the magic of sailing what remain the most complicated, technical and beautiful vessels to grace the seas. Clippers were built to carry a small amount of cargo at great speed. In the China trade, they raced home with tea and the first vessel home won a sizeable premium which was split between skipper and crew. Forget the Volvo Ocean Race or the Vendée, this was racing with true purpose in a ship that could set up to 50 individual sails. Lubbock was able to bring these races to life with some beautiful sections of narrative that captured both the raw excitement of races where skippers thought nothing of risking all to take a short cut through a reef studded passage in the China Seas or nearly driving their ship under as they raced for the prize. The book is littered with asides and anecdotes that give it a very human side. Lubbock had been a sailor for a brief period and many of his tales have the authentic ring of a yarn spun in the fo’c’s’le of some windjammer rolling home. It makes for a spellbinding read in parts while remaining an informative and very important book on the ships of a fascinating era which represented a final glorious flourish of commercial sail.