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Rh not required, the British tea clippers were extremely fast vessels, chiefly on account of their narrow beam, which gave their hulls a comparatively small wetted surface, and their smooth copper bottoms which reduced skin resistance. Under these conditions they were, perhaps, as fast as the American clippers of the same class, though from very different causes;—such ships, for instance, as the Sea Witch, Samuel Russell, Game Cock, Phantom, White Squall, Nightingale, Shooting Star, Northern Light, Surprise, Witch of the Wave, Sword-Fish, and others. But if speed is to be considered as the maximum performance of a ship under the most favorable conditions, though these conditions may not often occur, then the British tea clippers were certainly no match for the larger American ships such as the Flying Cloud, Typhoon, Neptune's Car, Challenge, Comet, Hurricane, Flying Fish, Stag-Hound, Young America, Trade-Wind, and others of this class, to say nothing of the James Baines, Red Jacket, Champion of the Seas, Lightning, Sovereign of the Seas, and Great Republic. The greater breadth of the American ships in proportion to their length, meant, in sailing vessels of this type, not only power to carry canvas, but also power in the form of buoyancy; and this, with their longer and sharper ends, enabled the American clippers to be driven at much greater speed than the British clippers in strong gales and before heavy seas. It should, however, be remembered that none of the British tea clippers exceeded 1000 tons register, and it may again be said that they probably combined the good qualities of a merchant ship in a