With a sigh the London Times confessed: "We must run a race with our gigantic and unshackled rival.

We must set our long-practised skill, our steady industry, and our dogged determination against his youth, ingenuity, and ardor.

Let our shipbuilders and employers take warning in time.

There will always be an abundant supply of vessels good enough and fast enough for short voyages.

But we want fast vessels for the long voyages which otherwise will fall into American hands." Before English merchants could prepare themselves for these new conditions, the American clipper Oriental was loading in 1850 at Hong Kong with tea for the London market.