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''Zephyr'' was an 1842 opium clipper built by Samuel Hall, East Boston that was known for its speed. ''Zephyr'', ''Brenda'', ''Mazeppa'', ''Ariel'', and the brig ''Antelope'' were among Russell & Companys fastest opium clippers, and enabled the company to almost control the opium trade with China. The ''Zephyr'' was built by Samuel Hall, of East Boston, on the American pilot boat model. Though lightly built, like most American ships, of American oak and elm, she was beautifully modelled and very heavily sparred ; and she carried an armament of four brass 18-pounders to a broadside, a brass 18-pounder pivot gun on the foc's'le, also of brass, and, in her prime, an Armstrong 68-pounder on a pivot between the masts. ''Zephyr'' was "built as a yacht to the order of Daniel Burn of Canton" and Captain R. B. Forbes.〔 〕 Launched April 12, 1842, she sailed on her first passage to China on May 15, 1842 under Captain Thomas M. Johnson, arriving 112 days later.〔 Captain Thomas M. Johnson, wrote to Forbes in 1843:
During the Taiping Rebellion the opium clipper ''Eamont'' ran up to the threatened city of Ningpo, passing right through the Battle of Chinhae, which was being waged not only on the banks but in the river itself. At Ningpo she found the ''Zephyr''. The two schooners loaded up with fugitive celestials, and raced each other back to Woosung. But in the smooth sheltered water of the river, and with a fresh whole sail breeze, the ''Zephyr'' more than a match for the more strongly built Cowes schooner. However, the ''Eamont'' had her revenge in weather more to her choice. The two vessels met this time in half a gale of wind with a heavy sea running, and the ''Eamont'' sailed right dead to windward of the ''Zephyr'', and left her out of sight in twelve hours.〔Lubbock (1914), p. 34〕 == References == * * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zephyr (schooner)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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