The celebrated clipper Caliph cracking along in a steady breeze

Of the many notable clippers built in 1869, only Cutty Sark was to achieve the ultimate status of legend. Almost as famous at the time however, was the splendid Norman Court, but there was also a third vessel which, had fate not intervened, might well have ranked beside them both in terms of reputation. Christened, unusually, 'The' Caliph, expectations of her were high even before her name was announced, as news spread through the tea trade that she was being built to rival the record-breaking Thermopylae, arguably the fastest clipper of them all. Caliph was laid down in Alexander Hall's yard, Aberdeen, as his 263rd ship and, having cost fully £16,655, was launched in September 1869. Registered at 914 tons and measuring 215 feet in length with a 36 foot beam, she was given a very lofty sail plan sporting 7,268 square yards of canvas and, unusually, was also fitted with a small auxiliary engine to which a pair of screws could be attached if the ship found herself becalmed.

On her maiden voyage out from England, she reached Shanghai on 1st February 1870 after an excellent passage of 101 days. The tea was late coming down from the interior that year however, added to which Caliph's owner, Alexander Hector, a London merchant and cousin to Cutty Sark's owner John Willis, had given his new ship to a master with no previous experience of the workings of the China tea trade. As a result, Caliph failed to win a charter for the first crop and was obliged to wait until the later ones became available. Eventually obtaining a cargo, Caliph finally cleared Foochow on 6th December, bound for New York and, after a record run of 87 days, made port on 3rd March 1871. Leaving New York on 1st April, she made London in 21 days and then sailed for China, passing Anjer - in the Sunda Strait, west of Java - on 15th August. Even though no typhoons were reported along her route, she was never seen or heard of again and it was widely assumed that she had fallen victim to pirates. Whether this was the case or not, her disappearance has never been satisfactorily explained and it remains one of the mysteries of the sea.