And unlike the _Ann McKim_, the _Rainbow_ did affect ship design. It is true that critics announced that these new ships would capsize from the very weight of their spars, that they could not stand up in a boisterous sea, that they were freakish and ridiculous. But still they were built, and there were races out to China and back again; and sometimes they brought to New York the news of their own arrivals at Canton or Shanghai. So quickly had Griffiths’s ideas of ship design taken hold that in the four years from the launch of the _Rainbow_ until 1849—when the repeal of the Navigation Laws permitted foreign ships to compete for business between Britain and her colonies and the rush to California opened up another profitable field—a number of these new clipper ships were making regular voyages. The story of the first American clipper ship to carry a cargo of tea to Britain from China is an interesting one, and I can do no better than quote directly from Mr. Clark’s account of the voyage in “The Clipper Ship Era.” “The _Oriental_,” says Mr. Clark, “sailed on her second voyage from New York for China, May 19, 1850 ... and was 25 days to the equator; she passed the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope 45 days out, Java Head 71 days out, and arrived at Hong-kong, August 8th, 81 days from New York. She was at once chartered through Russel & Co. to load a cargo of tea from London at £6 per ton of 40 cubic feet, while British ships were waiting for cargoes for London at £3:10 per ton of 50 cubic feet. She sailed August 28th, and beat down the China Sea against a strong southwest monsoon in 21 days to Anjer, arrived off the Lizard in 91 days, and was moored in the West India Docks, London, 97 days from Hong-kong—a passage from China never before equalled in point of speed, especially against the southwest monsoon, and rarely surpassed since. She delivered 1,600 tons of tea, and her freight from Hong-kong amounted to £9,600 or some $48,000. Her first cost ready for sea was $70,000. From the date of her first sailing from New York, September 14, 1849, to her arrival at London, December 3, 1850, the _Oriental_ had sailed a distance of 67,000 miles, and had, during that time, been at sea 367 days, an average in all weathers of 183 miles per day.” [Illustration: THE _ARIEL_, 1866 _Which, with the_ Fiery Cross, Taeping, Serica, _and_ Taitsing, _sailed what was, perhaps, the greatest race ever run. After sailing 16,000 miles from Foo-Chow, China, to London, the_ Ariel, Taeping, _and_ Serica _docked in London on the same tide, the_ Taeping _the winner by only a few minutes. The other two were only two days behind, although the first three took 99 days._ ]