England, however, had once more found herself, and soon her yards were building clipper ships that equalled the Americans—surpassed them, some say, but more than one challenge for an ocean race was issued by groups of Americans only to find no takers in British shipping circles. Now and then, it is true, British ships outsailed American. But now and then, too, Americans outsailed their transatlantic brothers, so it is difficult to decide as to their relative merits. But there is no doubt of one thing—the greatest ocean race ever sailed was one in which five British tea clippers were engaged. The _Ariel_, _Taeping_, _Fiery Cross_, _Taitsing_, and _Serica_ sailed from Foo-chow, China, within two days of each other, on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of May, 1865, all bound for London. Forty-six days later the _Fiery Cross_ rounded the Cape of Good Hope, followed by the _Ariel_, which also made that meridian in forty-six days; the _Taeping_ in forty-seven days; the _Serica_ in fifty days; and the _Taitsing_ in fifty-four days. Through June and July they sailed, and on August 9th the _Fiery Cross_ and _Taeping_ sighted each other. The ships passed the Azores in the following order, _Ariel_, _Taitsing_, _Fiery Cross_, _Serica_, and _Taeping_, all closely grouped. From there to the English Channel the race continued, with each ship unacquainted with the position of the others, save occasionally when their courses brought them together. Yet on the morning of September 5th, two of these ships sighted each other as they entered the English Channel. As they came closer together each recognized the other—they were the _Ariel_ and the _Taeping_, which had left Foo-chow within twenty minutes of each other more than three months before. Up the Channel they raced, side by side, and on September 6th, these two ships, and the _Serica_, which had sailed up the Channel four hours behind them, docked in London on the same tide and all three of them within an hour and forty-five minutes of each other, the _Taeping_ the winner by a few trifling minutes. Nor were they far ahead of the other two, which docked on the 7th and 9th. Three ships had sailed 16,000 miles in 99 days, and the other two in 101. Never before or since has a long ocean race shown such evenly matched ships. [Illustration: AN AMERICAN COASTING SCHOONER _Square-rigged ships have largely disappeared because, among other things, their crews were large. These schooners, which sometimes have four or five masts, can be handled by small crews and consequently are able to continue to vie with steam._ ]