There was great excitement in the hongs at the coast ports of China in this year (1869) when it became known that the _Thermopylæ_ was chartered to load new teas at Foo-chow for London; for no racing yachts ever had firmer friends and backers than the tea clippers; moreover, the rivalry between Aberdeen and the Clyde was acute. Of late years the Clyde clippers had carried all before them, and it was now felt that Aberdeen was about to regain her former glory; but this did not prove to be the case. The _Ariel_ sailed from the Pagoda Anchorage on June 30th; the _Leander_, July 1st; _Thermopylæ_, July 3d; _Spindrift_, July 4th; _Taeping_, July 9th, and the _Sir Launcelot_, July 17th. They arrived off Deal as follows: _Sir Launcelot_, 89 days; _Thermopylæ_, 91 days; _Taeping_, 102 days; _Leander_, 103 days; _Ariel_, 104 days, and _Spindrift_, 106 days. The winner, the _Sir Launcelot_, was commanded by Captain Robinson, formerly of the _Fiery Cross_, a seaman of great energy and experience. On this passage she sailed 354 miles in twenty-four hours while running through the trades in the Indian Ocean, which is believed to be the greatest speed ever made by any of the tea clippers of that period. This vessel was 886 tons register; length 197 feet 6 inches, breadth 33 feet 7 inches, depth 21 feet, drawing 18 feet 9 inches aft and 18 feet 7 inches forward, and carried 45,500 square feet of canvas, with a crew of 30 hands all told. She delivered 1430 tons of tea at fifty cubic feet per ton, and in addition to 200 tons of shingle ballast, she carried 100 tons of kentledge, cast to fit the floors along the keelson between the fore and mizzen masts. Her owner, James MacCumm, of Greenock, claimed that she was the fastest of the tea clippers, which her record passage of 89 days from Foo-chow to London and her twenty-four hours’ run of 354 miles would seem to justify, though there were probably very slight differences in speed between any of these vessels under similar conditions of wind and weather. The race of 1870 from Foo-chow to London was won by the _Lahloo_ in 97 days, the other vessels being: the _Windhover_, 100 days; _Sir Launcelot_, 102 days; _Leander_, 103 days; _Thermopylæ_, 106 days. In 1871 the _Titania_ won in 93 days; the _Lahloo_, 111 days, from Foo-chow to London; and from Shanghai to London the _Thermopylæ_ was 106 days; _Cutty Sark_, 110 days, and _Forward Ho_, 118 days. This was about the last of the tea clipper racing, for the combined competition of steam and the Suez Canal proved too powerful for sail. No more tea clippers were built after 1869; by degrees these beautiful vessels were driven into other trades; and so the Clipper Ship Era drifted into history.