Great Britain had regained her empire upon the sea, and few British ship-owners could be found who any longer doubted the wisdom of Free Trade. Through the irony of fate, Duncan Dunbar, who had been one of the most vehement opponents of the repeal of the Navigation Laws, became under the new conditions, the largest ship-owner and one of the wealthiest in the United Kingdom, leaving at his death an estate of £1,500,000. In comparing the speed of the British tea clippers with that of American clipper ships, a good deal depends on what is meant by speed. In ordinary weather at sea, when great power to carry sail is [Illustration: The “Lahloo”] not required, the British tea clippers were extremely fast vessels, chiefly on account of their narrow beam, which gave their hulls a comparatively small wetted surface, and their smooth copper bottoms which reduced skin resistance. Under these conditions they were, perhaps, as fast as the American clippers of the same class, though from very different causes;--such ships, for instance, as the _Sea Witch_, _Samuel Russell_, _Game Cock_, _Phantom_, _White Squall_, _Nightingale_, _Shooting Star_, _Northern Light_, _Surprise_, _Witch of the Wave_, _Sword-Fish_, and others. But if speed is to be considered as the maximum performance of a ship under the most favorable conditions, though these conditions may not often occur, then the British tea clippers were certainly no match for the larger American ships such as the _Flying Cloud_, _Typhoon_, _Neptune’s Car_, _Challenge_, _Comet_, _Hurricane_, _Flying Fish_, _Stag-Hound_, _Young America_, _Trade-Wind_, and others of this class, to say nothing of the _James Baines_, _Red Jacket_, _Champion of the Seas_, _Lightning_, _Sovereign of the Seas_, and _Great Republic_. The greater breadth of the American ships in proportion to their length, meant, in sailing vessels of this type, not only power to carry canvas, but also power in the form of buoyancy; and this, with their longer and sharper ends, enabled the American clippers to be driven at much greater speed than the British clippers in strong gales and before heavy seas. It should, however, be remembered that none of the British tea clippers exceeded 1000 tons register, and it may again be said that they probably combined the good qualities of a merchant ship in a higher degree than any other vessels that have ever been built. The _Melbourne_, already mentioned, was perhaps the fastest ship ever built in Great Britain. In 1875, commanded by Captain Marsden, she made the passage from London to Melbourne in the not very remarkable time of 74 days, but when running her easting down in strong westerly gales she sailed 5100 miles in 17 days, an average of 300 miles a day, and her best twenty-four hours’ run was 374 miles, an average of over 15½ knots. She was an iron vessel of 1865 tons register; length 269 feet, breadth 40 feet, depth 23 feet 7 inches, and while not an extreme clipper, was a finely designed ship.