Thermopylae (clipper)

The clipper Thermopylae - later Pedro Nuñes - was a British sailing ship that was launched in 1868 in Aberdeen for the Aberdeen Line ( George Thompson & Co). She was built in a composite. The inner bearing components were made ​​of iron, the planking was made of wood. The Thermopylae had an overall length of 88.4 m, a width of 11.7 m and a draft of 6.8 m. The height of the main mast was 52 m. Their displacement was 1,300 tons.

Together with the Cutty Sark, a clipper likewise, she was on long-haul routes as the fastest ship of her time. The Thermopylae was mainly used as a tea clipper on the route from China to London; here was speed critical, because for the first tea of ​​the season high prices were achieved.

1872 proposed the Cutty Sark in a then widely publicized " race " in which the ships launched in Shanghai on the same day. ( Which, however, had lost her rudder on the way ) The Thermopylae reached London a week before the Cutty Sark. This event is for example in the article Fast as the wind described (see links). The Cutty Sark it was not until 1885, faster than sailing through the Thermopylae.

With the construction of the Suez Canal and the advent of steam ships, the tea clipper lost economic importance; 1890 Thermopylae was sold to Canadian owners and from here in 1896 at the Portuguese Navy. It was then umgeriggt to Bark and used under the name " Pedro Nuñes " as a sail training ship and after they had lain already tired in 1897 as the Hulk, 1907 at Cascais (Portugal ) sunk.