Speeding home, the Black Prince in full sail

Black Prince was designed by the talented William Rennie whose earlier success with Fiery Cross probably encouraged him to repeat her hull-form on his new boat. Built by Hall's of Aberdeen in 1863, she was registered at 750 tons and measured 185 feet in length, with a 32 foot beam. John Robertson, previously master of the old Cairngorm, was asked to equip her with no expense spared and, when she was ready for sea, it was widely felt that she could beat any other clipper afloat. In the event, although she performed more than adequately, all her early promise remained unfulfilled due to an uncharacteristic lack of daring on the part of her master captain William Inglis. A thoroughly sound professional seaman, he nevertheless lacked that bold streak of courage necessary to turn a good clipper into a record-breaker. In the greatest of all the tea races in 1866, Black Prince was actually the last home when she should have been amongst the leaders. So late was she that Inglis became known as "The Whipper-in" and these safe but slow passages remained his trademark for the rest of his career. Owned for most of this by Baring Brothers and eventually by Inglis himself, Black Prince was wrecked in the Java Sea on 5 August 1882 and sank in the same waters in which she had spent her entire working life.