The clipper John R. Worcester outward-bound from the Clyde off Pladda Island

Designed by William Rennie, whose other notable thoroughbreds included Black Prince, Fiery Cross and Norman Court, the John R. Worcester was built in the Marine Investment Company's yard at Port Glasgow in 1865. Ordered by John Worcester & Co. of London, she was a composite clipper of 844 tons and measured 192 feet in length with a 33 foot beam. Launched in January 1866, she went straight out to China in ballast where she loaded 12,500 chests of tea, 221 bales of raw silk and 125 casks of wine; clearing Shanghai on 9^th July, she then ran home in 114 days arriving on 31^st October. The following year [1867] her owners went bankrupt and their flagship was sold to J. Patton Jnr. of London who kept her in the China tea trade until 1871. Never improving on her maiden passage home in 1866, Patton decided to try her on the American tea run and, between 1872 and 1875, she did three round trips between China and the U.S.A. without ever returning to London, her best passage being 89 days (Shanghai to New York) in 1872. With the tea trade going over to steam, the John R. Worcester was put to work on the Australian wool run and, on the way out to Sydney (from London) in July 1875, she clocked 347 miles in 24 hours through the 'Roaring Forties'. Back for a final tea voyage in 1877, Patton sold her to J. Stewart of London in 1884 who re-rigged her as a barque to save on crewing costs. Five years later, she was sold to Italian owners in Castellamare who renamed her L'Immacolata and although she was resold again, this time to Neapolitan owners, she ran aground in 1896 and was declared a total loss.