(later Edgar, Clara) Ship (3m).
L/B/D:
104.2 × 28.4 × 16 (31.8m × 8.7m × 4.9m). Tons:
300-500. Hull:
wood. Comp.:
53. Hull:
wood. Arm.:
10 × 9pdr, 4 × 6pdr. Built:
John Peck, Boston; 1783.
Built for the Boston merchants Benjamin Guild, Daniel Parker, and others, Empress of China became the first American-flag ship to sail to China. The idea for such an expedition was originally suggested by John Ledyard, who had sailed as a marine with James Cook's last expedition in
Resolution and
Discovery. Ledyard's plan involved collecting fur pelts in the Pacific Northwest for sale in Canton. Telling his idea to anyone who would listen, he eventually secured the attention of Robert Morris, the Philadelphia merchant known as "the financier of the Revolution," and who eventually took a half interest in Empress of China's voyage. The major hurdle facing American traders was that the thirteen colonies produced nothing of value to the Chinese, except ginseng, a root that grew wild throughout the Hudson River Valley and the northeast and which the Chinese regarded as indispensable to medicine. (The Chinese knew about ginseng because it is also native to Central Asia.)
After securing a cargo of 57,687 pounds (29 tons) of ginseng, $20,000 in silver, and 11 pipes of wine and brandy, together with some miscellaneous wares, Empress of China left New York on February 22, 1784—George Washington's birthday—under command of Captain John Green. Sailing as supernumerary, or merchant's representative, was Major Samuel Shaw, who would eventually become the first U.S. consul in Canton. After calling in the Cape Verde Islands, she sailed south, her next landfall being the island of Java, which she reached at the end of July. She finally landed at Whampoa, below Canton on the Pearl River, on August 28, 1784, after a voyage of 18,000 miles and 128 days. Empress of China was one of 34 Western ships to call at Canton that year. After selling their cargo for $291,000—for a profit of 25 percent to 30 percent—the crew loaded tea, gold, silk, and porcelain for the return voyage, which began on January 12, 1785. On March 9, 1785, they arrived at Cape Town, where Captain Green was interviewed by the captain of the Salem ship
Grand Turk. Empress of China finally reached New York on May 11, 1785.
Purchased by the Philadelphia merchant house of Constable, Rucker and Company in July, Empress of China made a second voyage to Canton between February 1, 1786, and May 4 of the following year. Sold to William McIntosh and renamed Edgar, she sailed to Bordeaux, and then entered regular trade between New York and Belfast. In March 1790, she was sold again, to John Shaw of New York, and renamed Clara. On February 24, 1791, she sank in Dublin Bay. There was no loss of life.
Smith, "Empress of China.".
