The American captain determined that he would not be outdone by the Britisher, so leaving his ship in the hands of the mate, he came ashore in the boat that brought out his pilot, took the steamer from Cowes to Southampton, and the train up to Waterloo.

"[3] About 1850-51, the upper anchorage at Whampoa Reach, below Canton, was a sight to be remembered by those who loved to look at beautiful ships, and the 'tea-fleet' was gathered waiting for 'the new crop.'

There, moored in line, were the Sam Russell, the Sea-Serpent, the Challenge, the Flying Cloud, the Sea Witch, and half a dozen others, bright with paint and varnish and gilding, and their bottoms well cleaned of barnacles by the swift muddy current of fresh water ...

They scrubbed copper, holystoned decks, squared the yards by the lifts and braces, and hoisted and lowered colors in unison with the American man-of-war which happened to be stationed there ... "But one day, in the 'cool weather,' there would come a sudden change.

"It was a sight to see the handling of those ships as they "backed and filled" and tided down the Reaches, sometimes almost grazing the quarter of a vessel at anchor; and, again, just escaping the tail of a mud-bank, while the grizzled old pig-tailed pilot took his bearings, squinted aloft, and in his own pidgeon-English said, 'Haul down jib!