Note 386 — Chapter XII

The earliest, as well as at that time, the fastest steamers employed in the opium trade between Calcutta and China were the Fiery Cross, and the Lancefield, built on the Clyde, and owned by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Company. These vessels invariably called at Singapore on their way to Hong Kong, where they waited for despatches from England by the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Thus the owners of these vessels, which were much faster than the Mail boats, not merely realized large profits in their regular trade, but, with earlier information from home, than their competitors, had a great advantage in all other branches of commerce, as well as in that of opium.