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Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. [4] Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade.
Zephyr was an 1842 opium clipper built by Samuel Hall, East Boston that was known for its speed.. Zephyr, Brenda, Mazeppa, Ariel, and the brig Antelope were among Russell & Companys fastest opium clippers, and enabled the company to almost control the opium trade with China.
By 1948, due to the severe devaluation of paper money caused by hyperinflation, the opium trade transitioned to being conducted through bartering goods instead of using currency. In 1948, only 0.67% of the opium traded in Yan'an was locally produced, a figure that declined further to just 0.03% by 1949.
At this anchored floating warehouse, Russell & Company ships would offload their opium contraband, then continue with their legal cargo up the Pearl River Delta to Canton. [ 11 ] By early 1843, Delano had prospered greatly in the Chinese opium trade, rising to become the head partner of the biggest American firm trading with China.
Trade with China, especially in the illegal opium, grew, and so did the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co., which was already known as the Princely Hong for being the largest British trading firm in East Asia. By 1841, Jardine had 19 intercontinental clipper ships, compared to close rival Dent and Company with 13.
Sylph was a clipper ship built at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, in 1831 for the Parsi merchant Rustomjee Cowasjee. [2] After her purchase by the Hong Kong–based merchant house Jardine Matheson, in 1833 Sylph set a speed record by sailing from Calcutta to Macao in 17 days, 17 hours.
In 1797 the EIC further tightened its grip on the opium trade by enforcing direct trade between opium farmers and the British, and ending the role of Bengali purchasing agents. British exports of opium to China grew from an estimated 15 long tons (15,000 kg) in 1730 to 75 long tons (76,000 kg) in 1773 shipped in over two thousand chests. [ 18 ]
The schooner Anglona was the first American opium clipper. [1] She sailed in the Chinese coastal trade in the 1840s, and had a famous race with the schooner Ariel around Lintin Island . Construction