I (Ernest Argyle) have recently seen in an American publication that the clipper ship on the Hong Kong $1 stamp of the centenary issue of 1941 is the Falcon, the first of the China clippers. Whether this is correct is a matter for the stamp printers or designer to establish. The Falcon was built as a yacht in1824 for the Earl of Yarborough and fitted as a 20-gun corvette, says the American article, but this seems to me rather doubtful. The famous China tea clipper of this name, which could be the ship on the stamp, for she was considered one of the fastest clippers on the Hong Kong run, did not make her appearance until 1889. The former vessel was used as an opium clipper, the more famous ship was a tea clipper. Between 1856 and 1860 she held the record of 106 days; her longest time in that period to make a crossing was 110 days, her average being 108. Later she was under the command of John Keay who took a prominent part in the tea races, first in the Falcon, 1862-1865 and next in the Ariel, 1866, finishing up in the Oberon, about 1872. After that he went into steam, commanding the Glengyle in 1877.
The Falcon was generally regarded as the first of a new era in British ship design for clippers, being given more beam, although never as much as the American ships. Four years after her building composite construction, wooden planking on an iron framework, became popular giving more strength, without being condemned by shippers on the ground that an iron hull spoiled the flavour of the tea. The Falcon was built by Robert Steele at Greenock and was owned by Shaw, Maxton and Company. She was a wooden vessel of 937 tons register; length 191 ft. 4 in., breadth 32 ft. 2 in., and depth 20 ft. 2 in. Her home port was London, her first commander Capt. Maxton, who had been in command of the Lord of the Isles. The Falcon was sold in Australia, her name being changed to Sophia Branilla. She was wrecked on the coast of Java in 1871. SG168