lubbock

Basil Lubbock's book "The China Clippers" contains a multitude of references to the Norman Court;

p. 90 - Race between "Cairngorm" and "Lammermuir"

.. Lammermuir was commanded by Captain Andrew Shewan, senior, who afterwards had the Norman Court, ..

p. 93 - The Builders and Designers of the Famous Tea Clippers

.. As a rule these famous clippers were designed in the drawing lofts of their builders; in fact, there were only two outside designers of any note, Bernard Waymouth, Secretary of Lloyd's Register, and Rennie. Waymouth was responsible for the lines of the Leander and Thermopylae, whilst Rennie designed Fiery Cross, Black Prince, Norman Court, and John R. Worcester.

p. 94 - Craze for Neatness aloft in Aberdeen Ships.

The Aberdeen ships, though not so expensively finished as those of the Clyde with regard to deck fittings, were celebrated for their smart look aloft. Indeed they carried their smartness aloft to excess, with the result that, owing to the smallness of their blocks they were heavy workers;.. And Captain Shewan, who was an officer on both ships, tells me that the Norman Court, though 100 tons bigger, handled more easily with 14 A.B.'s than the Black Prince with 22. ..

p. 101 - Speed of the Crack Tea Clippers Compared.

.. Norman Court could outweather and outsail the fleet on a wind but was not so fast running. ..

Yet taking them all round there was very little difference in speed between the best known of the clippers, and in the racing one can safely say that their captains had as much or more to do with their success or failure than the ships themselves. .. Sir Lancelot and Norman Court were a week in company going down the China Sea homeward bound in 1874. In the same year Norman Court and Kaisow were in sight of each other most of the way between Beachy Head and the line. ..

p. 106 - The Captains

.. However there were a few men, who held the necessary qualities of a tea-ship commander, whose endurance equalled their energy, whose daring was tempered by a good judgement, whose business capabilities were on a par with their seamanship, and whose nerves were of cast iron. These men could easily be picked out of the ruck, for their ships were invariably in the front of the battle. Amongst the best known were Robinson of Sir Lancelot, Keay of Ariel, McKinnon of Taeping, Kemball of Thermopylae, Andrew Shewan of Norman Court, Burgoyne of Titania, John Smith of Lahloo, and Orchard of Lothair. ..

p. 109 - Tea Clipper Crews

The crews of the tea clippers would make a modern shipmaster's mouth water. Britishers to a man, they were prime seamen and entered into the racing with all the zest of thorough sportsmen. Many are the stories of their keenness on the homeward run. .. And Captain Shewan of Norman Court declared: "With all hands going about, we would have the ropes coiled up in ten minutes from the ready about order." The Shanghai pilot once timed the Norman Court getting underway and saw that her anchor was lifted and sail made in twenty minutes. She was an easy working ship and her crew were accustomed to walk her topsail yards to the masthead in smooth water. ..

p. 112 - Outward and Intermediate Passages.

The voyages of the tea clippers, though barely a year in length, showed a remarkable mileage. The outward passage was either to Hong Kong, Shanghai or Melbourne. The outward cargoes were heavy ones, consisting generally of Manchester bales and lead.

Between their arrival in China and the time for loading the first teas the clippers traded up and down the coast, sometimes as far north as Japan, at others round to Singapore and Rangoon, but, as a rule, carrying rice from Saigon, Bangkok, and other rice ports to Hong Kong.

The following epitomes will give some idea of the mileage covered -

Normancourt in 1872

London to Shanghai, Shanghai to Swatow, Swatow to Kobe, Kobe to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Whampoa, Whampoa to Macao, Macao home.

p. 114 - The Pilots on the Coast - Chinese and European.

The ships were further handicapped by the unreliability of the pilots. It was considered a most risky thing to take a Chinese pilot. They knew the waters well enough, but were generally in the pay of the pirates, or even coast fishermen, and thus rarely missed an opportunity of putting the ships in their charge or wrecking them on some uncharted rock, which they purposely kept secret for the occasion.

Such a rock was the pinnacle rock at the mouth of the Min River, where the charts gave 15 fathoms. This rock was struck by the Norman Court in 1878. The European pilots declared that it must have been a sunken wreck. However when the clipper was docked in Shanghai, oysters were found sticking in her bottom. But it was not until two years later , when the Benjamin Aymar had struck on an uncharted rock close by and remained there, that the pilots began to believe in the Norman Court's rock. Then H.M. gunboat Moorhen was sent down, and found a pinnacle rock, only 9 feet below low water springs, right on Captain Shewan's bearings.

Curiously enough, just before the Norman Court had discovered this uncharted rock with her keel, she had successfully employed a Chinese pilot. Coming down from Shanghai to Foochow in thick N.E. monsoon weather, Captain Shewan, on hauling in for the regular channel, found himself to leeward of the White Dogs. He picked up a Chinese pilot at daybreak. It would have taken a day beating up the usual channel, and when the pilot said: "Suppose you like, I can take the ship in as we go, I savvy plenty water, can do alright". Captain Shewan agreed to risk it, knowing that the Chinaman was licensed by the consul. And the pilot took him through a shortcut into the Min River without mishap.

Owing to the heavy drinking on the coast, the European pilots were often not much more reliable than the Chinese. Perhaps the best known was old Hughie Sutherland of Shanghai, a Caithness man. .. Hughie waas a good enough pilot when sober, though a daring one.

Once, when the Norman Court was leaving Shanghai for Foochow to load poles back, he came aboard declaring that he had turned total abstainer, meant to take a holiday and would go the trip with Captain Shewan. It was the end of September. On leaving Woosung, the Norman Court picked up a nice N.E. breeze. Of Cape Yangtze, two steam coasters were sighted ahead bearing away south for the Bonham Pass. Old Hughie looked hard at them for a moment and then turning to Captain Shewan, said:

"What do you say? Shall we follow those steamers?" (The orthodox course for a sailing ship was round the Saddles).

"A bit risky, isn't it?" replied the captain.

"Look here!" said Hughie, seeing the other in doubt. "This nor'-easter came away this morning, didn't it?"

"Yes"

"Well, you know they always last 24 hours"

"Yes"

"Well, by that time, we shall be through the Narrows, will we not?"

"Yes"

"Then why not? Anyway we have always got the anchors"

"Quite right" agreed Shewan, "let her go"

So they squared the mainyard and went flying after the steamers. Old Hughie was right; the breeze held; the Norman Court soon overhauled the coasters and dropped them astern; and she got safely through before dark, thus saving a day on the passage down to Foochow.

That trip the Norman Court was only 23 days from Shanghai to Foochow and back. On the return passage poor old Hughie fell ill and died and they buried him at sea off the Hushan Islands.

Captain Shewan had left his wife at Shanghai, and his critics always put down his fast trip to her, but in reality it was chiefly owing to the daring pilotage of old Hughie.

p 119 - Cutting out Ballast Lighters at Yokohama

.. The Norman Court in 1872 happened to be loading Goverment rice in Hiogo Bay, and had a great deal of trouble with her Japanese coolies, who cared nothing for the authority of their Chinese stevedore. At last the worried mate lost his temper and took his boot to one of them. In a moment they turned upon him with their cargo hooks. Only the carpenter was by to support him, and both men were unarmed. But the Britisher resolutely faced them and by sheer strength of will held them back, then watching his opportunity retreated up the hatchway. .. Indeed but for his resolute bearing, they would certainly have been killed. ..

p. 123 - Preparations for the race home from Foochow.

.. Norman Court, another beautifully finished ship, had a solid brass rail all round her bulwarks. ..

p. 194 - "Norman Court"

Next to Cutty Sark the most important clipper launched in 1869 was the Norman Court. Designed by Rennie, she bore a strong family likeness to Fiery Cross and Black Prince, and was a very beautiful ship in every way. She should have been Rennie's masterpiece, but the builders made some slight deviation from his design in the moulding of the iron frames, which, though it did not interfere very much with her speed, made her more tender than she should otherwise have been. This little deviation was necessary in order to bring Rennie's measurements within the Lloyd's scantlings for a thousand -ton ship.

However, with the exception of this alteration which affected her stability, Norman Court had beautifully fair lines, and she was most perfectly built and finished. Unlike the Cutty Sark's, her iron work was specially good. In fact, a London blacksmith, who was employed repairing one of her trusses some years later, was so lost in admiration of her ironwork that he declared it must have been made by a watchmaker.

As to her deck fittings, her bulwarks were panelled in teak, with a solid brass rail on top all round. And even her foc's'le lockers were panelled better than those of many a ship's cabin.

Norman Court, indeed, rivalled the Steele clippers in looks and beauty, and was considered at one time to be the prettiest rigged vessel sailing out of London.

She was very heavily sparred and extremely lofty, so lofty, indeed, that one 4th of July, when she was lying in Shanghai with several other clippers, including Thermopylae. The American superintendent of the Hankow Wharf came off with a star-spangled banner and asked Captain Shewan to fly it at his main truck, remarking that it would be seen further from there than from any other point within leagues of Shanghai. Captain Shewan was also asked whether he gave an apprentice a biscuit before he sent him up to furl the skysail. Indeed, if the Baring clipper had been as square as Thermopylae with her own loftiness she would have been very much overhatted, but, luckily for her stability, she had a narrow sail plan.

Like most of the tea clippers, her masts were raked well aft, in fact, they had more rake than was usual, and this, Captain Shewan thought, rather spoilt her sailing in light winds. The chief reason for this rake was that it kept a wooden ship from diving too much into a head sea.

In her paces Norman Court was a bona fide tea clipper in every way - fast in light years, at her best with fresh whole sail beam winds but not the equal of Cutty Sark when the royals were fast, and perhaps a good half knot slower than the Willis crack when off the wind, for Norman Court's best point was to windward - indeed, she was one of the most weatherly of all the tea clippers. Owing to the way in which her bilge was carried right away to her stem (though there was nothing above the water line to stop her) she went into a sea like a rubber ball, and very rarely buried herself like some of the Aberdeen ships. She required careful watching, however, and if caught by the wind freeing two or three point in a squall when going close-hauled under a press of sail she would go over till the lee bunks of the midshiphouse were underwater.

With regard to trim, she sailed best, especially running, when well down by the stern. On one occasion, when she left London for Sydney with a light load-line, Captain Shewan kept her on an even keel, but found that she not do as well as usual running the easting down. On the other hand, in 1871, when she made the fast run of 67 days to the South Cape, Tasmania, she was very deep with Manchester bales and nearly a foot by the stern. This trim gave her some splendid runs in the "roaring forties", but she also took a tremendous lot of heavy water over aft in making them. Once she left Macao in heavy weather with no chance to get her proper trim. This passage she sailed first rate on a wind, though very wet forward, and on her arrival she was found to be 6 inches by the head.