T HERMOPYLAE
Thermopylae
mmbc 3633P

The Thermopylae was a famous British tea clipper built in 1868 at Aberdeen in Scotland. She was renowned as the fastest sailing clipper afloat, and became a lifelong rival of the Cutty Sark.

Following the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, much of the tea trade was lost to steamships, and the Thermopylae started being used in the lumber trade, on one occasion making the voyage between London and Melbourne in 59 days.	The Thermopylae in drydock mmbc 992.114.0018	She ended her days as a training ship for Portuguese cadets. The Thermopylae was a well-known sight in the port of Victoria and a group known as the Thermopylae Club still holds regular meetings to share knowledge and stories at the Maritime Museum of Bri tish Columbia.

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