AUSTRALIA: Grain Race

In the middle 19th Century softwood clipper ships raced with light cargoes from Australia and China to Europe, riding high, running dry, sailed by full crews of crack sailors, by masters who drove their ships under full sail all the way.∙ They carried tea and gold in a hurry. Last of the cargoes now carried in sail are Chilean nitrates and Australian wheat and wool. There is no hurry about getting cheap wheat from Australia to Britain. Sailing ships give free warehousing. On the long slow way the price of wheat may...

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