Flying Spur, named after the winged spur on the Jardine crest, was ordered by Jardine, Matheson's in 1860 to replace their ageing Cairngorm. Built of teak and greenheart by Alexander Hall at Aberdee, she was registered at 732 tons and measured 184 feet in length, with a 32½foot beam. Once put to work, Flying Spur proved a fast and reliable sailer, especially in the squalls so common in the China Seas through which she often raced at 15 knots when other vessels wallowed and lost speed in the rising swell. That she was fast was proved by the speed with which she overtook the large clipper Lochlevan Castle as well as several notable duels, including her ten-day run alongside Sir Lancelot in 1867. She was, in fact, one of the front-runners in all the great tea races of the 1860's even though she never actually took the laurels of being first home. Placed on other routes as the tea trade was lost to steam in the 1870's, Flying Spur was wrecked when she stranded on rocks in the South Atlantic in February 1881.

Taitsing, 815 ton, was built to the order of Findlay & Longmuir by Connell's of Glasgow in 1865. Named from the Chinese meaning "great arrow", she measured 192 feet in length and was a fine-lined ship at her best when running free. Leaving England in October 1865 on her maiden voyage, she made Hong Kong in 96 days and arrived in Foochow widely fancied in the coming race home. After loading just under 1,100,000 lbs. of tea, she sailed for England and docked in London on 9 September 1866 after a very fast passage of 101 days. Thereafter, she too was a major competitor in the tea races until she was sold out of the China trade in 1876. Still trading in eastern waters, she was lost off the Zanzibar coast on 20 September 1883 when homeward bound for Swansea.