Sailing into history.

In 1834, the British Government, which had been steadily nibbling away at the East India Company's 200-year-old stranglehold on Oriental trade, at last cancelled its monopoly on trade with China. From now on, any British citizen could buy Chinese tea and ship it home.

And when the Navigation Acts were repealed in 1849, anyone in the world could land tea at a British port. This opened up an opportunity for the Americans, who were the first to jump into the breach opened up by deregulation of the tea trade.

Journeys that might previously have taken a year were now over in 100 days. Competing importers vied with each other to be the first home with the new season's tea crop. Huge bets were placed on the outcome; and in smart drawing rooms, there was a snobbish cachet to serving tea from that season's winning ship.

The first shipment of Indian tea reached the London market in 1838. Indian tea-growers and their British managers were quick learners, and Indian tea became a great success. Two factors contributed to its popularity: there was no duty on Indian tea; and anyone could ship it back to Britain because the East India Company no longer had a monopoly on trade with India.