Mariners-L Archives

From: Bob Zimmerman <>
Subject: [Mar] Serica or Cerisa...
Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 00:19:03 -0500

Hi all,

Here's an interesting question that I never expected to ask:

In doing some library research today, I was reading a Times (London) report from 1869 describing the inquiry surrounding the wreak of the tea clipper Spindrift. In that report, the Times reporter writes the following when transcribing one witness's testimony about the past career of Spindrift's captain: "He was then the chief officer of the Cerisa, when she was new."

The witness was James Findlay, who owned Spindrift, Taitsing, and Serica, three of the more famous British tea clippers. The "chief officer" referred to was Daniel Nutsford, who was 1st mate on Serica before he went on to captain Taitsing and later Spindrift.

Obviously, the reporter's attempt to spell Serica ended up as "Cerisa", implying that the "c" in Serica is pronounced with an "s" sound. I have always assumed that the ship's name was pronounced Serika. Is my assumption incorrect?

Bob
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Bob Zimmerman

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• [Mar] Serica or Cerisa... by Bob Zimmerman <>