The Sea Serpent was built at Portsmouth New Hampshire in December of 1850 and she was the first vessel for the famous Grinnel Minturn line. She was 1337 old measurement, 195 feet length, beam of 39'3" and 20' depth of hold Her lower masts were the same size as Flying Cloud though she was 400 tons smaller. She had an extremely sharp bow and was very fast especially in light airs when she could slip almost effortless through the water while other vessels nearby did not have steerage way. She was so well built that Messrs. Grinnel and Minturn distributed a bonus among the carpenters that built her.

The Sea Serpent was originally in the China Trade, New York to San Francisco, San Francisco to Hong Kong, Hong Kong Back to New York She had some very fast times in the following years, Whampoa to NY in 88 days in the wrong season, in 1856, she was 79 days Whampoa to NY in 79 days.

The above painting shows the Sea Serpent at the old Pagoda anchorage at Foochow in June of 1859. Around her are the pride of the British Clippers : Fiery Cross, Ellen Rogers, Crest of the Wave and Ziba. The Old Pagoda Anchorage is some eleven miles up the Min River while the city of Foochow is some five miles up stream. The tea after it was picked was rushed to Foochow where it was compressed into specially built chests that were so designed that they could fitted and squeezed into a ships hold so that she was packed almost solid with tea, Packing the tea inside the ships was a skill well perfected by the Chinese stevedores. The tea was brought down in junks and brought along side the clippers. In the painting above we can see the skipper, Captain J.D. Whitmore, in the small boat off the bow of the Sea Serpent as he notes whether the ship is evenly loaded. Meanwhile, the crew of the Sea Serpent , along with some of the other clippers, have the sails out to dry. In a hot and humid climate like Foochow every effort was taken to keep the sails free from rot as replacement sails were scarce.

When a ship was ready for sea, she would require one of the large paddle wheel tugs that were stationed on the Min River. The trip back to the sea was not without its own perils as the swiftly flowing Min had by now numerous wrecks. The ships would leave Foochow as soon as they had their cargo and their times were taken from when they crossed the bar at the river mouth until they reached London. In London and elsewhere prolific betting took place on which ship would be first home. For this year 1859, the Sea Serpent was the first to London with a time of 130 days.