Chapter XVI: Part III: “the Iron Clippers.” (2)

The _Loch Earn_ became world-notorious by her fatal collision with the French Transatlantic mail steamer _Ville du Havre_. On 21st November, 1873, on a bright starlight night, the Loch liner struck the steamer right amidships, cutting her down to the water’s edge. The _Ville du Havre_ sank in 12 minutes, and Captain Robertson of the _Loch Earn_ was only able to save 26 of her passengers and 61 of the crew, 226 souls in all going down in the Frenchman. The following day the American packet ship _Tremountain_ was fallen in with, and Captain Robertson transferred the survivors to her and they were landed at Cardiff. Two days later the _Loch Earn_, being fatally injured by the collision, also sank, Captain Robertson and his crew being rescued by a passing ship.

The _Loch Lomond_, which in her palmy days under Commander Grey, R.N.R., was known as the Scotch man-of-war owing to her smart appearance, was a steady going ship without any very special records to her credit. In May, 1908, she was sold to the Union S.S. Co. of New Zealand to be converted into a coal hulk. Loading a cargo of coal at Newcastle, N.S.W., she left there on 16th July, 1908, bound for Lyttelton, N.Z., under Captain J. Thomson. But time went by and she never arrived, and in due course she was posted as missing. The only trace of her that was ever found was a life-buoy which was picked up on the New Hebrides.

The _Loch Leven_ came to a sudden end on her second voyage. On 22nd October, 1871, she left Geelong for London with 6523 bales of wool on board, valued at £154,000. Two days later she stranded on King’s Island and became a total loss. All her crew got ashore safely, but Captain Branscombe ventured back in a surf boat to rescue the ship’s papers. The boat capsized and the captain was drowned.

King’s Island—A Death Trap for Ships.

King’s Island, lying 80 miles S.S.W. of Port Phillip Heads, has been the cause of many a fine ship’s end. Nearly 50 sailing ships, from first to last, have found a grave in the King’s Island surf. A Captain Davis, who for many years carried cattle between the island, Melbourne and Tasmania in the coasting steamer _Yambacoona_, made a list some ten years ago of 36 ships known to have perished on the rocky shores of King’s Island. This list, which was included with other interesting data regarding tides, currents and pilotage notes of King’s Island, was used by the Hydrographic Office, Washington, U.S.A., and contains the following names:—

_Neva_, ship wrecked 1835
_Cataraque_, ship „ 1845
_City of Melbourne_, ship „ 1853 refloated
_Waterwitch_, barque „ 1854
_Bruthen_, schooner „ „
_Elizabeth_, ketch „ 1855
_Whistler_, schooner „ „
_Maypole_, schooner „ 1856
_Katherine_, schooner „ 1861
_Brahmin_, schooner „ 1862
_Favor_, schooner „ 1864
_Arrow_, schooner „ 1865
_Dart_, cutter „ „
_Netherby_, schooner „ 1866
_Europa_, brig „ 1868
_Omagh_, barque „ „
_Helen Ann_, ketch „ „
_Loch Leven_, ship „ 1871
_Ocean Bridge_, brig „ „
_Martha Lovinia_, schooner „ „
_Arrow_, barque „ 1873
_Cape Pigeon_, cutter „ 1874
_British Admiral_, ship „ „
_Blencathra_, barque „ 1875
_Dart_, ketch „ 1876
_Flying Squirrel_, schooner „ „
_Abrona_, barquentine „ 1877
_Mary Ann_, schooner „ 1878
_Anna_, barque „ „
_Peerless_, ketch „ „
_Kalahone_, barque „ 1879
_Loch Lomond_, schooner „ 1891
_Garfield_, schooner „ 1897
_Landisfarne_, ship „ 1904 refloated
_Earl of Linlithgow_, ketch „ „
_Clytie_, ketch „ 1906
_Shannon_, schooner „ „

_Photo by Captain Schutze, Sydney_]

On many parts of King’s Island’s rocky shore these wrecks have been piled one on top of the other, one reef of rocks alone tearing the life out of no less than six vessels. No doubt the list is far from being complete; there was no light on King’s Island in the earlier days, and this no doubt was the cause of many an unknown tragedy.

“Miltiades.”

George Thompson’s second iron ship was the beautiful _Miltiades_, for many years a favourite ship in the Melbourne trade. Like the _Patriarch_, she was built for the emigrant trade, and in the Australian papers was spoken of as “that mammoth clipper,” though to modern eyes she would look quite small and one of the daintiest of ships. Unlike _Patriarch_ she was a very wet ship, especially when running in heavy weather, but she was just as fast as the _Patriarch_, if not faster—indeed taking her average, both outward and homeward, I do not think that any ship can beat her record for an iron ship except the little _Salamis_.

Captain Perrett took her from the stocks and had her until 1885, when Captain Harry Ayling assumed command. On her first voyage she carried stunsails, but when she got home the booms were sent down and never used again.

Her best outward passage was made in 1873, being 70 days dock to dock, 63 days pilot to pilot. She left London on 5th May, dropped her pilot off the Start on 12th May. Had very light winds to the equator, crossed the line on 6th June in 27° 30′ W., crossed the meridian of the Cape on 24th June in 44° S. On 24th, 25th and 26th June she ran 305, 310, and 345 miles. Crossed the meridian of Cape Leeuwin on 9th July, and was off the Otway on 14th July, only 20 days from the Cape, finally anchored in Hobson’s Bay on the 15th; just 39 days from the equator. On this passage her decks were lumbered up with sheep pens, and one can well imagine what an unpleasant time those sheep must have had when she was running her easting down.

In 1874 _Miltiades_ was diverted from Melbourne to Wellington. Emigration to New Zealand was booming and many extra ships had to be taken up; for instance the _La Hogue_ took 443 emigrants to Wellington, the fine iron Calcutta clipper _Ballochmyle_ took 484 to Canterbury and the _Rooparell_ 361 to Auckland.

The change was very near being the end of _Miltiades_, for she missed stays whilst beating up to Wellington and slid on to a reef. Captain Perrett immediately fired his signal guns and sent up a rocket to attract attention. Luckily for him the inter-colonial steamer had just rounded the North Heads bound in and at once went to his assistance, and after one or two failures managed to get the _Miltiades_ off. It was not until many years later that the _Miltiades_ was again seen in Maoriland, but in the early nineties she made the following fine runs home:—

1890 Lyttelton to London, February 8 to April 27 78 days
1891 Wellington to London, January 14 to April 6 82 days

When the Aberdeen White Star sold their ships the Italian owners of the _Titania_ bought the _Miltiades_. She was finally condemned and broken up in 1905.

Carmichael’s Superb Wool Clipper “Mermerus.”

This beautiful ship was one of the finest and most successful of all the iron wool clippers, and as a specimen of an iron sailing ship she could hardly be beaten, either for looks, speed or sea worthiness. Barclay, Curle never turned out a more graceful and handsome ship as looks; and like all Carmichael’s, she was most beautifully sparred, crossing the main skysail yard, which was so characteristic a feature of their ships. I give her spar plan below.

_SPAR PLAN OF MERMERUS._
+----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Spars | Fore | Main | Mizen |
+----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|Masts—deck to truck | 156 feet| 161 feet| 135 feet |
|Lowermast | 64 ft. | 68 ft. | 56 ft. |
|Doubling | 16½ ft. | 16½ ft. | 14 ft. |
|Topmast | 57 ft. | 57 ft. | 48 ft. |
|Doubling | 11 ft. | 11½ ft. | 10 ft. |
|Topgallant mast | 32 ft. | 32 ft. | 26 ft. |
|Royal mast | 17 ft. | 17½ ft. | 15 ft. |
|Skysail mast | 13½ ft. | 13½ ft. | 12½ ft. |
|Lower yard | 87 ft. | 88 ft. | 73½ ft. |
|Lower topsail yard | 74½ ft. | 76 ft. | 62 ft. |
|Upper topsail yard | 73 ft. | 73½ ft. | 60 ft. |
|Lower topgallant yard | 57½ ft. | 60 ft. | 52 ft. |
|Upper topgallant yard | 56 ft. | 56 ft. | 45 ft. |
|Royal yard | 44 ft. | 44 ft. | 32 ft. |
|Skysail yard | | 32 ft. | |
+---------------+------+-----------+-+---------+-----------+
|Jibboom 72 ft. |Spanker boom 55 ft. | Spanker gaff 37 ft. |
+---------------+--------------------+---------------------+

This is her original spar plan. Barclay, Curle planned her spars for three skysails, but the fore and mizen were not sent aloft. _Mermerus_ had a poop 54 feet long, and a foc’s’lehead 32 feet long. She carried a cargo of 10,000 bales of wool, representing the fleeces of a million sheep and worth £130,000 more or less as wool varied in price.

She never made a bad voyage under the Golden Fleece house-flag, and the regularity with which she arrived every year in time for the February wool sales caused her to receive the most out-spoken praise. On one occasion, when as usual she had arrived in time and several notable ships had missed the sales, Mr. Young, of the Australian Mortgage Land and Finance Company, greeted one of the Carmichaels in Cornhill with the heart-felt remark:—“That ship of yours is the most satisfactory ship in the wool trade.”

Most of those connected with the _Mermerus_ regarded her with great affection and spoke of her as a living thing. Mr. John Sanderson, a well-known Melbourne merchant, was often heard to say:—“The _Mermerus_ is a wonderful ship, I can always depend on the _Mermerus_.”

The Melbourne people, indeed, looked upon her as the pride of their port; and Lord Brassey, when Governor of Victoria, heard so much about her that he paid her a special visit and inspected her with the approving eye of a seaman.

Captain W. Fife commanded her until 1888, and then Captain T. G. Coles had her until she was sold to the Russians. Except for her third voyage she was always in the Melbourne trade, but in April, 1874, she went out to Sydney. On this passage she took out a dozen South Sea Island missionaries as passengers. Whilst in the North Atlantic she happened to be becalmed for a few hours, and several turtle were noticed lying asleep on the water close to her. Captain Fife, who was a great fisherman, immediately launched a boat and succeeded in capturing six of them.

The _Mermerus_ duly arrived in Sydney early one morning in June after a splendid passage of 72 days. The passengers, on the morning of her arrival, were joined at breakfast by a troop of friends, who so enjoyed themselves that they all returned, sky-pilots and friends as well, to the mid-day shipboard dinner, and at its finish declared that they would all return again for supper. This was too much for Captain Fife and he plainly said so. The parsons thereupon began grumbling at his meanness, whereat the irate skipper fairly boiled over:—“You are the greediest lot I ever carried,” he thundered; “on a 70-day passage you have eaten up 140 days of cabin stores and six turtle besides—and you call me a stingy Scottie. Now clear out and never let me see you again.”

This voyage she did not come home with wool, but went up to Newcastle, N.S.W., and loaded coal at 24s. for San Francisco. After making the passage across the Pacific in 56 days, she loaded 2420 tons of wheat at £4 1s. 3d. for Liverpool. She finally arrived in the Mersey on the 25th May, 104 days out from Frisco. This must have been a good voyage for her owners, as the freight on the outward passage to Sydney alone came to £5000.

On her next voyage she left Liverpool Docks on 21st July, 1875, and went from the Tuskar to Melbourne in 69 days; this time she loaded wheat home.

She made her best passage out in 1876; leaving London on the 25th June, she took in gunpowder at Gravesend, and arrived in Hobson’s Bay on 30th August, exactly 66 days from the Gravesend powder buoys to Melbourne. The powder was only just 66 days on board, being landed on the 67th day. She crossed the line on 17th July and the Cape meridian on 6th August. Her best homeward run was made the following year, when she was 71 days to the Lizard, and then was held up by head winds. And in 1886-7 she docked in London only 78 days out from Melbourne.

And as she grew older, her splendid average in no way deteriorated. In 1896 she went out to Melbourne in 76 days, and in 1897, her last voyage under the British flag, she went out in 77 days. She was then sold to the Russians, but they kept her going. On 4th February, 1902, she arrived at Port Adelaide from Cardiff only 73 days out, whilst in 1904 she made the best passage home from the Antipodes of the year, from Adelaide to the Wight in 69 days.

This beautiful ship came to her end at the beginning of December, 1909. She had sailed from Frederickstadt on 29th November, timber laden for Melbourne, and stranded near Christiansand in a heavy fog; she was floated again, but was found to be so damaged that it was not thought worth the money to repair her, so on 28th April, 1910, she was sold to the shipbreakers.

Devitt & Moore’s “Collingwood.”

_Collingwood_ was Devitt & Moore’s first venture into the Melbourne wool trade. She was one of the early Aberdeen built iron clippers, and thoroughly looked her part. Though she made no very remarkable passage, her voyages were very regular, and it was not often that she missed the wool sales. You could not wear out these early iron ships, and the _Collingwood_ has the distinction of being on the “Ships’ Roll of Honour in the Great War,” being sunk by a German submarine on 12th March, 1917, whilst under Norwegian colours. The story is of the usual kind. The officers and crew of the U-boat were drunk with champagne and cognac obtained from the French ship _Jules Gommes_, which they had sunk two hours previously. The crew of the _Collingwood_ were given ten minutes only to get clear of the ship. The captain, being a neutral, naturally wanted his papers examined for contraband, but the German U-boat commander sneeringly told him that there would be time enough to examine them when the submarine got home, and so one more was added to Germany’s long list of crimes, and the famous old flyer sank beneath the waves after 45 years of honest service.

“Hesperus” and “Aurora,” the First Iron Ships of the Orient Line.

In 1873-4 Robert Steele & Co., the celebrated builders and designers of some of the fastest and most beautiful tea clippers, built two magnificent iron clippers for the Orient Line. These were the _Hesperus_ and _Aurora_, sister ships.

_From a lithograph._]

The _Aurora_ unfortunately was destroyed by fire on her first homeward passage, through spontaneous combustion of her wool cargo. This occurred on 9th August, 1875, in 40° N., 35° W., and she was finally abandoned in flames with fore and mainmasts gone.

The _Hesperus_, her sister ship, is I, believe, still afloat. Steele put some wonderful workmanship into the building of these ships, everything was of the best; deck fittings were all of picked teak, with enough brass to outshine a steam yacht. Besides being a very comfortable ship for passengers, _Hesperus_ soon proved herself a hard ship to keep with. But like most of the big passenger clippers of the seventies she did not race home, but made a comfortable passage _via_ the Cape. This ship, in fact, was never hard driven, or she would have had many more fine passages to her credit.

She was a stiff ship in spite of a tall sail plan, and she used to send up skysail yards in the tropics though she did not habitually carry them crossed.

Anderson, Anderson kept the _Hesperus_ in the Adelaide trade until 1890, when she was bought by Devitt & Moore for Lord Brassey’s training scheme.

The Brassey Cadet Training Scheme.

In the year 1890 it was felt by the late Lord Brassey, Sir Thomas Devitt and others who were interested in our Mercantile Marine, that it was time some effort was made to train apprentices on the old system of the Blackwall frigates, whereby parents by paying a larger premium could be sure that their sons learnt more seafaring than how to wash out a pig pen or clean brasswork during their four years’ apprenticeship and also could rest assured that they would receive good food and treatment. This was all the more necessary because it had gradually come to be the custom in many sailing ships to use the apprentices merely as drudges to do all the dirty work aboard, the historic ship’s boy having been for many years extinct on deep water ships; at the same time very few captains gave their apprentices any instruction in navigation. The result of this was that parents were less inclined than ever to send their sons to sea.

With both steamship and sailing ships being run to the closest margin possible for the sake of economy, it was seen by those who studied the question that not only was the Mercantile Marine failing to get as good a class of officer as it should do, but also that if the condition of the apprentice was not improved there would soon be a shortage.

A great deal of the glamour of sea life had already departed. Cleaning hen coops on a close-run windjammer had little of the old romance about it, and chipping iron work on a dingy steam tramp had even less. A few firms, of which those in the wool trade were shining examples, still took a pride in their ships and did not look upon them merely as a commercial asset, and these still took trouble to train their apprentices. Beyond these and a few individual ships with conscientious captains, the apprentice was absolutely neglected, and of course the apathetic Board of Trade did nothing. The history of the Board of Trade has been mostly that of a masterly inactivity, and on the rare occasions on which it has displayed activity, it has not usually been for the benefit of the Mercantile Marine.

It was entirely owing to Lord Brassey and Mr. Devitt, as he was then, that we possess such highly trained officers as those who now command the present day liners. They set the ball rolling which was later taken up by most of the big steamship lines. Luckily for the success of the venture, Messrs. Devitt & Moore possessed two or three captains in their employ who were specially fitted for the arduous task of controlling and teaching a shipload of 30 or 40 high-spirited boys. Of such were Captains Barrett, Corner and Maitland.

The first two ships to be specially fitted to carry an extra number of big premium apprentices or cadets, as they should be called, were the famous Orient pair, _Hesperus_ and _Harbinger_, which were taken over by Devitt & Moore for the purpose.

The _Hesperus_ as a cadet ship made some very fine passages.

She left London on 11th September, 1891, and arrived Sydney on the 8th December 88 days out. There happened to be a gold rush up country and her crew cleared out, leaving the cadets to do everything during the four months the ship was waiting for a wool cargo. The cadets were not idle and played the usual pranks of their kind, and finally the _Hesperus_ left Sydney with the three brass balls of a famous pawnbrokers in Argyle Cut dangling from the end of her jibboom before the envious eyes of the apprentices of all the ships in port.

On 11th October, 1892, she left London with Captain Barrett in command, F. W. Corner, chief officer, and Lieut. Hackman, R.N., as naval instructor. She was off the Lizard on the 13th and crossed the equator in 30° W. on 8th November. The meridian of Greenwich was crossed on 29th November in 42° S. Her best runs in easting weather were 300, 302, 319, 326 and 328 miles, whilst her best week’s work were 1830, 1840 and 1898. She arrived at Melbourne on 23rd December, 71 days from the Lizard.

In the following year she again left on the 11th October and took her departure from the Lizard on 18th October. On 1st November, at 1.10 a.m., when in 26° 20′ N., 17° 56′ W., the shock of a submarine volcano made the ship tremble very much, though the surface of the water was not disturbed. The equator was crossed in 25° W. on 8th November. And on 30th November, the day before she crossed the Cape meridian, three icebergs were sighted. On 10th December with a strong north wind and smooth water, the _Hesperus_ ran 363 miles in the 24 hours. This was done without the mainsail which, at 4 a.m., was badly torn whilst all hands were attempting to reef it and it had to be furled.

On 28th December at 6 p.m. the Otway was sighted during a strong southerly gale with heavy squalls; for some hours the ship was hove to whilst the gale was at its height, but on 29th December the _Hesperus_ anchored in Hobson’s Bay, 72 days from the Lizard.

The _Hesperus_ kept up this fine average, serving as a cadet training ship until 1899 when she was sold to the Russians, who renamed her the _Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna_, but continued her as a training ship in the Black Sea. As late as 1913 she was refitted by Swan & Hunter at Wallsend. She has survived the war and the Bolshevists, and not long ago could have been seen in the Liverpool Docks.

“Ben Cruachan” and “Ben Voirlich.”

These two splendid sister ships were amongst the hardest driven of those in the Melbourne trade. They carried saloon, second cabin and steerage passengers out and wool home—and there was no snugging down for the convenience of the sorely tried emigrants with such skippers as Captains Bully Martin and McPetrie.

On her maiden passage, _Ben Cruachan_, under Bully Martin, left the Clyde on 5th October, 1873, passed the Tuskar light on 7th October, crossed the equator 26 days out in 24° 30′ W., crossed the meridian of the Cape on 21st November in 46° 30′ S., and running her easting down averaged 300 miles a day from the Crozets to the Leeuwin between 27th November and 6th December. On 13th December she arrived in Hobson’s Bay, 67 days out from the Tuskar. This passage, however, was cast in the shade by _Ben Voirlich’s_ run in 1874-5 on her second voyage, and on her maiden passage _Ben Voirlich_ only took two days longer from the Tuskar than her sister ship.

_Ben Voirlich_, on her maiden passage, left Glasgow under Captain McPetrie, on 3rd January, 1874. But she was held up at Greenock by bad weather until the 26th and did not pass the Tuskar until the 27th. From the Tuskar she had 15 days of head winds, crossing the equator on 19th February in 26° 30′ W. The Cape meridian was passed on 15th March and the Otway on 5th April. Her best work was between the 15th and 27th March, when she averaged 12½ knots. She arrived in Hobson’s Bay on 6th April, 69 days out from the Tuskar.

On her second trip, _Ben Voirlich_ left Gravesend on the 9th November, Plymouth on 11th November, but was held up in the mouth of the Channel over the 12th. She crossed the equator on 1st December in 31° 20′ W.; crossed the Cape meridian on 24th December, in 45° S., and ran down her easting on the parallel of 46° 30′, her best 24-hour run being 352 miles. She arrived in Port Phillip on 14th January, 64 days out from Plymouth.

From pilot to anchorage Captain McPetrie claimed to have broken _Thermoplyae’s_ record; and on _Thermopylae_ arriving in Melbourne on 4th February, only 64 days out from the Lizards, a fine wrangle started.

It was a specially favourable season, and _Ben Voirlich_ was very hard driven, indeed in the roaring forties her main deck was never free of water, and the midship house and half-deck were water-logged all the time. She possessed a very hard nut of a mate, a bald-headed man with a great red beard, who was a very fine seaman. But he had no mercy on the boys, his usual greeting to a delicate-looking first voyage apprentice being “Have your people sent you to sea to escape funeral expenses or what?”

The _Ben Voirlich_ had a winch just aft of her midship house, to which the fore braces were taken in the following way. The fore brace had a wire pennant with a gin block on its end. A chain was shackled to the ship’s side, then led through the gin block and down again through the bulwarks to the winch and so on to the other fore brace, thus making an endless chain. It had stoppers on it on each side to keep a little slack. In bracing the yard, it took in on one side and gave out the other, and only needed two men to work it.

SPAR PLAN OF _BEN CRUACHAN_ AND _BEN VOIRLICH_.
+----------------------+-----------+------------+------------+
| Spars | Fore | Main | Mizen |
+----------------------+-----------+------------+------------+
|Mast—deck to truck | 139 feet| 143½ feet| 115 feet|
|Lower mast | 60 ft. | 64½ ft. | 50½ ft. |
|Doubling | 16 ft. | 16 ft. | 13½ ft. |
|Topmast | 54½ ft. | 54½ ft. | 43½ ft. |
|Doubling | 12 ft. | 11½ ft. | 9 ft. |
|Topgallant mast | 30½ ft. | 30½ ft. | 26 ft. |
|Royal mast | 21 ft. | 21 ft. | 18 ft. |
|Lower yard | 84 ft. | 84 ft. | 70½ ft. |
|Lower topsail yard | 73 ft. | 73 ft. | 59 ft. |
|Upper topsail yard | 70½ ft. | 70½ ft. | 57 ft. |
|Lower topgallant yard | 58½ ft. | 58½ ft. | 45 ft. |
|Upper topgallant yard | 56 ft. | 56 ft. | 43 ft. |
|Royal yard | 43 ft. | 44 ft. | 35 ft. |
+--------------+-------+-----------+------------+------------+
|Jibboom 70 ft.|Spanker boom 51 ft.| Spanker gaff 36 ft. |
+--------------+-------------------+-------------------------+

Though she made many good passages, she never again approached the time of her second outward passage. On her homeward passage in 1878 she broached to when running heavy to the westward of the Horn and was nearly lost. This occurred on the 18th November. A very big sea was running, and the helmsman, a Dutchman, let go the wheel from sheer fright. As the ship broached to a huge wave broke over her quarter. This avalanche of water smashed in the break of the poop, gutted the cabin, and took nine men overboard. For an hour the ship lay over on her beam ends dragging her lower yards in the water, entirely out of control. Two men who happened to be at work on the lee fore yardarm were actually washed off it. One of them was lost overboard, but the other caught the rail and lay there head downwards, being held from going further by the chain fore sheet. An apprentice managed to get to him and grab hold, but the next moment a sea swept over them, and whilst the apprentice was washed inboard, the man was never seen again. The same apprentice happened to be washed up against the winch, to which he clung like a limpet; and then, as the old white-bearded sailmaker was hurled by him in the cross wash of the sea, caught the old man and held on to him or he would have gone overboard.

The brave ship struggled gamely; three times she brought her spars to windward, and three times she was laid flat again. The whole of her topgallant rail and bulwarks were washed away, together with everything of a movable nature on the deck. At last after a whole hour of desperate fighting, they managed to get the wheel up, and the clipper slowly righted herself as she fell off and brought the wind astern.

Captain Ovenstone, who was in command at the time, spoke several ships in the Atlantic and told them of his near shave. One of these reported it to a homeward-bound steamer, the consequence was that when the _Ben Voirlich_ arrived those on board found their parents and relations in a great state of mind, not knowing who had been amongst the nine victims and who was safe.

_Photo lent by F. G. Layton._]

In 1885 the _Ben Voirlich_ had almost as bad an experience to the southward of the Cape of Good Hope, when bound out to Melbourne under Captain Bully Martin. At 8 a.m. on the 6th August a terrific squall from W.N.W. struck the vessel and in a moment the foresail had blown to rags. By 10 a.m. it was blowing a hurricane, the ship scudding before it under fore and main lower topsails. An hour later a tremendous sea pooped her, and washed away the two helmsmen and Captain Martin who was conning them. Captain Martin and the quartermaster, a man named Scott, were swept up against a hen coop, which was lashed up to the bucket rail at the break of the poop, with such force as to smash it to pieces; but it saved them from going over the side. As soon as they could pick themselves up, they made a dash for the wheel, which they found smashed in two and only hung together by its brass rim. Scott held the wheel whilst Captain Martin cleared away the broken part, which was jamming it, and they were just in time to save the ship from broaching to. The lee wheel, a foreigner, had meanwhile got into the mizen rigging and lashed himself with the turned up gear. The seas now broke over the ship in a continuous cascade, and the _Ben Voirlich_ could only be worked from the poop and foc’slehead, to which the crew succeeded in leading the braces. All that night a wild sea looted the ship. Both the standard and steering compasses were swept overboard. The port lifeboat on the skids was smashed to pulp; the topgallant bulwarks were stripped off her, and the poop ladders, harness casks, hen coops, handspikes and such like were all carried off by the tremendous sea.

As soon as daylight broke, they managed to lash up and repair the wheel; then the second class passengers were moved from the midship house to the poop, as Captain Martin feared that the house would be burst in and gutted by the seas raging aboard over the broken bulwarks. But again the _Ben Voirlich_ safely weathered it out, and four weeks later dropped anchor in Hobson’s Bay.

The two famous Bens were kept in the Melbourne trade until 1885. Then in 1886 both ships went to Sydney, the _Ben Cruachan_ in 90 days and the _Ben Voirlich_ in 94 days. But in 1887 they bade a final good-bye to the wool trade and went into the San Francisco wheat trade. _Ben Voirlich_ left London on 22nd May and arrived Frisco on 23rd September—124 days out. This was a very good run for the westward passage round the Horn.

The _Ben Cruachan_ was not so fortunate. She left the Tyne on 4th May and did not arrive in San Francisco Bay until 15th October—164 days out.

The _Ben Cruachan_ ended her days under the Mexican flag and was known as the _Carmela_, and I believe she still does duty as a hulk in a Mexican port.

The _Ben Voirlich_ was sold to the Germans in 1891 and converted into a barque. In 1903 the Germans sold her to the Italians, who renamed her the _Cognati_. During the winter of 1908 she was badly damaged by collision with an iceberg off the Horn, but managed to make port. She can now be seen at Leith, where she is serving as a domicile for the crews of surrendered German ships. Here she lies a mast-less hulk, covered with deck-houses, but fitted below with electric light and every comfort.

These two sister ships were very evenly matched. Though not as fast as some of the iron wool clippers, they made up for it by hard driving and generally managed to get home in well under three figures.

“Samuel Plimsoll.”

Famous as had been the Aberdeen White Star wooden clippers, the iron ships launched for Thompson in the seventies may almost be said to have eclipsed them. And not least of these magnificent vessels, either in speed, appearance or sea qualities was their third iron ship, the _Samuel Plimsoll_, named after a man who at that time was receiving broadside after broadside of abuse in shipping circles, yet who to-day is counted one of the greatest, if not the greatest, benefactors of our merchant seamen.

The _Samuel Plimsoll_ was launched in September, 1873, and christened by Mrs. Boaden, wife of Captain Boaden, in the presence of Samuel Plimsoll, Esq. Captain Boaden left the famous _Star of Peace_ in order to take _Samuel Plimsoll_ from the stocks. She came out as a double topgallant yarder and was specially fitted for emigrants.

On her maiden passage she took out 180 emigrants. Leaving Plymouth on 19th November, she had poor winds and very light trades to the line, which was crossed on 11th December in 29° W. The meridian of Greenwich was crossed on 2nd January, 1874, and the Cape meridian four days later. Her best run in the 24 hours was 340 miles, and between the Leeuwin and the S.W. Cape, Tasmania, she was only four days. On the 17th January she overhauled and passed the _Alexander Duthie_, and finally arrived in Port Jackson on 1st February.

Whilst loading for London she was thus advertised in the _Sydney Morning Herald_:—

ABERDEEN CLIPPER LINE—FOR LONDON.

THE SPLENDID NEW CLIPPER SHIP.

_SAMUEL PLIMSOLL._

100 A1, 1444 tons. reg. R. BOADEN, late of the _Star of Peace_,
commander.

This magnificent vessel has just completed the passage from Plymouth
in 73 days, and having a large portion of her cargo stowed on board
will leave about 7th April.

As this vessel has lofty ’tween decks and large side ports, she
offers a good opportunity for intermediate passengers, of which only
a limited number will be taken. Carries an experienced surgeon.

For freight or passage apply to Captain Boaden or to Montefiore,
Joseph & Co. Wool received at Talbots.

From the very first _Samuel Plimsoll_ proved herself a very fast ship. Her best performance was 68 days to Sydney from 190 miles W.S.W. of the Bishops, when commanded by Captain Henderson, who had been chief officer on her first two voyages, and left her to command the _Wave of Life_, _Moravian_ and _Thermopylae_, eventually returning to her as commander in 1884.

_Samuel Plimsoll’s_ logs show that she revelled in the roaring forties. In 1876, when in 41° S., she ran 2502 miles in eight days, her daily runs being 348, 330, 301, 342, 320, 264, 340, 257. In 1883 she averaged 278 miles in 13 consecutive days, her best being 337. In 1895, when homeward bound, she ran from 49° 50′ S., 179° 05′ W., to 55° 25′ S., 79° 59′ W. in 15 days, 29th November to 12th December, her daily distances being—244, 286, 263, 259, 261, 273, 302, 290, 257, 253, 274, 264, 314, 235, 245—equalling 4020 miles.

The _Samuel Plimsoll_ was in the Sydney trade until 1887; she was then transferred to the Melbourne trade. On her first passage to Melbourne, she left London 2nd March, 1888, dropped her pilot off the Start on 5th March, but was only 270 miles from the Start on the 15th owing to westerly gales; she crossed the equator 5th April, in 26° W., and averaged 218 miles a day from Trinidad to 130° E., her best run being 310 miles. She arrived in Hobson’s Bay on 22nd May, 79 days from the Start. During the whole of her career under the Aberdeen house-flag, her only mishap was the carrying away of a fore topmast: and this freedom from casualties was the case with most of Thompson’s green clippers.

Writing about the increase of sailing ship insurance rates in 1897, Messrs. Thompson remarked:—

Five of our sailing vessels now in the Australian trade, viz.,
_Aristides_, _Miltiades_, _Patriarch_, _Salamis_ and _Samuel
Plimsoll_ are over 20 years of age, but they are in as good
condition, by careful looking after and upkeep, as they were upon
their first voyage; whilst they have a record that no general average
homewards has ever been made on underwriters by any one of them since
they were launched 21 to 28 years ago. (A remark which applies with
equal truth to all our sailing vessels now running.) According to a
reliable statement made up by the largest shippers and consignees
of wool carried by our sailing ships during the last two years, we
find that the claims thereon made on the underwriters, from inception
of risk (which in many cases began in distant parts of the Colonies
before shipment) were £149 1s. 7d., which, on 24,807 bales carried,
valued at £12 per bale, came only to 1/- per cent. These figures
clearly show that age does not affect the efficient carrying of
cargo by vessels, built, as ours have been, of superior strength and
scantlings, carefully kept up and treated in every way with a view to
the safe carrying of valuable cargoes to and from Australia.

On the occasion of her only mishap a tropical squall carried away the bobstay, and down came the fore topmast and main topgallant mast. It happened that a Yankee clipper was in company; this vessel beat up to the dismantled _Samuel Plimsoll_ and sent a boat off with the message that she was bound to Australia and would gladly tranship the passengers and carry them on to their destination. This offer, Captain Simpson, who then commanded the _Samuel Plimsoll_, declined with thanks, so the American went on her way.

It was all day on until the Aberdeen flyer had fresh masts aloft, and then she settled down to make up the lost time. And nobly she did so, one week’s work in the roaring forties totalling 2300 miles, and she eventually arrived at Melbourne, 82 days out. Some days later the Yankee arrived and her captain at once went to the _Samuel Plimsoll’s_ agents and reported speaking her dismasted in the Atlantic, at the same time he commented on her captain’s foolhardiness in not transhipping his passengers.

“Is it Captain Simpson you are referring to?” asked the agent.

“Yes,” returned the Yankee.

“Wall,” said the agent, imitating the American’s leisurely drawl, “I guess you had better speak to him yourself. He’s in the next room.”

In 1899 the famous old ship caught fire in the Thames and had to be scuttled. After being raised and repaired she was sold to Savill of Billiter St., who ran her until 1902 when she was dismasted and so damaged on the passage out to Port Chalmers that they decided not to repair her. She was subsequently towed to Sydney from New Zealand at the end of a 120-fathom hawser, and later taken round to Western Australia where she was converted into a coal hulk.

And here is a description of her as she lies at her moorings in Fremantle harbour:—

From quay to midstream buoy, and from buoy to quay, she is plucked
and hauled. Occasionally she feeds a hungry tramp with coal. Abashed
and ashamed of her vile uncleanliness she returns to her midstream
moorings where most of her time is spent in idleness and neglect. One
looks in vain for the long tapering spars and the beautiful tracery
of her rigging. Stunted, unsightly derricks have replaced them. The
green-painted hull is now transformed into a dull red, a composition
red that cries aloud, not of beauty, but of utility. Regularly with
each returning ebb and returning flood of the Swan, she swings to
her moorings the composition smeared effigy of _Samuel Plimsoll_,
alternately facing towards river and sea. Marine life has made of her
plates a habitation and refuge; her bottom is foul with the dense
green growth of years. Her costly fittings, solid brass belaying pins
and highly burnished, brass-covered rails and spotless decks, where
are they? Coal-gritted baskets, whips and tackles are strewn along
the decks: they all proclaim her squalid and servile calling.

Amongst these old hulks, however, she is withal the most dignified
looking, the graceful lines of her hull lending her an air of
distinction at once apparent even to the layman. As coal hulking
goes, she is perhaps the most fortunate of her class. Days
pass—weeks—perhaps months, all spent in slothful idleness and
neglect, whilst her more unfortunate sister hulks scarcely know a
day but what they are not coal feeding some important steam-driven
interloper.

“Loch Maree”—the Fastest of the Lochs.

The _Loch Maree_ was also launched in September, 1873. She was an especially beautiful ship in every way and the fastest probably, of all the “Lochs, Barclay, Curle were instructed to spare no expense in making her as perfect as an iron ship could be, and she certainly came up to her owners’ expectations, both in her looks, her outfit as an up-to-date passenger clipper, her speed, and her behaviour as a sea boat.

Underneath a poop of over 50 feet in length, she had her first class passenger accommodation arranged on the plan adopted in the P. & O. steamers.

She crossed three skysail yards, had a full outfit of stunsails and other flying kites, and the following spar plan will give one an approximate idea of her sail area.

SPAR PLAN OF _LOCH MAREE_.
+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+
| Spars | Fore | Main | Mizen |
+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+
| Mast—deck to truck | 148 feet. | 153 feet.| 130 feet.|
| Lower mast | 63 ft. | 68 ft. | 59½ ft. |
| Doubling | 16 ft. | 16 ft. | 13 ft. |
| Topmast | 54 ft. | 54 ft. | 44½ ft. |
| Doubling | 11 ft. | 11 ft. | 9 ft. |
| Topgallant mast | 34 ft. | 34 ft. | 28 ft. |
| Doubling | 6 ft. | 6 ft. | 5 ft. |
| Royal and skysail masts | 30 ft. | 30 ft. | 25 ft. |
| Lower yard | 84 ft. | 84 ft. | 69 ft. |
| Lower topsail yard | 71 ft. | 71 ft. | 57 ft. |
| Upper topsail yard | 68 ft. | 68 ft. | 54½ ft. |
| Lower topgallant yard | 55 ft. | 55 ft. | 43½ ft. |
| Upper topgallant yard | 51 ft. | 51 ft. | 40 ft. |
| Royal yard | 41 ft. | 41 ft. | 31½ ft. |
| Skysail yard | 30 ft. | 30 ft. | 24 ft. |
+----------------+--------+-----------+-----------+----------+
|Jibboom 70 feet |Spanker boom 50 feet| Spanker gaff 36 feet |
+----------------+--------------------+----------------------+

_Loch Maree’s_ start in life was an unfortunate one. On 5th November, 1873, she sailed from the Clyde for Melbourne under Captain MacCallum with a full cargo, 11 saloon and 30 second cabin passengers, and the following is an account of her maiden voyage, which was given me by one of her apprentices:—

On the tenth day out, we were bowling along sharp up on the starboard
tack, near the Island of Palma in the Canary group, when a squall
struck her flat aback with such violence, that in a few moments her
tall masts with their clothing of well-cut canvas lay a hopeless
tangle over the side. Everything above the lower masts disappeared
under the magic breath of the squall. When the wreckage was finally
cleared away, the driving power was limited to a foresail, a
crossjack and a lower mizen topsail. The mainyard had been snapped
in the centre, one half lay on the rail and the other hung by the
slings, rasping and tearing with every roll. But the crippled sailer,
unlike the crippled steamer, can usually make a very creditable
effort for safety. A course was set for Gibraltar. Improvised canvas,
mostly of the fore and aft variety, was rigged up, and in 14 days the
Rock was reached in safety. To show her wonderful sailing qualities,
when two days from Gibraltar, we overhauled and easily passed a
600-ton barque under royals.

Captain MacCallum watched the barque as she fell away astern, and
remarked: “If I had only thought she could sail like this, I would
have kept on for Australia.”

The _Loch Maree_ arrived at Gibraltar on the last day in November,
and after being refitted sailed from the Straits on 20th January,
1874, and ran out to Melbourne in 74 days, arriving there on the 4th
April, 150 days out from the Clyde.

She sailed from Melbourne homeward bound on 14th June, ten days
behind the _Carlisle Castle_ of Green’s Blackwall Line. On the 14th
day out, a sail appeared ahead at 11 in the forenoon. We were at the
time swinging along with topgallant stunsails set on fore and main
and a three-cornered lower stunsail.

Captain MacCallum, though Scotch, had sailed mostly in Yankee ships
and was a veritable whale for “kites.”

“Take in that three-cornered stunsail and set a square one,” he
ordered, “I want to be alongside that fellow this afternoon.”

At 3 p.m. we were side by side with the _Carlisle Castle_. She flew
no kites, her royal and skysail yards were down and the crossjack
unbent. She was taking it easy and arrived in London three weeks
after us.

On that same passage _Loch Maree_ put up a remarkably fine spin from
abreast of Fayal to the Downs, which distance she covered in 4½ days.
On the run we overhauled a fleet of 12 schooners bound from the
Azores to England, all bunched together in a radius of 3 or 4 miles.
With topgallant stunsails set and everything drawing to a spanking
breeze on the port quarter, we rushed through the centre of the
group of fruiters, each one of whom was doing her best with topmast
and lower stunsails set.

I had often listened to the tales of old sailors, portraying in vivid
language the fabulous speed of these little vessels, but alongside a
smart 1600 tonner, with a skipper who knew how to crack on, they cut
but a sorry figure. The _Loch Maree_ was doing at least 3 knots more
than any of them, and in a very short time they were mere silhouettes
on the skyline.

Right up the Channel the kites were carried, and when morning broke
off the Isle of Wight a sail was discerned ahead, which daylight
proved to be a big barquentine rigged steamer under all sail. We had
evidently crept up on her unobserved in the darkness, for when the
discovery was made that a windjammer was showing her paces astern,
volumes of black smoke belched in sooty clouds from her two funnels,
as if entering a protest against such a seeming indignity. But, in
vain, she fell away in our wake as the fruit schooners had done a
couple of days before.

_Loch Maree’s_ times, both out and home, from this date were generally amongst the half-dozen best of the year. Captain Grey, R.N.R., had her on her second voyage and then Captain Scott took her.

In 1878, when homeward bound from Melbourne, the Lizard was sighted on the 68th day out, but the passage was spoilt by hard easterly winds in the Channel.

In 1881, the _Loch Maree_ made Port Phillip Heads on 19th July, 70 days out from the Channel. On 29th October she left Geelong homeward bound. When a day out she was spoken by the three-masted schooner _Gerfalcon_ off Kent’s Group, and that was the last seen of her. It is significant that another big ship, the _North American_, a transformed Anchor Line steamer, disappeared at the same time, also homeward bound from Port Phillip.

The Tragedy of the “Loch Ard.”

The ill-fated _Loch Ard_ was the largest vessel owned by Aitken & Lilburn until Barclay, Curle built those two splendid four-posters, the _Lochs Moidart_ and _Torridon_.

Her maiden passage was one of the unluckiest on record. She lost her masts almost before she had cleared the land and put back to the Clyde to refit. She made a second start on 26th January, 1874, and again, whilst running her easting down, was badly dismasted, only the mizen lower mast and 15 feet of the mainmast being left standing. After rolling in the trough of the sea for four days of the greatest peril her crew managed to get her under a jury rig, and she took 49 days to cover the 4500 miles to Hobson’s Bay, where she arrived on 24th May, 118 days from the date of her second start.

As I have already related, the year 1874 was a disastrous one for dismastings; and when the _Loch Ard_ struggled into Melbourne, she found the _John Kerr_ and _Cambridgeshire_, both on their maiden voyages, lying there in a similar plight to her own. Besides these ships and the _Loch Maree_, the following were also dismasted this year on their maiden passages:—_Rydal Hall_, _Norval_, _Chrysomene_ and _British Admiral_. The latter was refitted in England, only to be wrecked on her second attempt, on King’s Island, on 23rd May, 1874, with great loss of life.

The _Loch Ard_ on her unfortunate maiden passage had been commanded by Captain Robertson, who, also, was skipper of the _Loch Earn_ when she collided with the _Ville du Havre_. On her third voyage the _Loch Ard_ was taken by Captain Gibb, who was a stranger to Australian waters. He married just before sailing. The _Loch Ard_ left Gravesend on 2nd March, 1878. She was spoken by the _John Kerr_, Captain W. Scobie, on 9th April. But between 5 and 6 on the morning of 1st June, the day after the _John Kerr_ had arrived in Hobson’s Bay, the _Loch Ard_ went ashore 27 miles from the Otway, at Curdies’ Inlet, between Port Campbell and Moonlight Head.

Out of 52 souls on board, only two were saved, an apprentice and a passenger. About these two a romance has been woven, which would have done for Clark Russell. Tom Pearce, the apprentice, displayed such gallantry and pluck in saving the passenger, Miss Carmichael, that he became the hero of the hour in Australia. He was one of those people, however, who have the name “Jonah” attached to them by sailors, for a year later he suffered shipwreck again, in the _Loch Sunart_, which was piled up on the Skulmartin Rock, 11th January, 1879. The story goes that Tom Pearce was washed ashore and carried up in a senseless condition to the nearest house. This happened to be the home of Miss Carmichael, who fittingly nursed him back to health, with the proper story book finish that he married her. Whether this is true or not, Pearce lived to be a Royal Mail S.P. captain. He finally retired from the sea in 1908 and died on 15th December of that year.

I now commence a series of tables of outward passages to Australia. These have been compiled with as much care as possible, but slips will creep into lists of this kind, and I should be very grateful if any reader who is able to correct a date from an original abstract or private journal would write to me, so that the mistake may be set right in future editions. I have not always filled in a date, as where there was any want of proof I have preferred to leave it blank.

Besides the regular traders, I have tried to include every ship making the outward passage under 80 days, thus we find some of Smith’s celebrated “Cities” and a number of the frigate-built Blackwallers figuring in the lists. As regards outsiders, I have had to omit several ships for want of sufficient data, but I think my lists are complete as far as the regular traders are concerned.

PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO SYDNEY IN 1873.
+-------------+---------+-------+--------+---------+-------+----+
| | | |Crossed | Passed | | |
| Ship |Departure|Crossed| Cape |S.W. Cape|Arrived|Days|
| | |Equator|Meridian|Tasmania | |Out |
+-------------+---------+-------+--------+---------+-------+----+
|_Samuel_ |Plymouth |Dec. 11|Jan. 7 | Jan. 28 |Feb. 1 | 74 |
| _Plimsoll_ | Nov. 19| | ’74 | ’74 | ’74 | |
|_Cutty Sark_ |Channel | Jan. 4|Jan. 30| Feb. 25 |Mar. 4 | 78 |
| | Dec. 16| ’74 | ’74 | ’74 | ’74 | |
|_Patriarch_ |Channel | | | | | |
| | Apl. 12| May 9 |June 8 | June 24 |June 30| 79 |
| | | | |(passed | | |
| | | | | Ot.) | | |
+-------------+---------+-------+-------+----------+-------+----+