Notes on Passages to Australia in 1874.
1874 was Ben Voirlich’s great year. It will be noticed, however, that on her record passage she had Lochs Ness and Maree on her heels the whole way. Both Lochs had just changed their commanders, Captain Meiklejohn going to the Loch Ness and Captain Charles Grey succeeding Captain McCallum in Loch Maree. Loch Ness chased Ben Voirlich very closely all the way to the Australian Coast, her best 24-hour run being 321 miles. But Loch Maree dropped back in the roaring forties through no fault of her own. On 13th and 14th December she experienced a tremendous gale from east working round to S.W. with high confused sea, during which her patent steering gear was completely smashed up; and this prevented her from taking full advantage of the westerlies, as Captain Grey decided it would not be safe to go further than 42° S.
| PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO SYDNEY IN 1874. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Departure | Crossed Equator | Crossed Cape Meridian | Passed S.W. Cape Tasmania | Arrived Port Jackson | Days Out | |
| Cutty Sark | Start | Nov. 21 | Dec. 11 | Jan. 1 ’75 | Jan. 26 ’75 | Feb. 2 ’75 | 73 |
| Mermerus | Start | Apl. 14 | May 8 | May 29 | June 24 | June 27 | 74 |
| Hallowe’en | Start | April 9 | Apl. 30 | May 22 | June 17 | June 22 | 74 |
| Patriarch | Wight | June 8 | July 2 | July 26 | Aug. 19 | Aug. 24 | 77 |
| (Otway) | |||||||
| Jerusalem | Plymouth | Apl. 5 | Apl. 29 | May 21 | June 14 | June 22 | 78 |
| (Otway) | |||||||
| PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO MELBOURNE IN 1874. | |||||||
| Ship | Departure | Crossed Equator | Crossed Cape Meridian | Passed Cape (Otway) | Arrived Hobson’s Bay | Days Out | |
| Thermopylae | Lizard | Dec. 2 | Dec. 25 | Jan. 14 ’75 | Feb. 4 ’75 | 64 | |
| Ben Voirlich | Plymouth | Nov. 11 | Dec. 1 | Dec. 24 | Jan. 14 ’75 | 64 | |
| Loch Ness | Tuskar | Nov. 11 | Dec. 1 | Jan. 16 ’75 | Jan. 18 ’75 | 68 | |
| Ben Voirlich | Tuskar | Jan. 27 | Feb. 19 | Mar. 15 | Apl. 5 | Apl. 6 | 69 |
| Thomas Stephens | Lizard | Nov. 22 | Dec. 12 | Jan. 29 ’75 | Jan. 31 ’75 | 70 | |
| Ben Cruachan | Cape Clear | Sept. 4 | Sept. 29 | Oct. 20 | Nov. 13 | Nov. 14 | 71 |
| Romanoff | Lizard | Nov. 5 | Jan. 16 ’75 | 72 | |||
| Theophane | Tuskar | Aug. 16 | Sept. 12 | Oct. 3 | Oct. 30 | 75 | |
| City of Hankow | Channel | Nov. 19 | Feb. 2 ’75 | 75 | |||
| Loch Lomond | Tuskar | Nov. 30 | Feb. 14 ’75 | 75 | |||
| Loch Maree | Channel | Nov. 6 | Dec. 1 | Dec. 25 | Jan. 22 ’75 | Jan. 23 ’75 | 78 |
Cutty Sark and Thomas Stephens also had a great race, the famous tea clipper making the best passage of the year to Sydney.
Both ships were off the Lizards on 22nd November, and experienced very baffling winds to the equator, which Cutty Sark crossed in 26° W. and Thomas Stephens in 29° W. a day later. Cutty Sark was 65 days from the Lizards to S.W. Cape, Tasmania, whilst Thomas Stephens was 68 days to the Otway, where she was becalmed for 14 hours.
Thermopylae, with a 64-day passage from the Lizards, her best run being 348 miles, arrived just in time to defend herself, for Captain McPetrie was declaring to all and sundry that Ben Voirlich had broken Thermopylae’s record, by making a better run from port to port.