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.
Ship	Departure		Crossed Equator	Crossed Cape Meridian	Passed S.W. Cape Tasmania	Arrived	Days Out
Samuel Plimsoll	Plymouth	Nov. 19	Dec. 11	Jan. 7 ’74	Jan. 28 ’74	Feb. 1 ’74	74
Cutty Sark	Channel	Dec. 16	Jan. 4 ’74	Jan. 30 ’74	Feb. 25 ’74	Mar. 4 ’74	78
Patriarch	Channel	Apl. 12	May 9	June 8	June 24	June 30	79
					(passed Ot.)

PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO MELBOURNE IN 1873.
Ship	Departure		Crossed Equator	Crossed Cape Meridian	Passed Cape Otway	Arrived	Days Out
Miltiades	Start	May 12	June 6	June 24		July 15	64
Thomas Stephens	Ushant	Sept. 3	Sept. 14	Oct. 16	Nov. 7	Nov. 8	66
Ben Cruachan	Tuskar	Oct. 7	Nov. 2	Nov. 21		Dec. 13	67
Loch Tay	Tuskar	Sept. 6	Sept. 28	Oct. 22	Nov. 13	Nov. 14	69
Thermopylae	Start	Dec. 6	Dec. 30	Jan. 20 ’74	Feb. 15 ’74	Feb. 16 ’74	72
Mermerus	Lizard	July 6	July 30	Aug. 19		Sept. 16	72
Sam Mendel	Tuskar	July 25	July 26			Oct. 6	72
The Tweed	Lizard	Sept. 6	Sept. 30	Oct. 25		Nov. 18	73
Marpesia	St. Albans	Oct. 17	Oct. 17			Dec. 29	73
Theophane	Tuskar	Aug. 30	Sept. 25	Oct. 17	Nov. 9	Nov. 12	74
Jerusalem	Lizard	June 29	July 24	Aug. 22	Sept. 14	Sept. 14	77
Strathdon	Start	Aug. 23	Sept. 21		Nov. 7	Nov. 9	78
City of Hankow	Portland	Dec. 3	Jan. 1 ’74	Jan. 21 ’74		Feb. 19 ’74	78
Loch Lomond	Tuskar	June 25	July 23	Aug. 18	Sept. 12	Sept. 13	79

The homeward runs I have had to put in the [Appendix] for want of space, as this part has run to far greater length than I had contemplated at first.

The races to catch the wool sales will thus be found in [Appendix F], under the heading of “The Wool Fleet.”

Notes on Passages to Australia in 1873.

The fine passage of Miltiades and the maiden passages of Samuel Plimsoll and Ben Cruachan I have already described. The 66 days of Thomas Stephens was a very fine performance. She left Gravesend on 30th August, with a very heavy general cargo, which put her down in the water like a sand barge. She crossed the equator in 26° 55′ W. and was then forced over on to the South American coast near Pernambuco by very unfavourable S.E. trades. The meridian of Greenwich was crossed on 12th October in 44° 33′ S. Her best week’s work running down the easting was 2055 miles, and she would have equalled the run of Miltiades but for 48 hours of calm in the neighbourhood of the Otway. She arrived in Melbourne after an absence of only seven months, including nine weeks in London.

“RODNEY.”

Photo lent by F. G. Layton.

[Larger image] (234 kB)

“LOCH GARRY.”

[Larger image] (244 kB)

Loch Tay, which left Glasgow on 4th September under Captain Scott, also lost a day becalmed off the Otway. She crossed the equator in 29° W. and the meridian of Greenwich on 18th October in 39° S. Running the easting down she averaged 276 miles a day for 19 days, her best day’s work being 336 miles.

Of the others nothing special calls for notice. Thermopylae left Gravesend on 2nd December, and had a light weather passage all the way, though she went as far as 47° S. in search of wind. Cutty Sark also was handicapped by very light winds. She ran her easting down in 40° S. with light winds and calms from the S.E. trades to Port Jackson.

This was the Tweed’s first visit to Melbourne. This magnificent clipper was probably the tallest ship ever seen in Hobson’s Bay. And wherever Captain Stuart took her she compelled admiration both for her majestic appearance and wonderful sailing performances.

Devitt & Moore’s Crack Passenger Ship “Rodney.”

Messrs. Devitt & Moore always considered the Rodney to be the fastest of their iron ships. She was also one of the finest specimens of the passenger sailing ship in its last phase.

The following account from an Australian paper of November, 1874, will give a good idea of the Rodney’s accommodation for passengers. It is also interesting as showing what was considered luxury in the seventies and comparing it with the present day:—

To render voyaging as easy and pleasant as possible has long engaged the attention of shipowners, but it is only of late years that it has become a special study to make the accommodations for oversea passengers not merely comfortable but absolutely luxurious.

The change in this respect since the time when only a certain amount of cabin space was provided is something akin to a transformation. The worry and bother of attending to the fitting up, as well as the extra expenditure of time and money, are now avoided, and with very little need for previous provision or preparation, the intending voyager nowadays can step on board ship and find his cabin carpeted and curtained and fitted up with almost all the accessories and appointments of a bedroom in a hotel.

An inspection of the Rodney will convince the most fastidious that the entire question of passenger comfort has been thought out fully and amply. The Rodney is an iron clipper of beautiful model and is what is termed a 1500-ton ship. She has been constructed specially with a view to the conveyance of passengers, and there are few sailing ships coming to the colony which have such a spacious saloon. It measures 80 feet in length and has berthing accommodation for 60 people. No cost has been spared in the decoration and embellishments, and yet these have not been promoted at the expense of solid and material comfort.

The cabins are 10 feet square, and a number of the sleeping berths can be drawn out so as to accommodate two people. For each cabin there is a fixed lavatory, supplied with fresh water from a patent tap, and by the removal of a small plug in the centre of the basin, the water runs away right into the sea, so that all slopping is avoided. The lavatory is fixed on top of a cupboard, which answers all the purposes of a little chiffoniere, being fitted up for the reception of bottles, glasses, brushes, etc.

There is also a chest of drawers in each cabin—a very great convenience—in which may be kept clothes, books, linen and many “unconsidered trifles,” which generally go knocking about in ships’ cabins at sea.

The windows in the cabins are large, admitting plenty of light and air, and the passengers have easy control over them. The ventilation, in fact, is all that could be desired. Good-sized looking-glasses and handy little racks for water-bottles, tumblers, combs, brushes, etc., also abound, and in other little matters the comfort of the passengers has been well cared for.

The cabins are also so arranged that two or more or even the whole of them on one side of the ship afford communication to each other without going out into the saloon, and where families are together this is very advantageous.

The bathroom occupies the space of one of the largest cabins, and hot as well as cold baths are attainable.

The saloon is lighted by two large skylights, one of them being 21 feet in length. They are emblazoned with very pretty views of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Capetown, these being the principal ports to which Messrs. Devitt & Moore’s vessels trade. There is also a piano in the saloon, by which the tedium of a voyage may be enlivened, and the tables are so constructed that they can be easily unshipped and the saloon cleared for dancing.

For gentlemen there is a capital smoking-room at the top of the companion leading from the saloon to the deck.

The accommodation in the ’tween decks for second cabin and steerage passengers is everything that could be desired, and there is quite an elaborate system adopted for ventilation.

Cooking can be done in the galley for 500 people, and there is a steam condenser, which can distil 500 gallons of water daily.

The passengers of all classes who came out in this ship on her maiden voyage here expressed themselves wonderfully well pleased with the ship and her commander, Captain A. Louttit, who has had great experience in the passenger trade.

The Rodney’s best passage was to Sydney in 1887, when under Captain Harwood Barrett, with Captain Corner of training ship fame as his mate. On this occasion she ran from the Lizards to Sydney in 67 days, and 68 days from pilot to Sydney. Her best passage home was 77 days from Sydney to London. Her best run to Melbourne was 71 days in 1882, and to Adelaide 74 days in 1880.

The Rodney was sold in 1897 to the French and renamed Gipsy. On her previous voyage she had encountered terrible weather both out and home, and was even robbed of her figure-head by the raging sea; it was probably on account of the damage sustained on this voyage that Devitt & Moore sold her.

On the 7th December, 1901, the Rodney was wrecked on the Cornish coast, when homeward bound from Iquique with nitrate. The ship became a total loss but the crew were saved.