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.
Nicol’s “Romanoff.”
Romanoff was Alexander Nicol’s finest iron clipper until the Cimba came out. Nicol’s ships were always good lookers, painted Aberdeen green with white masts and yards and scraped jibboom and topmasts, they fully upheld the Aberdeen reputation. Romanoff was a fast ship, but was overmasted with double topgallant yards and skysails, and after a few years she was severely cut down. She was a very regular Melbourne trader. She ended her days under the Norwegian flag.
Duthie’s “Cairnbulg.”
The Cairnbulg was another Aberdeen ship, but she was in the Sydney trade. She was of about the same speed as the Romanoff, a fine, fast, wholesome ship without any very special records to her credit.
She came to a most unusual end. After being sold to the Russians and renamed Hellas, she was sold by them to the Danes and called Alexandra. On the 26th November, 1907, she sailed from Newcastle, N.S.W., for Panama, coal laden. In April she was taken off the overdue list and posted as missing, being uninsurable at 90 guineas. The following June, one of her boats in charge of the mate, was picked up off the South American Coast. The mate then told the following extraordinary story:—On 8th May the ship was abandoned owing to her provisions running out and for no other reason—as in every other way, both in hull and gear, she was perfectly seaworthy. The position of the Cairnbulg when abandoned was given as 500 miles off the South American Coast. A search expedition was at once sent out after her, but in vain. Some time afterwards she was found ashore on the rocks at Iguana Cove, Albemarle Island, with her back broken. Her insurances, hull, freight and cargo amounted to £30,000, and she was abandoned in calm weather through lack of provisions. This story is not to the credit of either her captain or her owners.
The Speedy “Thessalus.”
Thessalus, Carmichael’s largest three-master, was one of the finest and fastest sailing ships ever seen in Australasian waters. Though not a regular wool clipper like the Mermerus, she was well known both in Sydney and Melbourne. But she was also as well known in Calcutta and San Francisco, and wherever she went she always made fine passages.