Lashed on top of his main hatch, he had a large kennel containing a pack of foxhounds for the Calcutta Jackal Club. When the cyclone began, the hounds were let out of the kennel, to give them a chance to save themselves; and shortly afterwards the kennel was washed clean over the lee rail without touching it. The hounds had meanwhile disappeared and everyone thought that they must have gone overboard; but when the weather cleared they all came out, safe and sound, from under the lower foc’s’le bunks, where they had taken refuge.
This cyclone wrought havoc amongst the Calcutta shipping, and cost the underwriters over £100,000. Thessalus was lucky to get off with a repair bill of £380.
The Thessalus was lucky with live freight. On her seventh voyage she took horses from Melbourne to Calcutta and landed them all alive and in prime condition. Shortly afterwards the Udston arrived with only four horses alive. She had had bad weather in the Bay of Bengal, the horses had broken loose and in their fright kicked each other to death. On this voyage, Thessalus returned to Melbourne with wheat bags, wool packs and camels. The camels also arrived in good condition. At Melbourne she loaded wool for London at a penny per pound.
Her best wool passage was in 1896, when she left Sydney on the 17th October and was only 75 days to the Start, where she signalled on 31st December. She had left Melbourne in company with Cimba and Argonaut. Argonaut made a long passage, but Thessalus and Cimba were twice in company, concerning which Captain Holmes of Cimba wrote:—
I left Sydney in company with Thessalus and Argonaut. I was twice in company with Thessalus on 3rd October in 54° S., 152° W., to 5th October 54° S., 143° W., and on 25th November in 30° S., 34° W. I came up on him in light winds, but when he got the breeze he just romped away from me as if I was at anchor. Thessalus was a wonderfully fast ship. I think the German five-master Potosi is the only one I have seen to touch her.
This is high praise, for Captain Holmes had a great knowledge of ships, especially in the Australian trade, and he had a very fast ship in Cimba, which on this occasion reported at noon at the Lizard when Thessalus was reporting at Start Point.
After a long and successful career Thessalus was sold to the Swedes in 1905, when she was still classed 100 A1.
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 |