“Sophocles.”

The Sophocles was a pretty little ship, though, following the trend of the times, she was given a fuller body than Thompson’s earlier ships, as she was meant to be an economical carrier rather than a record breaker.

I believe she is still afloat rigged as a barque under Italian colours.

Passages to Australia in 1879.

I have had considerable difficulty in finding any good passages to Melbourne or Sydney in 1879. It was a time of depressed freights and ships found themselves seeking cargoes in other than their regular trades. Thus we find the tea clipper Titania on the Melbourne run instead of going out to China. The Thomas Stephens tried a voyage to Otago. Salamis was still in the East seeking a tea cargo. Thessalus went to Calcutta from Penarth, whilst the poor little Cutty Sark had many strange and unpleasant adventures before she resumed her place in the Australian trade, which was not until 1883.

Of the other cracks Patriarch with 90 days, Miltiades with 88, Ben Voirlich with 87, Loch Maree with 94, Old Kensington with 96, Cimba with 91 and Thermopylae with 86 days all made poor passages.

“SOPHOCLES.”

Photo by Hall & Co., Sydney.

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