Hiawatha took 62 days, Thistle 79 days, and two other ships, the American barque Topgallant 100 days and the Cressington 106 days. Besides beating these, Loch Torridon passed no less than ten vessels which had sailed from Newcastle before her. Loading grain at Port Costa, Loch Torridon sailed on 23rd July, and arrived at Falmouth on 13th November, 1897, 113 days out. Captain Pattman stated that owing to the foulness of her bottom his ship was not sailing her best and he was disappointed with his passage.
Other passages home from Frisco that year were:—
| Musselcrag | arrived Queenstown | 110 | days out. |
| Lord Templeton | arrived Queenstown | 111 | days out. |
| Sierra Cadena | arrived Queenstown | 114 | days out. |
| Andelana | arrived Queenstown | 114 | days out. |
| Dominion | arrived Queenstown | 117 | days out. |
| Gifford | arrived Liverpool | 118 | days out. |
| Crown of Denmark | arrived Queenstown | 128 | days out. |
| Caradoc | arrived Queenstown | 134 | days out. |
All these vessels sailed about July and were considered crack ships.
In 1898 Loch Torridon went out to Adelaide in 79 days. Whilst running her easting down she was swept by a heavy sea, one man being lost overboard, the half-deck burst in like a pack of cards, the donkeyhouse stove, and three of the boats flattened out and left like skeletons in the chocks, whilst their davits were snapped off close to the deck. She came home from Melbourne to London in 90 days.
In 1898-9 she made the splendid run of 72 days 15 hours to Sydney.
She left London 5 a.m., 10th November, 1898—on 11th November she ran 300 miles in the 24 hours—on 12th November she ran 315 miles in the 24 hours—crossed the line in 28° W., 22 days out—ran her easting down in 45° S., best 24 hours 320 miles and was 23 days from the Cape Meridian to Tasmania.
Loch Torridon had between 4000 and 5000 tons of heavy general cargo in her hold and was very deep. Between 1875-1887 the clippers loaded nothing like such a heavy general cargo outwards, and yet this performance of Loch Torridon’s is equal to any of that day.
She arrived in Port Jackson on 31st January, 1899. This year for a change she came home from Lyttelton, N.Z., in 86 days.
The next three years she did nothing remarkable.