She was a very fast little ship with a 65-day run from London to Adelaide to her credit. The _South Australian_ came out in 1868, also from Pile’s yard, and measured:— Registered tonnage 1040 tons. Length 201 feet. Breadth 36 „ Depth 20.1 „ She had a poop 80 ft. long, and was classed 17 years A1. Though not as fast a ship as the smaller _City of Adelaide_, she was a very fine sea boat with very comfortable accommodation for first and second class passengers. She was commanded by Captain David Bruce, who with his three sons was very well known in the Adelaide trade. Old David Bruce was one of the good old breed of sea dog—a sturdy, weather-beaten, grey-whiskered Scot. He always dressed in black broadcloth, topped by a straw hat and puggaree. He possessed a merry wit—also a lame leg, which had been crushed by a run-away cask during a storm. His three sons served their time under him, and the commands of the _City of Adelaide_ and _South Australian_ seem to have been taken in turn by each member of the Bruce family. [Illustration: “CITY OF ADELAIDE.” David Bruce, Commander. _From an old lithograph._] [Illustration: “SOUTH AUSTRALIAN.” _From an old lithograph._] _South Australian_ was occasionally seen in Melbourne, but the _City of Adelaide_ was always in the South Australian trade, and usually loaded wool at Port Augusta. Both ships were still running in the late eighties. The Speedy Little “St. Vincent.” Messrs. Devitt & Moore always considered that the little _St. Vincent_, launched in 1865 by Pile, of Sunderland, was the fastest ship they ever owned. Her measurements were:— Registered tonnage 892 tons. Length 190 feet. Breadth 35 „ Depth 18.9 „ She was also composite built, with a 68-ft. poop and 36-ft. foc’s’le. With hard driving skippers, like J. Bissit and J. Barrett, she had as bad a reputation amongst foremast hands as the Orient flyers in the matter of wetness. However, she was such a beautifully modelled ship that she came to no harm in spite of generally travelling through the water instead of over it. But no hard driven ship comes through the westerlies year after year without a scratch, and one occasionally comes across such entries as the following in her log books:— 27th October, 1878.—Struck by a heavy squall, sustained severe damage to spars, losing bowsprit, headgear, etc. She was not often over the 80 days going out, and her times coming home would have been as good, if she had not come _via_ the Cape and St. Helena like most South Australian traders; nevertheless she was usually home in under 90 days. In spite of being hard driven for most of her life the _St. Vincent_ was still afloat in 1905 as a Norwegian barque under the name of _Axel_. “Pekina” and “Hawkesbury.”