In the following year she again left on the 11th October and took her departure from the Lizard on 18th October. On 1st November, at 1.10 a.m., when in 26° 20′ N., 17° 56′ W., the shock of a submarine volcano made the ship tremble very much, though the surface of the water was not disturbed. The equator was crossed in 25° W. on 8th November. And on 30th November, the day before she crossed the Cape meridian, three icebergs were sighted. On 10th December with a strong north wind and smooth water, the _Hesperus_ ran 363 miles in the 24 hours. This was done without the mainsail which, at 4 a.m., was badly torn whilst all hands were attempting to reef it and it had to be furled. On 28th December at 6 p.m. the Otway was sighted during a strong southerly gale with heavy squalls; for some hours the ship was hove to whilst the gale was at its height, but on 29th December the _Hesperus_ anchored in Hobson’s Bay, 72 days from the Lizard. [Illustration: SAIL PLAN OF “BEN CRUACHAN” AND “BEN VOIRLICH.”] The _Hesperus_ kept up this fine average, serving as a cadet training ship until 1899 when she was sold to the Russians, who renamed her the _Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna_, but continued her as a training ship in the Black Sea. As late as 1913 she was refitted by Swan & Hunter at Wallsend. She has survived the war and the Bolshevists, and not long ago could have been seen in the Liverpool Docks. “Ben Cruachan” and “Ben Voirlich.” These two splendid sister ships were amongst the hardest driven of those in the Melbourne trade. They carried saloon, second cabin and steerage passengers out and wool home—and there was no snugging down for the convenience of the sorely tried emigrants with such skippers as Captains Bully Martin and McPetrie. On her maiden passage, _Ben Cruachan_, under Bully Martin, left the Clyde on 5th October, 1873, passed the Tuskar light on 7th October, crossed the equator 26 days out in 24° 30′ W., crossed the meridian of the Cape on 21st November in 46° 30′ S., and running her easting down averaged 300 miles a day from the Crozets to the Leeuwin between 27th November and 6th December. On 13th December she arrived in Hobson’s Bay, 67 days out from the Tuskar. This passage, however, was cast in the shade by _Ben Voirlich’s_ run in 1874-5 on her second voyage, and on her maiden passage _Ben Voirlich_ only took two days longer from the Tuskar than her sister ship. _Ben Voirlich_, on her maiden passage, left Glasgow under Captain McPetrie, on 3rd January, 1874. But she was held up at Greenock by bad weather until the 26th and did not pass the Tuskar until the 27th. From the Tuskar she had 15 days of head winds, crossing the equator on 19th February in 26° 30′ W. The Cape meridian was passed on 15th March and the Otway on 5th April. Her best work was between the 15th and 27th March, when she averaged 12½ knots. She arrived in Hobson’s Bay on 6th April, 69 days out from the Tuskar.