Amongst these old hulks, however, she is withal the most dignified looking, the graceful lines of her hull lending her an air of distinction at once apparent even to the layman. As coal hulking goes, she is perhaps the most fortunate of her class. Days pass—weeks—perhaps months, all spent in slothful idleness and neglect, whilst her more unfortunate sister hulks scarcely know a day but what they are not coal feeding some important steam-driven interloper. “Loch Maree”—the Fastest of the Lochs. The _Loch Maree_ was also launched in September, 1873. She was an especially beautiful ship in every way and the fastest probably, of all the “Lochs, Barclay, Curle were instructed to spare no expense in making her as perfect as an iron ship could be, and she certainly came up to her owners’ expectations, both in her looks, her outfit as an up-to-date passenger clipper, her speed, and her behaviour as a sea boat. Underneath a poop of over 50 feet in length, she had her first class passenger accommodation arranged on the plan adopted in the P. & O. steamers. She crossed three skysail yards, had a full outfit of stunsails and other flying kites, and the following spar plan will give one an approximate idea of her sail area. SPAR PLAN OF _LOCH MAREE_. +-------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+ | Spars | Fore | Main | Mizen | +-------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+ | Mast—deck to truck | 148 feet. | 153 feet.| 130 feet.| | Lower mast | 63 ft. | 68 ft. | 59½ ft. | | Doubling | 16 ft. | 16 ft. | 13 ft. | | Topmast | 54 ft. | 54 ft. | 44½ ft. | | Doubling | 11 ft. | 11 ft. | 9 ft. | | Topgallant mast | 34 ft. | 34 ft. | 28 ft. | | Doubling | 6 ft. | 6 ft. | 5 ft. | | Royal and skysail masts | 30 ft. | 30 ft. | 25 ft. | | Lower yard | 84 ft. | 84 ft. | 69 ft. | | Lower topsail yard | 71 ft. | 71 ft. | 57 ft. | | Upper topsail yard | 68 ft. | 68 ft. | 54½ ft. | | Lower topgallant yard | 55 ft. | 55 ft. | 43½ ft. | | Upper topgallant yard | 51 ft. | 51 ft. | 40 ft. | | Royal yard | 41 ft. | 41 ft. | 31½ ft. | | Skysail yard | 30 ft. | 30 ft. | 24 ft. | +----------------+--------+-----------+-----------+----------+ |Jibboom 70 feet |Spanker boom 50 feet| Spanker gaff 36 feet | +----------------+--------------------+----------------------+ _Loch Maree’s_ start in life was an unfortunate one. On 5th November, 1873, she sailed from the Clyde for Melbourne under Captain MacCallum with a full cargo, 11 saloon and 30 second cabin passengers, and the following is an account of her maiden voyage, which was given me by one of her apprentices:—