PASSAGES UNDER 80 DAYS TO MELBOURNE IN 1874. +-------------+----------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----+ | | |Crossed|Crossed |Passed |Arrived |Days| | Ship |Departure |Equator| Cape | Cape |Hobson’s|Out | | | | |Meridian|(Otway)| Bay | | +-------------+----------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----+ |_Thermopylae_|Lizard |Dec. 25|Jan. 14 | |Feb. 4 | 64 | | | Dec. 2 | | ’75 | | ’75 | | |_Ben_ |Plymouth |Dec. 1|Dec. 24 | |Jan. 14 | 64 | | _Voirlich_ | Nov. 11 | | | | ’75 | | |_Loch Ness_ |Tuskar |Dec. 1| |Jan. 16|Jan. 18 | 68 | | | Nov. 11 | | | ’75| ’75 | | |_Ben_ |Tuskar |Feb. 19|Mar. 15 |Apl. 5|Apl. 6 | 69 | | _Voirlich_ | Jan. 27 | | | | | | |_Thomas_ |Lizard |Dec. 12| |Jan. 29|Jan. 31 | 70 | | _Stephens_ | Nov. 22 | | | ’75| ’75 | | |_Ben_ |Cape Clear|Sept.29|Oct. 20 |Nov. 13|Nov. 14 | 71 | | _Cruachan_ | Sept. 4 | | | | | | |_Romanoff_ |Lizard | | | |Jan. 16 | 72 | | | Nov. 5 | | | | ’75 | | |_Theophane_ |Tuskar |Sept.12|Oct. 3 | |Oct. 30 | 75 | | | Aug. 16 | | | | | | |_City of_ |Channel | | | |Feb. 2 | 75 | | _Hankow_ | Nov. 19 | | | | ’75 | | |_Loch_ |Tuskar | | | |Feb. 14 | 75 | | _Lomond_ | Nov. 30 | | | | ’75 | | |_Loch_ |Channel |Dec. 1 |Dec. 25 |Jan. 22|Jan. 23 | 78 | | _Maree_ | Nov. 6 | | | ’75| ’75 | | +-------------+----------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----+ _Cutty Sark_ and _Thomas Stephens_ also had a great race, the famous tea clipper making the best passage of the year to Sydney. Both ships were off the Lizards on 22nd November, and experienced very baffling winds to the equator, which _Cutty Sark_ crossed in 26° W. and _Thomas Stephens_ in 29° W. a day later. _Cutty Sark_ was 65 days from the Lizards to S.W. Cape, Tasmania, whilst _Thomas Stephens_ was 68 days to the Otway, where she was becalmed for 14 hours. _Thermopylae_, with a 64-day passage from the Lizards, her best run being 348 miles, arrived just in time to defend herself, for Captain McPetrie was declaring to all and sundry that _Ben Voirlich_ had broken _Thermopylae’s_ record, by making a better run from port to port. The “Loch Garry.” Many experts considered the _Loch Garry_ to be the finest sailing ship in the world at the date of her launch. She certainly was an example of the well-known Glasgow type at its best.