_Patriarch_, who very rarely suffered damage in bad weather, took a very heavy sea over her poop during a W.N.W. gale on the 2nd September in 100° E., and lost 9 feet of her taffrail and three stanchions over the side. This sea would not have been a pleasant one for _Loch Vennachar_ or _Sir Walter Raleigh_, both of which had their decks lumbered up with horse boxes full of draught stock. _Samuel Plimsoll_ as usual made some good running down south, her best week’s work being 2050 miles. _Thermopylae_ was hard chased by _Cutty Sark_, in spite of a 17-day run from the Lizard to the equator. It is a pity the two ships did run their easting down on the same parallel, as they must have been neck and neck down south, but _Cutty Sark_ kept in 46° S., whilst _Thermopylae_ did not go higher than 44° 30′ S. Both ships by the way were forced by bad weather to put back to the Downs on their first attempts to get down Channel.[C] PASSAGES TO SYDNEY UNDER 80 DAYS IN 1877. +-------------+----------+-------+--------+---------+--------+----+ | | | |Crossed | Passed | | | | Ship |Departure |Crossed| Cape |S.W. Cape|Arrived |Days| | | |Equator|Meridian|Tasmania | |Out | +-------------+----------+-------+--------+---------+--------+----+ |_Cutty_ |Lizard |Dec. 28|Jan. 18 |Feb. 13 |Feb. 16| 72 | | _Sark_ | Dec. 6| | ’78 | ’78 | ’78| | |_Patriarch_ |Start |July 26| |Sept. 12 |Sept. 15| 74 | | | July 3| | |(Otway) | | | |_Pericles_ |Plymouth |Oct. 17|Nov. 7 |Nov. 30 |Dec. 3| 74 | | | Sept. 20| | | | | | |_Brilliant_ |Start |Oct. 31|Nov. 26 |Dec. 10 |Dec. 20| 79 | | | Oct. 2| | | (Otway) | | | |_Samuel_ |Plymouth |July 7|July 28 |Aug. 23 |Aug. 27| 79 | | _Plimsoll _| June 9| | | (Otway) | | | +-------------+----------+-------+--------+---------+--------+----+