PASSAGES TO MELBOURNE UNDER 80 DAYS IN 1878. +--------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----+ | | | |Crossed |Passed | | | | Ship |Departure|Crossed|Cape |Cape |Arrived |Days| | | |Equator|Meridian|Otway | |Out | +--------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----+ |_Thessalus_ |Lizard |Mar. 28|Apl. 20 | |May 14| 68 | | | Mar. 7| | | | | | |_Parthenope_ |Tuskar |July 31|Aug. 20 | |Sept. 16| 71 | | | July 7| | | | | | |_Aristides_ |Start |July 27|Aug. 18 | |Sept. 15| 74 | | | July 3| | | | | | |_Miltiades_ |Start |June 30|July 21 |Aug. 13|Aug. 14| 75 | | | May 31| | | | | | |_Loch_ |Smalls |Aug. 4|Aug. 29 | |Sept. 23| 75 | | _Vennachar_ | July 10| | | | | | |_Old_ |Lizard |July 2|July 24 |Aug. 19|Aug. 20| 76 | | _Kensington_| June 5| | | | | | |_Aviemore_ |Start |July 27|Aug. 18 |Sept.15|Sept. 16| 79 | | | June 29| | | | | | +--------------+---------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----+ Notes on Passages to Australia in 1878. _Thessalus_ was the heroine of the year, though on her arrival in Melbourne critics declared that she was too deeply loaded for safety. _Miltiades_ had a bad time running her easting down; on more than one occasion her decks were badly swept, and once Captain Perrett was washed off the poop on to the main deck and had his head badly cut about. _Loch Vennachar_, owing to the death of Captain Robertson, had a new skipper in Captain J. S. Ozanne, her late chief officer. He proved that he could carry sail by two 24-hour runs of 325 and 311 miles. Captain Stuart made a very good maiden passage out to Sydney, but _Loch Etive_ never had anything like the speed of his old ship the _Tweed_. _Parthenope_ had the veteran Captain Grey in command this year, and he certainly made her travel. Of the other crack ships _Salamis_ was 83 and _Samuel Plimsoll_ 86 days to Sydney; whilst of the Melbourne clippers _Loch Garry_ was 80, _Loch Maree_ 82, _Mermerus_, _Ben Cruachan_ and _Romanoff_ 83, _Sir Walter Raleigh_ 84 and _Ben Voirlich_ 87 days. Neither of the two tea clippers, _Cutty Sark_ and _Thermopylae_, sailed for the Colonies in 1878. “Sophocles.” The _Sophocles_ was a pretty little ship, though, following the trend of the times, she was given a fuller body than Thompson’s earlier ships, as she was meant to be an economical carrier rather than a record breaker. I believe she is still afloat rigged as a barque under Italian colours. Passages to Australia in 1879.