| _Kensington_| April 30| | | | | | +--------------+----------+-------+--------+-------+-------+----+ Notes on Passages to Australia in 1880. It will be noticed that all the ships going out in under 80 days, with exception of _Aristides_, _Loch Katrine_ and _Theophane_, left the United Kingdom in April, May or June and got a good slant South. It was also a season of hard winds both in the Channel and North Atlantic and from the limits of the S.E. trades right away to the Otway and even inside the Heads. Captain Charles Douglas, from the Blackwaller _Malabar_, took over the _Ben Voirlich_ this year; and on 21st July when south of Gough Island he got 323 and 330 miles out of her in 48 hours before a hard W.S.W. gale. On the 17th August, when in sight of Cape Schanck, _Ben Voirlich_ was held up by terrific squalls from N.N.W. and N., and had to be brought to under reefed topsails. This cost her a day as she was not able to enter the Heads until the 19th, when the wind shifted to the W.N.W. _Sir Walter Raleigh_ made the best passage of her career. With a good run down Channel, she took her departure from the Start the day after leaving the Thames, but from the Eddystone to the line she only had two runs of over 200. However between 4th and 11th July in 42° 30′ S., she ran 2128 miles, her best day’s work being only 304 miles, which meant very steady going. She also was held up off her port by strong head winds after being braced sharp up all the way from the meridian of the Leeuwin. _Romanoff_ had to beat down Channel and was six days from the Thames to the Lizard, and strong S.W. winds compelled her to go inside the Canaries and Cape Verdes. She crossed the equator in 21° W. She ran her easting down in 44° S., and though she had no big runs was only 21 days between the Cape meridian and the Otway. _Ben Cruachan_ also had tempestuous weather and easterly winds on making the Australian coast, and came into port with most of her bulwarks gone. The day after passing the Leeuwin meridian, 19th June, she had a hard gale with a very heavy beam sea. She had her fore and mizen lower topsails blown out of the bolt ropes, and carried away two topmast backstays owing to the heavy rolling. _Aristides_ had to beat out of the Channel against strong S.W. gales and _Miltiades_ had three days of S.W. gales in the Bay of Biscay, whilst _Salamis_, which was very deeply laden with her Plimsoll mark awash, was forced down into 47° S. by hard easterly gales. _Samuel Plimsoll_, with 384 emigrants on board, was only 16 days to the equator. Between the Cape and the Leeuwin she made the following fine 24-hour runs:— June 11 298 „ 15 294 „ 17 313 „ 19 304 „ 22 291 „ 23 308 „ 26 314 „ 26 300