In lat. 46° S., long. 86° E., _Loch Torridon_ was caught in an unusually heavy gale with a tremendous cross sea, the barometer touching 28.83°. However, she came through it without damage, Captain Pattman using oil with good effect. _Loch Torridon_ passed through Port Phillip Heads at 11.30 p.m. on 9th September, 87 days from Frederickstadt and 77 days from Ushant. At the time this was a record passage from Norway to Melbourne. _Loch Torridon_ cleared for London on 20th November, 1893, with a cargo consisting of 8498 bales of wool, 329 bales of sheepskins, 1250 old rails, 2 casks arsenic, 657 packages of tallow, 11 packages of books, 2000 bags of wheat, 11 bales of fur skins, 12 bales of hair, 1942 bags of peas, 118 hides, 351 pigs, horns, etc., 100 bales of scrolls. She dropped her pilot on the 30th and reached London on 6th March, 96 days out. In 1894 she loaded coke and railway iron at Barry for Port Pirie and made the run out in 72 days, her best week’s work being 1914 miles and her best 24 hours 327 miles. She left Barry at 6 p.m. on 18th May—crossed the equator, 23 days out—crossed the Cape meridian on 30th June—crossed the meridian of Cape Leeuwin on 20th July—sighted Cape Borda 10 p.m., 27th July—passed Wedge Island at 1 a.m., 28th July, in a strong westerly gale and anchored at 1 p.m. on 30th July. From Port Pirie she went up to Melbourne and loaded another cargo of wool, wheat and hides; and leaving Melbourne on 20th December arrived in the Thames on 21st March, 1895. In 1895, owing to the falling off in the export trade to Victoria, which sailing ships were, of course, the first to feel, _Loch Torridon_ was compelled to accept a charter for Cape Town. Leaving London 6th July, she reached Table Bay on 30th August, 55 days out. Here she was visited and greatly admired by Lord Brassey. From Africa she went to Australia, but owing to the severe drought, like many another clipper that year, she failed to get a wool cargo and so was compelled to go across to the coast of South America for a homeward freight. It was on this occasion that she had the famous race to Valparaiso with the well-known four-mast ship _Wendur_. The vessels left Newcastle, N.S.W., in company on 1st January, 1896, and though neither sighted the other during the passage, they made a magnificent race of it. _Wendur_ picked up her pilot off Cape Coronilla at 6 p.m. on 29th January, and reached the anchorage at 8 p.m., after a record passage of 29 days.