Both ships arrived off the Sandheads on the same day, the _James Baines_ being 101 days out and the _Champion of the Seas_ 103. This was a disappointing performance. The _Lightning_ did not sail till the end of August. Owing to the illness of his wife, Captain Enright was obliged to give up his command, and was succeeded by Captain Byrne. On 24th August, the day before her departure from Gravesend, a dinner was given to Captain Enright aboard his old ship, at which several well-known public men, amongst whom was Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, paid their tribute to the world famous sea captain. The _Lightning_ made a better passage than her sisters, being off the Hooghly, 87 days out. The Burning of the “James Baines.” After their trooping, the _Lightning_ and _Champion of the Seas_ returned to the Australian run, but her Calcutta voyage proved the death of the famous _James Baines_. She loaded the usual cargo of jute, rice, linseed and cow hides in the Hooghly, and arrived back in Liverpool in April, 1858. She was hauled into the Huskisson Dock and discharging commenced. The ’tween decks were emptied, and on the 21st April the lower hatches were taken off in the presence of the surveyors, when there appeared no sign of anything wrong. But on the following morning smoke was noticed issuing from her hold, and a fire which started in the main hold soon destroyed her. The following account of her end I have taken from the _Illustrated London News_:— The fire burst out on Thursday morning, 22nd April, 1858. Although the engines were brought into play as rapidly as possible, there was no visible effect produced; and four or five times the firemen, whilst endeavouring to penetrate the interior of the vessel so as to get at the seat of the fire, were driven back by the density of the smoke. It then became necessary to cut away the spars, rigging, stays, etc., which was done promptly and after some time it was deemed advisable to scuttle the ship as the exertions from the deck to extinguish the fire seemed unavailing. There was plenty of water in the dock at the time, but at the receding of the tide the vessel grounded and the fire seemed to have run through the entire length of the ship, for the smoke burst out of all parts and baffled every exertion. In the forenoon the masts were an anxiety, their fall being anticipated, and in the afternoon this happened, the main mast and mizen mast falling with terrific crashes upon the quay and in their descent destroying the roofs of two sheds. At 9 o’clock at night the inner shell of the hull, for nearly the whole length of the vessel, was rapidly burning, the flames rising with fury between the ribs, which had connected the outer and inner hull, the intervening spaces being to the spectators like so many flues; and iron bolts, released by the flames, were dropping one after the other into the hold, where