All being in readiness, the _London_ left the East-India Docks on the 29th of December 1865, laden as we have described, and bound for Melbourne. Many were those who caught a view of her from various points as she steamed majestically down the river, and fervently wished her a prosperous voyage as they remembered that she contained on board something far more precious than all her cargo, rich though it was. At Gravesend she embarked several passengers, and lunch was prepared on board, that those who were about to separate, they knew not for how long, might enjoy as much of each other’s society as possible. It was a pleasant party, notwithstanding the tears that started involuntarily from many eyes as the hour of separation drew near. One affecting incident deserves to be recorded. A gentleman was obliged to send his little boy out, and remain behind himself. The child was to have gone by a former ship, but he had prevailed upon his father to allow him to wait for him; and now, after all, that dear father could not go until the next ship, and the little one was going out under the care of a friend. The father of the child was present, and watched the vessel until she seemed to die away in the glory of the setting sun. Innumerable, doubtless, now are the kind words and looks which are recalled by mourning friends as so many fond souvenirs of that last parting at Gravesend or at Plymouth. The sun was going down, and tinging with lustre the Kentish hills, wintry though the weather was, when the _London_ left Gravesend behind, and went on her way to Plymouth. This very night, however, she encountered weather that compelled her to bring up at the Nore, where she anchored and remained during the whole of Sunday. On Monday morning, the 1st of January, at daybreak, the anchor was weighed, and the ship steamed down the channel, still against a head wind, but making fair way. While passing outside the Isle of Wight the wind increased to half a gale, and Captain Martin deemed it prudent to put back and lay-to for the night in St. Helen’s Road. On Tuesday morning, the 2nd, the _London_ proceeded through the Needles into the open channel, the wind being still ahead, but light. On the Wednesday the weather became so boisterous, and the indications of the barometer so threatening, that, at about 2 o’clock P.M., the Trinity House pilot, under whose care she was, decided on taking her to Spithead for shelter. She anchored on the Motherbank at 4 P.M., and lay there until daylight of the 4th, when she steamed out through the Needles passage, the wind being then southwesterly.