Battened Down.

As Mr. Boyd, in furnishing the report of the Loch Awe's voyage, made no reference to passengers being battened down, I inserted an advertisement in the personal column of the "Star," asking the passengers to write or call upon me, so that I might substantiate some of the sensational statements published. I received more than a dozen replies from the city and country districts supplying many interesting details. Two days after the advertisement appeared three gentlemen who had been passengers called upon me and they all arrived at about the same time. They shook hands and conversed in my room. They had not met since leaving the ship over fifty years ago. When asked how many times the passengers had been battened down, one man said "Never"; the others to some extent corroborated the published statements, but they agreed that it occurred only on the occasion of the big gale in the Tasman Sea. The one who stated they had never been battened down came out as a single man; they apparently were allowed their freedom, but the married couples with their families and the single girls were not allowed on deck during the gale. These men sat and discussed many incidents which occurred during the voyage. They did not agree upon many points, but they were all of the opinion that the passage had been made in 73 days, and were surprised when I read Mr. Boyd's report to find their memory had failed them.

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The chief officer of the Loch Awe, Mr. Boyd, was later given command of the ship Piako.

Some years after her record passage, the Loch Awe made another voyage to Auckland, taking 99 days. She was then barque-rigged.

the Loch Awe also made two voyages to Lyttelton under charter to the N.Z. Shipping Co. She sailed from London on the first occasion on May 4th, and arrived on the 3rd August, 1880, making the passage in 89 days. During the run she encountered several severe gales and had a rough time when approaching the New Zealand coast. The second voyage to Lyttelton was in 1886. She sailed from London on March 13th, and arrived on the 16th June, after a rather lengthy passage of 95 days.

Afterwards sold to a Norwegian firm, she was renamed the Madura, and was torpedoed by a German submarine during the war, with loss of life.