The Gareloch.

the Gareloch, a beautiful clipper ship of 1177 tons, built by Dobie and owned in Glasgow, was chartered by the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co. to convey immigrants to New Zealand. She was launched in 1873, and two years later made a very fast passage to Port Chalmers. She sailed from Gravesend on November 23, 1874, and met with contrary winds during the first week. She crossed the Equator on December 17, and experienced moderate south-east trade winds, and had mostly favourable winds to the Snares, which were sighted on February 10, 1875. Two days later she was off Otago Heads, and on the following morning anchored at Port Chalmers, 79 days port to port, and 69½ land to land, the ship on this occasion landing over 300 passengers for Dunedin.

the Gareloch had a rough experience on the passage to Lyttelton in 1880-81. She struck heavy gales to start with in the Channel, which continued through the Bay of Biscay, and caused a delay of many days. When in the tropics she had several days of calms and light airs, and after passing the Cape on March 19 encountered a furious gale, during which and while running under lower topsails only she was pooped by a huge sea, the result being that the wheel, binnacle, and skylight were smashed and the decks flooded. The two men at the wheel were thrown on to the main deck and severely injured. Twelve hours later the crew succeeded in rigging a jury wheel.

the Gareloch made another smart passage to Wellington in 1882-3 of 84 days, port to port, and 78 land to land.

the Gareloch's records were:—

the Gareloch must not be confused with the 375-ton screw steamer Gairloch, which arrived at Auckland on January 24, 1885, in charge of Captain Hill, who had previously commanded the Anazi when trading to New Zealand. The Gairloch (note the different spelling of these ships) was built in Glasgow for the Northern Steamship Co., Auckland, and for many years traded between the Manukau and New Plymouth, where she became a favourite with passengers. Two years after her arrival at Auckland, on May 19, 1887, the steamer, after sailing from New Plymouth for the Manukau, had to put back to Waitara owing to her port shaft and propeller carrying away. She was later towed to Onehunga by the steamer Staffa, and she then ran for another 16 years, when, under Captain A. H. Austin, she was stranded and became a total wreck on the Oakura reef, three miles north of Cape Egmont.

The Gairloch, on the passage out from Glasgow, was under steam for 70 days, and 45 under canvas, which accounted for the rather long passage of 115 days.