Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Monday 22 June 1903, page 4


ARRIVAL OF THE LOCH BREDAN.

The barque Loch Bredan, concerning whose safety fears were entertained, ar-rived off the Semaphore early on Saturday morning. She was boarded by Pilot Dick

son, and would have sailed up the Port River into harbour had not tho wind headed her when she was abreast of the site of the old Port Lighthouse. Aa she- failed to negotiate Light's Passage the tug Leve-ret took her in tow, and she is now berthed in the new dock, Port Adelaide. Capt. T. Williams, her master, was surprised to hear that doubt had been entertained con-cerning his ship's whereabouts. He had made the voyage from Holyhead to Port Adelaide in 107 days, and considered that the vessel had done very very well. Had news been received here that the Loch Bredan had been detained over a fortnight through stress of weathee in British havens there would have been no cause for anxiety. The barquo left Liverpool at 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 18, in tow of a tug which was to assist her as far as Holyhead. At 7 a.m. on the following day the services of the pilot were dispensed with, the vessel then being off Lyner's Point. By half-past 10 o'clock that morning the wind was blowing hard from the south-west. It blew with the force cf a strong gale the whole of that night. The weather cleared a little on February 20, but as the evening set in it again, became boisterous. It was so bad that the tug was unable to proceed, and it was with difficulty that the ship was taken to the Moelfra Roads. There she remained until the 23rd, the weather being too severe to permit of her going further. The tug that day again made fast, with, the inten-tion of taking her to sea, but a heavy gale coming on the tug took her into Holyhead, where she anchored at 7.30 p.m., and re-mained till the evening of March 5. Dur-ing this time heavy gales raged along the coast, and various vessels had to signal for assistance. The Loch Bredan got away from Holyhead under sail, and there being a south-westerly wind she beat down the Channel. On the fifth day out the Scilly Isles were lost to view. Unfavourable strong westerly winds continued until the vessel got between Madeira and the Afri-can coast on March 20. Light variable winds then prevailed until she crossed the line on April 9. Instead of the usual south easterly trade winds being picked up she had southerly winds, which carried her to the Brazilian coast, whence she had to tack four days in a north-easterly direc-tion. Trinidad was sighted on April 24. Fine weather and wind from the north-west enabled the vessel to make a good run to the southward. So strongly did the wind set in from the north-west that twice the barque was compelled to heave to. The easting was made on a parallel of 39 deg. S. She ran down the easting in about 28 days. A strong south-south-westerly wind with a heavy sea was met with off the Australian coast, and lasted until the ves-sel was inside Cape Borda. The Loeh Bredan has brought a general cargo.