After this he was 13½ years in the employ of John Allan & Sons. In 1877 he joined the Loch Line and took command of the _Loch Sloy_, leaving her to take charge of the _Loch Garry_ in 1885.
The _Loch Garry_ only had two severe mishaps in her long life. In August, 1880, when running under topgallant sails off the Crozets in a heavy beam sea, the weather forebrace carried away, the fore topmast went above the eyes of the rigging and took main topgallant mast with it—and _Loch Garry_ was a month getting to Melbourne under jury rig. She was rigged in Geelong with Kauri pine topmasts and long topgallant masts, as shewn in the illustration. In August, 1889, she was dismasted in a furious gale to the south’ard of the Cape. To save the ship Captain Horne was obliged to jettison some 100 tons of cargo in the shape of gunpowder, hardware, whisky, bottled beer, paper, etc. The main and mizen masts carried away close to the deck, but Captain Horne succeeded in sailing his vessel 2600 miles to Mauritius, under foresail and fore lower topsail. Here the _Loch Garry_ was delayed some months whilst new spars were sent out from England, and she eventually reached Melbourne on 14th February, 1890, eight months out from Glasgow. After 36 years of good service, she was sold in March, 1911, to the Italians for the scrap iron price of £1800.
One of the finest and fastest of the Lochs, as well as one of the most unfortunate, was the _Loch Vennachar_, launched from Thomson’s yard in August, 1875.
She was usually one of the first wool clippers to get away from Melbourne, and for many years, sailing in October, she made very regular passages home, her average under Captain Bennett being 86 days for 12 passages.
Her first misfortune was in 1892, when she was dismasted during a cyclone in the Southern Indian Ocean.
The following is an account of the disaster, given in the _Melbourne Argus_:—
The _Loch Vennachar_ left Glasgow bound for Melbourne on 6th April, 1892, with a crew of 33 all told and 12 passengers, four of whom were ladies. All went well with the ship until she reached lat. 39° 55′ S., long. 27° 21′ E., when at 8 o’clock on the evening of 3rd June the barometer began to fall ominously and sail was promptly shortened. Darkness lifted soon after 5 o’clock in the morning and the break of day showed the terrific head seas that swept down upon the vessel, lashed by the north-east gale. (At this time both watches were aloft fighting to make the foresail fast.) Captain Bennett, who was on the poop, saw the danger of his crew and at once resolved to sacrifice the sail. He sang out to the mate to send the men aft and the hands, who had been lying out on the pitching foreyard, gained the deck in safety and reached the poop in time. As they did so, two enormous waves bore down upon the ship, which rode slowly over the first, and sank to an interminable depth in the trough at the other side. Whilst in this position the second wave came on towering halfway up the foremast, and broke on board, _filling the lower topsail 60 feet above the deck_, as it came.