THE CITY OF ADELAIDE – It is many years ago since Captain Bruce took up his station on the berth from Adelaide to London, and after giving general satisfaction in the Irene he resolved to build expressly for the trade a new vessel in which all the requirements his experience could suggest should be met. The order was given to Messrs. Pile & Co., the eminent shipbuilders of Sunderland, and the result has been the production of a ship of which the colony may well be proud. The frame is of iron, with teakwood planking, 195 feet over all, 19 feet depth of hold, and 33 feet 6 inches beam, with lines and proportions which will ensure fast sailing.
Nor is speedy progress the only aim, for in her passenger appointments every means have been taken to ensure perfection. The main saloon is a handsome appointment decorated with white and gold, and furnished with settees, tables and sideboard of solid teak. Mirrors and pianoforte add to the general effect; while a visit to the state-rooms, of which there are six on each side, show at a glance that nothing is wanting to promote the comfort of voyageurs, even down to hot water warming apparatus.
While in tropical regions there are large ports to afford ventilation and light, and two excellent bath-rooms for ladies and gentlemen provided – one under the break of the poop; and the other abaft the main saloon. Her appearance to a nautical man is extremely pleasing; for while possessing the fine lines of a clipper vessel, there is a neatness about the spars and rigging which adds materially to her appearance. In the matter of people it was a mere facsimile of the old Irene – Captain Bruce on the poop, his son in the waist, and the same providore (Mr. Claxton) in the cabin; indeed it seemed from this but a resuscitation of the old blue-sided trader, though at a glance at the craft decided her superiority and aroused pleasurable feelings that the Port Adelaide trade warranted the building of such a ship.
Patent steering gear, patent topsails, windlass and pumps were adopted, and it also seems as if Captain Bruce had served his time but to produce the beau ideal of what an Adelaide trader should be – in cargo space liberal and ample for wool freight; in second cabin 30 and in saloon accommodation 35 passengers will find ample space. The excellence of the arrangement is highly eulogized by the passengers, of whom a number are very old colonists, who return with pleasure to Australia, and testify to the merits of captain and ship in our advertising columns.
She left London on August 6, and touched afterwards at Plymouth, from which port she has made a passage of 87 days, having had light and fair winds from the Channel to the Bay of Biscay, but in the early trades instead of a continuation of favourable weather it blew but three days from the N.E. Thirty-three days elapsed before crossing the Line, and the meridian of the Cape was passed on October 8, without a single incident to break the monotony of a trip beyond a hurricane which assailed the ship when off the Cape Verde Islands, in which she behaved admirably, she reached the lightship on Monday afternoon, but as her draught of water is over 17 feet some days will elapse before she can cross the bar.
