The _Antiope_ made her best passage in 1868, running out to Melbourne under Captain Withers in 68 days, and but for being hung up on the line for 10 days would have gone near to breaking the record.
After Beazley sold her she was for some years in the South American trade. Then during the Russo-Japanese war she was captured by the Japanese whilst under Russian colours. The Japs sold her to Mr. J. J. R. Matheson, of Ladysmith, British Columbia, and for a short while she was in the timber trade. The world war found her lying in a New Zealand port, doing duty as a coal hulk for the Paparoa Coal Co. Here the Otago Rolling Mills bought her at a stiff price, and like many another old sailing ship, she came out of her retirement with a new set of wings in order to brave the German submarines and keep the old Red Duster flying.
In 1916, she got ashore on the coast when making for Bluff Harbour in a gale of wind, and there she lay on her side in the wash of the tide for 96 days. At last, with tonnage pretty near worth its weight in gold, an attempt was made to float her. For this purpose a large steam trawler, fitted with pumps to throw 10,000 gallons a minute, was brought down to this most southerly port in the Empire. No progress, however, was made until a journalist named Bannerman, with the inquisitiveness of his kind, got down into the _Antiope’s_ fore peak by means of a rope ladder and discovered the chief leak. Then, with mats over the bow, the pumps slowly overcame the water, the _Antiope_ righted and finally floated. She was then towed round to Port Chalmers, docked, repaired and once more fitted for sea. From Port Chalmers she ran across to Newcastle, N.S.W., in ballast, making the trip in the good time of 12 days. Here she loaded coal for Valparaiso, after refusing a £9000 freight to the United Kingdom. Again she made a good passage. From Chile she went up to San Francisco. And she is still earning money at the wonderful age of 54 years.
The _Theophane_ was probably the fastest of all Heap’s ships, and was built on sharper lines than the _Antiope_ or _Marpesia_. On her maiden passage—the abstract log of which I give in the Appendix—she went out to Hobson’s Bay under Captain Follett in 66 days.