This kind of weather was to prove to be the rule rather than the exception on the way to Australia and on several occasions the passengers had their bunks and possessions swamped by inrushing seawater. Weather conditions ranged through the chill of 'The Old Dart' and the heat of the equatorial zones to the freezing mid-winter cold of the Southern Ocean and there was no air conditioning or heating of course.

By the time the ship dropped anchor in Keppel Bay on 29 June 1873, after a journey of 158 days, there had already been 17 deaths and 6 births on board. The deaths comprised 6 adults and 11 children, two, sadly, from among the 6 births, one of the adults was a young man lost overboard and another was a 15 year old Irish youth who had been suffering from a fever for several weeks. The ship's Doctor gave the boy's father some carbolic acid to place under the boy's bed to make it smell sweeter, tragically, the father misunderstood the Doctor's instructions and gave the boy the acid to drink - killing him!

A further ordeal awaited the immigrants for while the ship was at anchor in Keppel Bay an outbreak of typhoid occurred on board and the passengers and crew were quarantined on Curtis Island for 21 days, during this period there were 5 more adult and 3 more child deaths, bringing the total for the voyage to 25. Though this may seem alarming today it was not excessive for the period.

The ship's bell was recovered and went first to Rockhampton Central Girl's School then the South Rockhampton Opportunity School, when that school closed the principal donated the bell to the Emu Park Historical Museum where it is now on permanent display.