During the many voyages out and home she did not escape the severe gales so frequently met with in the Southern Ocean. Probably her worst experience was in 1898 on her passage to Wellington. On this occasion the Oamaru sailed from Liverpool on July 30th, in command of Captain Fullerton. All went well until she rounded the Cape of Good Hope, when she encountered a series of gales which, on October 4th, increased to a cyclone, blowing with intense fury, and forcing the ship to heave-to on the port tack for forty hours. The sea at the same time was running very viciously, especially to leeward, and as the vessel's head came up she smashed in the weather lifeboat, also some of the topgallant bulwarks, broke the fastenings of the lower bulwarks to leeward amidships, and almost washed out the topgallant forecastle. After this she met with a succession of gales until October 25th, when it was blowing "feather white."