Hesperus was an iron-hulled, three-masted, passenger clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1874 and scrapped in Italy in 1923.

She was built for Thompson and Anderson's Orient Line service between Great Britain and South Australia.

Robert Steele & Company built Hesperus in Greenock, Scotland, launching her on 20 November 1873 and completing her in 1874.

[6] Her last voyage under Captain Legoe brought his wife, daughter and three sons to settle in South Australia.

[citation needed] The Orient Line sent Captain Thomas Row Harry to command Hesperus on her return voyage.

[8] In 1899 the Imperial Russian Government bought Hesperus as a sail training ship on the Black Sea.

She was renamed Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna after the newborn third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, and was registered in Odessa.