[8] On 18 December 1871, Yatala left Port Adelaide in company with the Elder Line clipper Beltana, which she beat to Cape Horn by a day.

Beltana arrived in London safely after a tedious light weather run from the line, but Yatala ran ashore near Cap Gris-Nez shortly after midnight on 27 March 1872, when almost in sight of home.

It seems that in the heavy weather that prevailed at the time Captain Legoe mistook the Cap Gris-Nez light for that of Beachy Head on the other side of the Channel.

The Board of Enquiry found Captain Legoe fully responsible but in view of his long and faultless service and high character, was given the relatively light sentence of six months suspension of his certificate.

[9] Legoe supervised the construction of Hesperus at Greenock, Scotland, completed 1873, as a replacement for Yatala, subsequently serving as her master.