SSMyola

History
Australia
Name	SS Myola(1913–1919)
Owner	Australian Steamships Ltd. (Howard Smith Limited)
Builder	Smiths Dock Company,South Bank,Middlesbrough,Northeast England
Launched	16 August 1913
Completed	1913
Identification	Ship official number 132448
Fate	foundered 2 April 1919 offLong Reef
Notes	location of wreck33.7612°S 151.36338°E/-33.7612; 151.36338
General characteristics
Type	Collier,screw steamer
Tonnage	655GRT
Length	180 ft (55 m)
Beam	29.1 ft (8.9 m)
Draught	11.6 ft (3.5 m)
Installed power	T3cyl (16.5, 27, 44 x 30in), 1 screw, engine aft 2 powered scotch boilers, 150 horsepower plus sails
Sail plan	two masts

SSMyolawas a 655-ton screw steamer, 55 metres long, built inMiddlesbroughin the United Kingdom.Myola,could unfurl sails on her two tall masts and gain a knot or so of additional speed when the wind suited.

MyolaleftNewcastle, New South Wales,on 1 April 1919 bound forSydney.The cargo was 675 tons ofcoal.

Captain Higgins replaced his usual crew, quarantined in Sydney after an epidemic ofinfluenza.A thirty mile per hour south-easterly wind created heavy seas. When offLong Reefnear Sydney,Myolawas struck by a heavy wave. Water entered the engine room. At about 12:15 a.m., the ship suddenly lurched to starboard, and it then came over to port and came to rest on itsbeam ends,with water over thewell deck.Subsequently the ship foundered, sinking rapidly. Four miles behind, the steamerSouth Bulliobserved distress flares and assisted picking up survivors. Four people died.

A subsequentCourt of Marine Inquiryfound that the foundering was caused by the coal cargo "shifting" and from an accumulation of water in the bilges. It was also critical of the second engineer for not starting the pumps earlier or informing superior officers of the situation.

Myolawas one of three coastal steam colliers (or 'sixty-milers') to be lost, in the six-months from Dec 1918 to May 1919. The other two wereUndolaandTuggerah.As a result, aRoyal Commissionwas set up to inquire into thecoastal coal carrying tradeand the loss of the three ships.

The Royal Commission's finding on the loss ofMyola,differed from that of the earlier inquiry. It rejected 'shifting coal' as the cause of the loss and found that the amount of water in the bilges was not significant. Relying upon the calculations of anaval architectand evidence thatMyolawas up to 75-tons over its theoreticaldeadweight tonnageupon leaving Newcastle, the finding on the cause of the loss ofMyolawas:

"the Myola having had an amount of loose water in her[ballast]tanks on leaving Newcastle which reduced therighting leversconsiderably and rendered her unstable and eventually caused the loss. This theory meets the facts more consistently than any others which has been advanced."

The reason for there being free water in the ballast tanks was not known—the crew believed that the tanks were empty— but the Royal Commission was, in its own words, "forced to consider the possible neglect to keep filling valves screwed down when not in use as a possible cause of the disaster".

Contemporary reports statedMyolasunk offSydney Heads.However, the wreck ofMyolawas found in 1994, in 48 metres of water offLong Reef,lying on its port side.Damage to the propeller indicates that the engine was still running as the ship foundered, which is consistent with accounts given by the crew.

External links

Michael McFadyen."Diving on the SS Myola, 1 December 2012".