SSYongala

Yongalain port
History
Australia
Name	Yongala
Namesake	Yongala, South Australia
Owner	Adelaide Steamship Company
Port of registry	Port Adelaide
Builder	Armstrong, Whitworth & Co,Low Walker
Cost	£102,000
Yard number	736
Launched	29 April 1903
Completed	October 1903
Identification	UKofficial number118332 code lettersVGFH
Fate	Lost with all hands, 23 March 1911
Notes	One of the largest, best-preserved shipwrecks in Queensland
General characteristics
Type	Passenger ship
Tonnage	3,664GRT,1,825NRT
Length	350.0 ft (106.7 m)
Beam	45.2 ft (13.8 m)
Depth	27.2 ft (8.3 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	690NHP
Propulsion	1 ×screw 1 ×triple expansion engine
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity	Passengers: 110 first class 130 second class Cargo:3,000 tons, including 10,000 cubic feet (280 m3)refrigerated
Crew	72
Notes	sister ship:Grantala

SSYongalawas apassengersteamshipthat was built in England in 1903 for theAdelaide Steamship Company.She sank in acycloneoff the coast ofQueenslandin 1911, with the loss of all 122 passengers and crew aboard.

Her wreck offCape Bowling Greenwas found in 1958. It is now a popularwreck divingsite, protected by the CommonwealthUnderwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.

Yongalawas thesister shipofGrantala,which in 1914 became Australia's onlyhospital shipin theFirst World War.

Building and identification

In 1903 Sir WGArmstrong, Whitworth & Cobuilt a pair of passenger and cargo steamships at itsLow Walkershipyard atNewcastle upon Tynefor the Adelaide Steamship Co.Yongalawas built as yard number 736, launched on 29 April 1903, and completed that October.She was named after the town ofYongala, South Australia.The name is aNgadjuriword that means "broad water", or "broad wide watering place".Her sister shipGrantalawas yard number 737, launched on 28 May 1903,and completed that December.

Yongala's registered length was 350.0 ft (106.7 m), her beam was 45.2 ft (13.8 m) and her depth was 27.2 ft (8.3 m). Hertonnageswere 3,664GRTand 1,825NRT.She had a singlescrew,driven by a three-cylindertriple expansion enginebuilt by theWallsend Slipway Company.She had five single-ended boilers, which supplied steam to her engine at 180lb_f/in²(1,200 kPa). Her furnaces burned about 67 tonnes of coal per day.Her engine was rated at 690NHPand gave her a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h).

Yongalahad accommodation for 110 first class and 130 second class passengers,and holds for about 3,000 tons of cargo.She had electric lighting throughout.She had a direct acting steamwindlassandcapstanon her forecastle head.To handle her cargo she had two steam cranes and seven winches withderricks.A specially arranged steam and hand steering gear was fitted in a house at the after end of the fantail and controlled from the bridge.She had 10,000 cubic feet (283 m³) of refrigerated space: 3,000 cubic feet (85 m³) chilled for vegetables and provisions, and 7,000 cubic feet (200 m³) for frozen meat.

The Adelaide Steamship CoregisteredYongalaatPort Adelaide.HerUKofficial numberwas 118332 and hercode letterswere VGFH.

Service history

Yongalain port

Yongalabegan her delivery voyage fromSouthamptonin England on 9 October 1903.She sustained some damage in heavy weather crossing theBay of Biscay,called atLas PalmasandCape Town,and on 24 November reachedFremantle.When she continued her voyage from Fremantle toAdelaide,it was alleged that she raced theOrient Steam Navigation Companymail shipRMSOrizaba,and thatYongalawon the race.The Adelaide Steamship Company publicly denied that any race took place.On 30 November she reached Port Adelaide, where Adelaide Steamship Co shareholders inspected her.She reachedMelbourneon 3 Decemberand Grafton WharfinSydneyon 6 December.

In 1905Yongala's regular route linked Fremantle and Sydney via Adelaide and Melbourne. In 1906 her summer route was extended toBrisbane.At 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 km) this was Australia's longest interstate shipping route, andYongalawas the first ship to work it.Each winter from 1907 to 1911 she worked the route between Melbourne andCairnsinstead.

Loss

Captain William Knight in 1911

On 14 March 1911Yongalabegan her 99th voyage in Australian waters.HerMasterwasCaptainWilliam Knight. She left Melbourne with 72 passengers, and on 20 March reached Brisbane. There most of her passengers from Melbourne disembarked, and she embarked passengers to continue up the Queensland coast. Also embarked were the racehorse "Moonshine" and aLincoln Redbull. A harbour inspection reportedYongalato be "in excellent trim".

She reachedMackayon the morning of 23 March, and left at 1:40pm that afternoon, bound forTownsville.She was now carrying 29 first class passengers, 19 second class passengers, 72 crew, and 677 tons of cargo.Shortly after she left Mackay, and before she left the sight of land, theFlat Top Islandsignal station received a telegram warning of a tropical cyclone between Townsville and Mackay. The signal station sentflagandwireless telegraphsignals, which prompted several ships to take refuge at Mackay. ButYongaladid not see the flags. TheMarconi Companyhad recently dispatched a wireless telegraph set from England to be installed aboardYongala,but the set had not yet reached Australia.

Five hours afterYongalaleft Mackay, the keeper ofDent Island Lightsaw her enterWhitsunday Passage.This was the last known sighting of her. Thecyclonesank her on the night of 23–24 March, killing everyone aboard.Newspapers at the time counted 120 or 121 people aboard, but the total number is now accepted to be at least 122. The discrepancy arises from young children, servants, and members of ethnic minorities being omitted from official lists.

Aftermath

Yongalain Fremantle

WhenYongaladid not reach Townsville on time, at first it was assumed that, like other ships, she had taken shelter from the cyclone. But on 26 March she was listed as "missing". ThePremier of Queensland,Digby Denham,ordered a search for her, in which seven vessels took part. Wreckage started to wash ashore on the Queensland coast betweenHinchinbrook IslandandBowen.The body of the racehorse "Moonshine" was found at Gordon Creek, but no trace was found of any of the passengers or crew. TheQueensland Governmentoffered a £1,000 reward for information enabling the ship to be found. The reward went unclaimed, so it was eventually withdrawn.

It was speculated that either the cyclone had overwhelmedYongala,or she may have grounded on a reef between Flinders Passage and Keeper Reef, or on Nares Rock, or onCape Upstart.

Within days of the ship's loss, "Yongaladistress fund "was set up. Money raised was used to relieve the dependants of those aboard. The fund was closed on 30 September 1914, with the £900 remaining credited to the Queensland Shipwreck Society.

Between 8 and 20 June 1911 the Marine Board of Queensland held an inquiry intoYongala's loss. The Board considered the ship's stability, equipment and seaworthiness, and Captain Knight's abilities as a shipmaster. It found no fault with the condition of the ship, based on design specifications supplied by the Adelaide Steamship Co, along with data fromsea trialsand seven years of uneventful operation. Nor did it find fault with Knight's ability. He was one of Adelaide Steamship Co's most capable men, and had 14 years' service without incident.The Board declared that it had "no desire to indulge in idle speculation", and concluded that "the fate of the Yongala passes beyond human ken into the realms of conjecture, to add one more to the long roll of mysteries of the sea".

Discovery

In 1943, aminesweeperfouledon what was then thought to be ashoal,11 miles east of Cape Bowling Green. The commander marked on his chart an obstruction at a depth of about 13 fathoms (24 m), on the route of vessels bound for Townsville.

HMASLachlan

In June 1947, thesurvey vesselHMASLachlaninvestigated the location usingecho soundingandanti-submarineequipment. She found a shoal about 300 feet (91 m) long, at a depth of about 6 fathoms (11 m), surrounded by water 12 to 14 fathoms (22 to 26 m) deep, and concluded that it could be the wreck of a steamship.

In 1958 a local fisherman, Bill Kirkpatrick, found the wreck, and recovered artefacts including asafefrom one of the cabins. The safe contained only black sludge, but part of the safe's serial number was legible: 9825W. In 1961,Chubbin England identified this as the number of the safe that it supplied to Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. in 1903 for the cabin ofYongala'spurser.

Wreck site

Fish next toYongala's wreck: azebra shark,Stegostoma tigrinum,attended by alive sharksucker,Echeneis naucrates,and three juvenilegolden trevallyGnathanodon speciosus.

Yongala's wreck is at position19°18′15.9″S147°37′31.6″E,in the central section of theGreat Barrier Reef Marine Park,about 48 nautical miles (89 km) southeast of Townsville and 12 nautical miles (22 km) east of Cape Bowling Green. The wreck is 109 metres (358 ft) long. The bow points on a northerly bearing of 347 degrees, and lists to starboard at an angle of between 60 and 70 degrees. It retains its structural integrity. The depth of water to the sea floor is about 30 metres (98 ft), with the upper parts of the wreck 16 metres (52 ft) below the surface.

The sea floor around the wreck is open and sandy, so the wreck has become an establishedartificial reef,providing a structurally complexhabitatfor diverse marine life. In 1981 themarine biologistLeon Zann sketched the wreck. Itssuperstructureremains intact and much as in his sketch, but a significant buildup of sand around thestarboardside of the vessel has been scoured away, and the ventilators and railings have collapsed.

The wreck is protected by the Commonwealth Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 and is managed via theMuseum of Tropical Queensland,Townsville. The Act prohibitspenetration divingand interference withartefacts.

AbuoymarkingYongala's wreck

A protected zone encompasses both the wreck, all the seabed within a radius of 797 metres (2,615 feet) from the wreck, and the waters above. Access to the site is via permit only, obtainable from the Maritime Archaeology Section of the Museum of Tropical Queensland.In 2002, to prevent further damage by careless anchoring, severalmooringswere installed, and anchoring within the protected zone was forbidden. The site was also listed on the now-defunctRegister of the National Estate.

Present day

Yongalais now a major tourist attraction forrecreational divingin Townsville and North Queensland, with more than 10,000 divers visiting the wreck each year.At 110 metres (361 ft) long, she is one of the largest, most intact historic shipwrecks.The site has diverse marine life. A citizen science database using iNaturalist has recorded more than 213 observations of 79 species. The most observed species is theHumphead wrasse,Cheilinus undulatus.An episode of theBBCtelevision documentary seriesGreat Barrier Reeffeatured the wreck's biodiversity.

Yongala'sship's bellin the Maritime Museum of Townsville

The Maritime Museum of Townsville has an extensive display ofYongalaartefacts and memorabilia, including hership's bell.

Thedeath of Tina Watsonoccurred near the dive site on 22 October 2003. Watson's husband of eleven days was subsequently imprisoned for manslaughter.

The heritage-listedYongala LodgeinNorth Ward,Townsville, is named after the ship. It was built forMatthew Rooney,who died in theYongalashipwreck along with his wife and youngest daughter.

See also

• List of maritime disasters
• Koombana,a steamship lost in 1912 off Western Australia
• Waratah,a steamship lost in 1909 off South Africa
• Protected areas of Australia– Protected areas in Australia

Bibliography

• Gleeson, Max (1987).Townsville's Titanic.Sydney: Turton & Armstrong.ISBN0-908031-31-9.OCLC27579405.
• Holthouse, Hector (1971). "Yongala Vanishes".Cyclone: A Centory of Cyclonic Destruction.Adelaide: Rigby.ISBN0-85179-290-1.OCLC251985.
• Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping.Vol. I.–Steamers. London: Lloyd's Register. 1904 – viaInternet Archive.
• Mercantile Navy List.London. 1904 – via Crew List Index Project.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• "SS Yongala Fantastic wreck of a passenger ship in front of Townsville and Ayr".Pro-Taucher Tauchplätze weltweit.
• "The Ships Company – Officers, Crew and Passengers".Grey River Argus.29 March 1911. p. 6.
• Sumner, John (25 April 2013)."SS Yongala".Ship Wreck Bells.
• "Ben Cropp's This Rugged Coast: The Coral Sea".RecallTV.