SS Nemesis (1880)

Last updated

History
NameNemesis
Owner Huddart, Parker & Co.
Port of registry Flag of Australia (converted).svg Melbourne
BuilderThomas Turnbull & Sons
Yard number73
Launched30 December 1880
IdentificationMelbourne Registry No. 82666
FateSunk during storm on 8/9 July 1904
General characteristics
Crew32

SS Nemesis was a 1393-ton cargo vessel built by Thomas Turnbull & Sons at Whitby in 1880. While on a voyage from Newcastle to Melbourne laden with coal and coke, she foundered south off Sydney on 8/9 July 1904 during a storm, with the loss of 32 crew. [1]

Contents

Service

Designed as a collier for the coastal transport of coal from Newcastle to Melbourne. She was fitted out to transport passengers during the Coolgardie gold rush in Western Australia in the early 1890's. Afterwards, she was refitted and used again to transport coal and coke between Newcastle and Melbourne.

Wreck identification

In 2021 a wreck was identified and it was in September 2023 [2] that it was positively identified by a surveying vessel looking for lost shipping containers. [3] The New South Wales Ministry of Environment and Heritage announced the identification to the public in February 2024. [4] [2]

Related Research Articles

SS <i>Yongala</i> Passenger steamship that was wrecked in Queensland, Australia

SS Yongala was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1903 for the Adelaide Steamship Company. She sank in a cyclone off the coast of Queensland in 1911, with the loss of all 122 passengers and crew aboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bass Strait Triangle</span> Waters separating Victoria and Tasmania

The Bass Strait Triangle is the waters that separate the states of Victoria and Tasmania, including Bass Strait, in south-eastern Australia. The term Bass Strait Triangle appears to have been first used following the disappearance of Frederick Valentich in 1978 although the region had a bad reputation long before that.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huddart Parker</span> Australian shipping company

Huddart Parker Ltd was an Australian shipping company trading in various forms between 1876 and 1961. It was one of the seven major coastal shippers in Australia at a time when shipping was the principal means of interstate and trans-Tasman transport. The company started in Geelong, but in 1890 shifted its offices to Melbourne. By 1910 Huddart Parker had grown to rank 24th of the top 100 companies in Australia by asset value. Several of the company's ships served in World War I and World War II. Huddart Parker ceased to be an independent company in 1961, when it was taken over by Bitumen and Oil Refineries Australia Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian National Line</span> Government Owned Shipping Line

Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM.

MS <i>Princess of Tasmania</i> Ferry of the australian "Australian National Line"

MS Princess of Tasmania was an Australian-built roll-on/roll-off passenger ship. She was built by the State Dockyard in Newcastle, New South Wales for the Australian National Line. Laid down on 15 November 1957, she was launched on 15 December 1958. As built, the ship had a tonnage value of 3,964 gross register tons (GRT), was 113.32 metres (371.8 ft) long, had a beam of 17.73 metres (58.2 ft), and a draught of 4.74 metres (15.6 ft). Two 9-cylinder Nydquist & Holm Polar M69TS diesels supplied 8,600 horsepower (6,400 kW) to the propellers, allowing a maximum speed of 17.75 knots. Up to 334 passengers and 142 vehicles could be carried. Princess of Tasmania was given the IMO number: 5284986. The ship was the first RO/RO passenger ship in the southern hemisphere, and at the time of launch, the largest vessel built in Australia.

SS Cheviot was an iron screw steamer built by Charles Mitchell and Co., of Low Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, England in 1870. She was owned by Wm. Howard Smith & Sons, Melbourne, Australia, for the transportation of coal and passengers. In 1887, she was wrecked in rough seas near Point Nepean in Victoria, Australia, with the loss of 35 lives, after the propeller was disabled. The beach nearby was subsequently named Cheviot Beach.

SS <i>Gothenburg</i> British steamship wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef

SS Gothenburg was an iron-hulled sail- and steamship that was built in England in 1854 and sailed between England and Sweden until 1862. She then moved to Australia, where she operated across the Tasman Sea to and from New Zealand until 1873, when she was rebuilt. After her rebuild, she operated in the Australian coastal trade.

<i>Santiago</i> (1856 ship)

The Santiago was a 455-ton barque launched in 1856. It was built by Henry Balfour of Methil, Fife for the Liverpool shipping company Balfour Williamson. It sailed mainly between Liverpool and Chile, but also to Australia. Its remnant hull, which lies in a ships' graveyard in South Australia, was considered 'the oldest intact iron hull sailing vessel in the world', until part of the central section collapsed in January 2023.

SS <i>Ferret</i> Early 20th century Scottish steamship

SS Ferret was an iron screw steamship of 460 tons built in Glasgow (Scotland) in 1871 by J & G Thomson, Glasgow.

<i>Wendouree</i> (1882)

Wendouree was a steel steamship built as a collier by S & H Morton & Co., Leith, Scotland for Huddart Parker & Co. Pty. Ltd. She was later refitted to carry passengers for the Melbourne to Sydney run.

<i>Abbey</i> (1853) Wooden brigantine wrecked in New South Wales

The Abbey was a wooden brigantine that was wrecked at Crowdy Head, New South Wales in 1868.

Aeolus was a wooden ketch built in 1850 at Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia. She was carrying timber to Sydney, New South Wales, when she was lost at Hole in the Wall, Jervis Bay, New South Wales, on 24 October 1867. The wreck has not been located, but its approximate position is 35.134648°S 150.745874°E.

<i>Fitzroy</i> (1912)

The Fitzroy was a steel-hulled steamship built in 1912 at Old Kilpatrick, Scotland in 1912. Thirty-one people were killed when Fitzroy capsized in a gale whilst carrying a general cargo between Coffs Harbour and Sydney off Cape Hawke, New South Wales on 26 June 1921.

<i>Merksworth</i> (1874)

The Merksworth was an iron steamer screw built in 1874 at, Paisley, that was wrecked when it swamped whilst carrying coal between Newcastle and Sydney and was lost off Stockton Beach on 7 May 1898.

Francis was a 41 tons (bm) colonial schooner that was partially constructed at the Deptford Dockyard, England, and sent in frame aboard the Pitt to Australia to be put together for the purposes of exploration. The vessel had originally been designed for George Vancouver’s discovery voyage of the west coast of North America.

SS <i>Colonist</i> (1889)

SS Colonist was a British iron-hulled coastal cargo ship driven by a 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine. She was built in 1889 by Osbourne, Graham & Co. Ltd, North Hylton, England. She had a complement of 29 crewmembers.

SS <i>Myola</i>

SS Myola was a 655-ton screw steamer, 55 metres long, built in Middlesbrough in 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.

The coastal coal-carrying trade of New South Wales involved the shipping of coal—mainly for local consumption but also for export or coal bunkering—by sea to Sydney from the northern and southern coal fields of New South Wales. It took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. It should not be confused with the export coal trade, which still exists today. There was also an interstate trade, carrying coal and coke to other Australian states that did not have local sources of black coal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixty-miler</span>

Sixty-miler (60-miler) is the colloquial name for the ships that were used in the coastal coal trade of New South Wales, Australia. The sixty-milers delivered coal to Sydney from ports and ocean jetties to the north and south. The name refers to the approximate distance by sea, the distance is 64 nautical miles from the Hunter River mouth at Nobbys Head to the North Head of Sydney Harbour.

SS <i>Langton Grange</i> (1896)

Langton Grange was a refrigerated steam cargo ship built in 1896 by the Workman, Clark & Co. of Belfast for Houlder Brothers & Co. of London to transport meat and other produce from Australia and South America to United Kingdom.

References

  1. "S.S. Nemesis". Zeehan and Dundas Herald . Vol. XV, no. 235. Tasmania, Australia. 15 July 1904. p. 2. Retrieved 29 February 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  2. 1 2 Shipwreck found over a century after bodies of crewmembers washed ashore: "120-year-old mystery" solved CBS News
  3. McLaren, Nick (25 February 2024). "Ship searching for sunken containers stumbles upon 120-year-old shipwreck". ABC News. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  4. SS Nemesis: 120-year-old shipwreck mystery solved and search for relatives begins New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment

Further reading