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 on 23 March 1911, with the loss of all 122 passengers and crew aboard.
Her wreck off Cape Bowling Green was found in 1958. It is now a popular wreck diving site, protected by the Commonwealth Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.
Yongala was the sister ship of , which in 1914 became Australia's only hospital ship in the First World War.
Building and identification
In 1903 Sir WG Armstrong, Whitworth & Co built a pair of passenger and cargo steamships at its Low Walker shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne for the Adelaide Steamship Co. Yongala was built as yard number 736, launched on 29 April 1903, and completed that October. She was named after the town of Yongala, South Australia. The name is a Ngadjuri word that means "broad water", or "broad wide watering place". Her sister ship Grantala was yard number 737, launched on 28 May 1903, and completed that December.
Yongalas registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were and . She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine built by the Wallsend Slipway Company. She had five single-ended boilers, which supplied steam to her engine at 180 lb<sub>f</sub>/in<sup>2</sup> (1,200 kPa). Her furnaces burned about 67 tonnes of coal per day. Her engine was rated at 690 NHP and gave her a speed of .
Yongala had accommodation for 110 first-class and 130 second-class passengers, She had electric lighting throughout. She had a direct acting steam windlass and capstan on her forecastle head. To handle her cargo she had two steam cranes and seven winches with derricks. 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 of refrigerated space: chilled for vegetables and provisions, and for frozen meat.
The Adelaide Steamship Co registered Yongala at Port Adelaide. Her UK official number was 118332 and her code letters were VGFH.
Service history
thumb|Yongala in port
Yongala began her delivery voyage from Southampton in England on 9 October 1903. She sustained some damage in heavy weather crossing the Bay of Biscay, 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 reached Melbourne on 3 December
In 1905 Yongalas regular route linked Fremantle and Sydney via Adelaide and Melbourne. In 1906 her summer route was extended to Brisbane. At this was Australia's longest interstate shipping route, and Yongala was the first ship to work it. Each winter from 1907 to 1911 she worked the route between Melbourne and Cairns instead. Her Master was Captain William 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 a Lincoln Red bull. A harbour inspection reported Yongala to be "in excellent trim". Shortly after she left Mackay, and before she left the sight of land, the Flat Top Island signal station received a telegram warning of a tropical cyclone between Townsville and Mackay. The signal station sent flag and wireless telegraph signals, which prompted several ships to take refuge at Mackay. But Yongala did not see the flags. The Marconi Company had recently dispatched a wireless telegraph set from England to be installed aboard Yongala, but the set had not yet reached Australia.
Aftermath
thumb|Yongala in Fremantle
When Yongala did 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". The Premier of Queensland, Digby Denham, ordered a search for her, in which seven vessels took part. Wreckage started to wash ashore on the Queensland coast between Hinchinbrook Island and Bowen. The body of the racehorse "Moonshine" was found at Gordon Creek, but no trace was found of any of the passengers or crew. The Queensland Government offered a £1,000 reward for information enabling the ship to be found. The reward went unclaimed, so it was eventually withdrawn.
Present day
Yongala is now a major tourist attraction for recreational diving in Townsville and North Queensland, with more than 10,000 divers visiting the wreck each year. At 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 the Humphead wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus. An episode of the BBC television documentary series Great Barrier Reef featured the wreck's biodiversity.
thumb|upright|Yongalas [[ship's bell in the Maritime Museum of Townsville]]
The Maritime Museum of Townsville has an extensive display of Yongala artefacts and memorabilia, including her ship's bell.
See also
- , a steamship lost in 1912 off Western Australia
- , a steamship lost in 1909 off South Africa