.jpg) Kwinana on what is now Kwinana Beach, Western Australia | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Australia | |
| Name |
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| Namesake |
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| Owner |
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| Port of registry | |
| Route |
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| Builder | William Doxford & Sons,Sunderland |
| Launched | 24 September 1892 |
| Completed | November 1892 |
| Identification | UKofficial number 101707 |
| Fate | Damaged by fire 1920–21, ran aground 1922 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 345 ft (105 m) |
| Beam | 43 ft (13 m) |
| Draught | 22 ft (6.71 m) |
| Depth | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Installed power | 361NHP |
| Propulsion | 3-cylindertriple-expansion steam engine |
| Sail plan | schooner rig |
| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Capacity | 24 passengers (from 1912) |
SSKwinana was an Australian ocean-going cargo and passengersteamship. She was built in England in 1892 as the cargo shipSSDarius. In 1912 she changed owners, was refitted as a cargo and passenger ship and renamedKwinana.
She was damaged in 1920–21 by a fire in her cargo, and wrecked in 1922 when she drifted ashore about 24 kilometres (15 mi) south ofFremantle,Western Australia. The site of her wreck is now calledKwinana Beach, and her remains are automatically protected by Australian Federal Law.
William Doxford & Sons ofSunderland,County Durham built the ship in 1892 for Archibald Currie & Co ("Currie Line") ofMelbourne,Victoria.[1] She was a sail-steamer, rigged as aschooner but also powered by a 361NHP three-cylindertriple-expansion steam engine that gave her a speed of 19 kilometres per hour (10 kn).
The ship was launched asDarius, after KingDarius the Great ofPersia. A piece of frosted glass depicting Darius on his throne was fixed to her saloon skylight.[1]
Currie Line usedDarius for international trade, and particularly carrying horses and general cargo between Australia andCalcutta.Kwinana was given temporary repairs in order to return to Fremantle.[1]
TheState Shipping Service of Western Australia (SSS) boughtDarius on 14 June 1912 for £19,000, equivalent toA$2.6 million in 2022. The SSS had her refitted with a passenger saloon in her stern and on 15 July formally renamed herKwinana with a christening ceremony atFremantle.[2] The name means 'young woman' or 'pretty maid' in one of theAustralian Aboriginal languages of theKimberley region.
Kwinana carried livestock and passengers onWestern Australia's north-west coast. On one voyage she brought about 750 head of cattle from the Kimberley region. Trade was seasonal so she also worked overseas to and from New Zealand,South Africa,Singapore andHong Kong.[1]
Kwinana suffered a number of mishaps in SSS service. In 1914 she suffered a fire in coal in her No. 2 hold. Then on 28 August 1914 she struck a rock inCambridge Gulf, damaging hull plates beneath her engine room. On 3 November 1917 she suffered machinery damage atBroome. On 19 August 1918 in Cambridge Gulf her steering gear failed and she went aground. On 24 March 1920 while she was loading cargo atChristmas Island a leak developed in her in No. 1 hold. On 10 December 1920 while she was in Fremantle her starboard boiler sprang a leak.[3]
On Christmas Day 1920 at 6:30 PM,[4]Kwinana was betweenGeraldton andShark Bay laden with timber and other cargo[5] for delivery toWyndham, Western Australia when her crew discovered a fire in her cross bunker, which contained 300 tonnes (300 long tons) of coal.[6] The crew fought the fire and believed they had extinguished it, but when she reachedDenham, Western Australia it broke out again so she continued toCarnarvon, Western Australia where she arrived at 2 AM on 27 December and obtained help from ashore. The cargo was discharged at Carnarvon,[5] but there were only hand pumps to fight the fire. It spread, reaching her No. 2 hold on New Year's Day 1921[4] and also reaching her No. 3 hold.[1] It was not completely extinguished until 5 January. Thesalvage tugWyola was sent from Fremantle[6] and floodedKwinana, sinking her at Carnarvon jetty in about 5.8 metres (19 ft) of water. She was then pumped out and raised.[4]
ALloyd's surveyor, Captain Arundel, and the manager of the State Implement Works, Frank Shaw, declared her seaworthy to return to Fremantle.[1] But the crew distrusted her condition and demanded to be paid a premium to work her back to Fremantle. The SSS summonsed each crew member for refusal of duty, so the Police Court Bench obtained an independent survey of the ship by Captain Mills, wharfinger of Carnarvon. Mills declared the ship unseaworthy so the magistrates dismissed the case.[4]
The SSS dismissed the crew and sent them back to Fremantle aboard the shipMinderoo.[4] A new crew was sent from Fremantle by rail to Geraldton and thence by sea to Carnarvon. On 25 MarchKwinana left Carnarvon under her own steam, escorted by the shipKurnalpi.[6] On 28 March she reached Fremantle but collided with the shipPort Stephens.
In the bottom of her holds were about 1,200 tonnes (1,200 long tons) ofphosphate ore that had been used as a cattle bed. The ore was worth about £4,000 and was insured separately from the ship. The ore was discharged at Fremantle and sent to the superphosphate works.[1]
The ship was 28 years old, still had her original boilers and her running costs had been increasing. Before the fire the SSS had considered she trade for no more than the next few years, so herwritten-down value was only £4,500. After negotiations the underwriters paid her owners £17,000 and left the SSS to dispose of her. No buyer could be found so the SSS decided to scrap her.[1] She was berthed at No. 9 North Wharf for several months, where she was stripped of all fittings that had survived the fire. However, eventually the work reached a stage where the cost of continuing to dismantle the ship would exceed the value of the scrap. The SSS offered her for auction but no bids were received.[1]
On 9 December 1921 thehulk was towed to Careening Bay,Garden Island, Western Australia. In a storm on 28 July 1922,[7][8][9] she broke her moorings, was blown acrossCockburn Sound and ran ashore about 5 kilometres (3 mi) north ofRockingham. TheRoyal Australian Navy served notice for the wreck to be removed, so the SSS offered her for sale where she lay. The successful bid was from a syndicate represented by one Owen Carlon.[1]
Despite the sale, much of the wreck remained on the beach. On 2 May 1941 it was partly blown up, but its remains survived and were visible for many years. In 1959 the Fremantle Harbour Trust cut the wreck down to water level.[10]
The wreck became a minor attraction and the local postmistress, Clara Wells, quickly started marking her mailbagsKwinana Wreck.[10] The area became known asKwinana Beach, and in 1937 Kwinana was adopted as the township's official name. By the 1960s the wreck was much reduced but still recognisable. Since then she has been filled with concrete, forming a platform parallel with the shore that is used forangling. Parts of her hull are still visible, and her outline is still distinctive from the air.[11]
32°14′53″S115°45′22″E / 32.248°S 115.756°E /-32.248; 115.756
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1922 | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1941 | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1959 | |
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