The ship
Armstrong, Whitworth & Co launched her at its Low Walker yard on the Tyne on 29 April 1903 (yard number 736). She was completed that October for the Adelaide Steamship Company, registered at Port Adelaide. Her master on the last voyage was Captain William Knight, aged 62. Her sister ship Grantala later served as Australia's only hospital ship in the First World War.
How she sank
Yongala left Mackay for Townsville in March 1911. The lighthouse keeper on Dent Island last saw her steaming into worsening weather. She carried no wireless, so she could not be warned of the tropical cyclone that struck on 23 March. Nobody aboard survived, and no bodies were ever recovered. The passenger and crew count is given as 122 or 123, depending on the source.…
Dive the wreck
What divers see there month by month, how deep it goes, who can dive it and the dive centers nearby.
The SS Yongala dive site →
