was a
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...
passenger ship, launched by
William Denny & Brothers,
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...
, on 2 June 1904 and initially owned by
Union Steamship Company of New Zealand at a cost of £87,794 for their Melbourne-Launceston route,
replacing the ''Pateena''.
In December 1918, a spare propeller shaft fell from its sling through the bottom of the ship during unloading. On 1 January 1922 she and ''Oonah'' were transferred to Union's subsidiary,
Tasmanian Steamers
Tasmanian Steamers Proprietary Limited was a company that operated passenger ferries across the Bass Strait from 1921 to 1959. Union Company and Huddart Parker each owned 50%.
History
Tasmanian Steamers was established on 22 December 1921. I ...
was in service from 1904 to 1935
and was the first ship registered in the southern hemisphere with steam turbine propulsion;
three
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British engineering company based on the River Tyne at Wallsend, North East England.
History
Charles Algernon Parsons founded the company in 1897 with £500 ...
,
Newcastle
Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
, steam turbines, driving three screws at (service); (trials), with 246 first class, 136 second class, a cargo capacity of and a crew of 98. It has also been claimed that she was the first ocean-going turbine steamer in the world, as she left on her maiden voyage to Melbourne on 31 August 1904.
Another contender for the title, , was only launched the week before. During the
1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster
The North Mount Lyell disaster (also known as the Mount Lyell disaster and North Mount Lyell fire) refers to a fire that broke out on 12 October 1912 at the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations on the West Coast of Tasmania, killing ...
she crossed the strait in 12 hours and 46 minutes at , carrying rescue gear from
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literatur ...
mines. She was replaced by in March 1935 and
laid up
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed". ...
until sold for scrap
to Tanaka Kabusiki Kaisya,
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
. She was towed there by ''Kanna'' to Sakamoto Shoji KK, Osaka in September 1936
in November 1936.
is an Aboriginal word meaning 'to be swift',
or 'to fly'.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loongana, SS
Bass Strait ferries
History of transport in Tasmania
Ships of the Union Steam Ship Company