Introduction.
Back on the 18th. of February 1929, TSS Kanowna on her way to Melbourne from Sydney, struck Skull's Head rock off Wilson's Promontory in dense fog, drifted for a day and eventually sank. The ship was abandoned, by her 141 passengers, all taken off by SS Makarra who happened to be in the vicinity. The next day, the crew were rescued from the ship by SS Dumosa.
TSS Kawowna in her passenger ship livery.
Picture by Allan C. Green 1878-1954 Photographer.
( Reproduction rights Victoria State Library )
Built for Australian United Steam Navigation Company.
TSS Kanowna, 451 feet long, of 6,993 tons, with twin screws, was built in Scotland by W. Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton in 1902, to ply the Sydney- Fremantle route. In August of 1914 she was requisitioned as a Trooper, and carried troops to New Guinea, next, she went off to England to be fitted out as a 452 bed Hospital ship. She served in the Gallipoli campaign in the Dardanelles and ferried wounded Australian troops and medical staff from that ill fated campaign in Turkey back to Australia.
TSS Kanowna as a Hospital ship in WW1.
She carried wounded Australians from Gallipoli back to Australia.
( Reproduction rights Victoria State Library )
Found over Anzac Day week end in Bass Strait 2005.
With the ending of WW1, we find the ship back in her passenger ship livery on her old run, and on the 18th. of February in 1929, TSS Kanowna in dense fog, ran into rocks off Wilson's Promontory. She was carrying 141 passengers, about 200,000 Pounds worth of cargo, a race horse, a dog, and three cars.
After her disaster, the ship drifted, and the nearby ship SS Makarra picked up all of the passengers, and the next day all the officers and crew were taken aboard SS Dumosa.
Court of Inquiry.
This Court of Inquiry found the Master guilty of an error of judgement, in not slowing down in dense fog.
Wreck lays on bottom of Bass Strait undisturbed for 76 years.
200,000 Pounds at 1929 values, and the three cars have all rested undisturbed on the sea bed of Bass Strait at some 80 metres deep for 76 years. Unfortunately both the racehorse and the dog died when the ship sank.
Mark Ryan diving on the wreck of TSS Kawowna, by the starboard deck crane.
Thanks to Gregory Hodge for permission to use this photograph.
Wreck of TSS Kanowna found over Anzac Day weekend 2005.
Divers from Southern Ocean Exploration using echo sounding equipment and magnetometer technology found the wreck some 50 kilometers SW of Wilson's Promontory, she sits in some 80 metres of water.
TSS Kawowna, main deck aft.
Thanks to Gregory Hodge for permission to reproduce this photograph
It is fitting that a ship used 90 years ago to lift wounded Anzacs from the beach at Gallipoli is found over Anzac Day week end in 2005, when that landing is celebrated on the 25th. of April each year around Australia.
Subsequent dives on the wreck have established her identity.
Conclusion.
The sea bed on the southern coast of Victoria is littered with the remains of shipwrecks both of sail and steam that over many years have come to grief on this " SHIPWRECK" coast. Now, after 76 years, another secret has been prised from the depths of notorious Bass Strait. Fortunately at the time of the stranding of TSS Kanowna, no human lives were lost.
TSS Kawowna in her passenger ship livery. Picture by Allan C. Green 1878-1954 Photographer. ( Reproduction rights Victoria State Library )
TSS Kanowna as a Hospital ship in WW1. She carried wounded Australians from Gallipoli back to Australia. ( Reproduction rights Victoria State Library ) Found over Anzac Day week end in Bass Strait 2005.
Mark Ryan diving on the wreck of TSS Kawowna, by the starboard deck crane. Thanks to Gregory Hodge for permission to use this photograph.
TSS Kawowna, main deck aft.
