Illawarra Steam Navigation Company - Ships

Ships

Piecing together the Illawarra Steamship Navigation Company's fleet is difficult, as, unlike most steamship companies of the day, neither the company's advertising nor their arrival and departure notices carried the names of the vessels. Instead they simply listed the ships as "I.S.N. Steamers", if the vessels were mentioned at all. Nevertheless, it is known that when the company was amalgamated they had at least three vessels to handle the south coast trade: the Kiama from the Kiama Steamship Company, the Nora Creina from the Shoalhaven Steam Navigation Company, and the General Steamship Company's Illawarra.

Of these three, the Kiama was a 104 ton paddle steamer that entered service with the company in 1855. Purpose-built in Glasgow in 1854, she took 144 days to arrive in Australia, and she served the South Coast until 1876 when she was sold and converted into a hulk. Prior to sale she had been lengthened from her original 123 feet to 154 feet, and her tonnage increased to 111 tons. The Nora Creina, on the other hand, was lighter at 93 tons, and was locally built in Sydney. She was sold by the company in 1861. The third of the original three vessels, Illawarra, had been constructed at Waterford in 1849 with a net weight of 166 tons, but, like the Nora Creina, she was only to remain with the new company until 1861 when she was sold.

By 1864 the company was operating a fleet of at least four ships - the Kiama was still in service, and she had been joined by Hunter, Mynora and Kembla. Both Kembla, a 204 ton iron steamship, and Hunter, a paddle steamer with a net weight of 105 tons, were built in Glasgow, Scotland. The Mynora was built in Australia at Prymont in Sydney. A 117 ton wooden paddle steamer, her time with the company ended in 1864 after she ran into St Georges Head in Wreck Bay. In an attempt to save the lives of passengers and crew, the captain fought to keep the ship afloat until she finally ran aground on a sandy beach approximately three miles from the headland. While the boat was lost, all of the passengers and crew on Mynora were saved.

The next significant change to the company's fleet came in 1878 with the purchase of the Illawarra (II). At 533 tons and 190 feet in length, she handled both passengers and cargo for the company, and proved to be "most popular" until being laid up in 1908 and eventually scrapped. Illawarra (II) was soon joined by Allowrie, a 504 ton vessel built in 1880 for carrying passengers and cargo, including livestock and dairy produce. (Allowrie remained in service with the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company until 1909, when, like Illawarra (II), she was laid up). The third major vessel during this period was Kameruka. A 515 ton steamer, she was built in 1880, but was then lost when wrecked on Pedro Reef off Moruya in October, 1897.

When the company was reconstituted as the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company in 1904, their vessels included Allowrie and two new steamers: Eden and Bega. Eden was a 693 ton screw steamer that had arrived in 1900, a purpose-built vessel constructed for the company in Glasgow to handle the Sydney–Merimbula–Eden–Tathra route. Eden remained with the company until being converted to a hulk, and she was finally scuttled in 1933. Bega, at 567 tons, transported both passengers and cargo between 1883 when she was launched and 1907 when she capsized with the loss of one of the passengers.

At least two more ships joined the fleet in the early 1900s: Peterborough, which was acquired from the Shellharbour Steam Navigation Company, and Merimbula. At the time Merimbula was the company's finest vessel. She was a 1122 ton screw steamer which provided accommodation for 106 passengers (96 saloon and 10 second class) as well as possessing refrigerated cargo space, and she was capable of between 13 and 14 knots. Unfortunately she ran aground off Beecroft Head in 1928.

Just prior to the onset of the first World War, four new ships were purchased: Bermagui, Bonandera, Bodalla and Bergalia. Bodalla was requisitioned for the war effort and repurposed as a minesweeper, and she was lost in 1924. After the war the company purchased another three vessels: Nergalia, Cobargo and Kianga. Two of these three boats, Nergalia and Kianga, were requisitioned during World War II, but while both survived the hostilities, Kianga was not returned to the company after being decommissioned.